Kate Vo, violin, Co-Winner Khuner Young Artist Concerto Competition 2025-26
March 2026 Concert Program Biography:
Kate is a 16-year-old violinist from Palo Alto, CA. She has been playing violin since the age of 4 and currently studies under Professor Chen Zhao. Kate is a student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College, as well as a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Young Chamber Musicians program. Kate is co-founder and co-president of Harmony Ensemble, a student-led 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to chamber music. Through her organization, she aims to share valuable chamber music opportunities to young musicians throughout the Bay Area while enhancing the art of musical and interpersonal collaboration. Kate also serves as the Co-Regional Director of the Palo Alto region of the Back to Bach Project, where she aims to spread the love of music to local schools. This past summer, Kate attended the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and in the summer of 2024, she attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute 2024 Young Artists Orchestra, where she was selected as co-concertmaster.
Kate has received awards in numerous competitions, has played in masterclasses with Jessie Montgomery and Nathan Cole, and has been invited to perform internationally. Kate was a winner of the 2025 YoungArts National Arts Competition, and previously, she has won 1st prize in the VIVO International Music Competition, Elite International Music Competition, Prima Volta Music Competition, New York Artists International Music Competition, US International Open Music Competition, Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition, where she was invited to perform in Salzburg, and the Vienna Virtuoso Music Competition, where she received the Judge’s Best Performance Award and the Best Performance Award of the evening at the Gala concert in Berlin. Kate has performed in venues including Carnegie Weill Hall and Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center.
Kate was concertmaster of the CMEA Bay Section Winter Conference 2023 Honors Orchestra. In addition, Kate performed in the 2023 CASMEC All-State Junior High String Orchestra, the 2023 CODA December Honors Symphony Orchestra, and the 2024 CASMEC All-State High School Symphony Orchestra.
Aside from music, Kate enjoys playing tennis, composing and arranging music, writing poems and stories, and travelling the world. With her music, Kate aims to heal people and take her audiences on an adventure through life.
