“…Then there’s the puzzle of how do you take all of that — the craft, the study, the interpretation, the obsession with sound, and how it sounds to you alone — how do you transmit that to someone else?” ~ Leland Ko

Leland Ko came on my radar when he was one of four gifted young cellists selected by Yo-Yo Ma to participate in a program called Music-Art-Life in 2023. 

They dissected Bach’s six solo suites for cello in exquisite detail. There was a small in-person audience, but many more of us who participated virtually, greedily soaking up the music and insights in equal parts.

It was, for me, a chance to luxuriate in curiosity. I wondered: Did their knowledge, skill, and feel for the music mean their curiosity about it was qualitatively different than my own? If so, how? 

I vowed one day to get one of those emerging artists for a curiosity conversation.

The last leap of faith being to forget everything that you know…and that’s what makes the thing a live performance, rather than repetition of something you’ve done a million times.

Listen to Choose to Be Curious #255: Cellists’ Puzzles & Curiosity, with Leland Ko

Leland Ko has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in venues across America, as well as internationally. He earned a B.A. from Princeton University in German literature, before attending The Juilliard School for his Master of Music and then returning to Boston to pursue an Artist Degree at the New England Conservatory.  He participate in Yo-Yo Ma’s Music-Art-Life program in April 2023. 

This is the promo video that I enjoyed so much, and here is the Kolady movement, without me yammering over it.

Check out the research: Curiosity Emerging from the Perception of Change in Music — and we didn’t even talk about the research suggesting playing an instrument in better for your brain than just listening to it.

If you enjoyed this episode, you might enjoy these C2BC Classics: On Open-Earedness, with Tim McKenry; Superpower: Curiosity & Athletic Performance, with Addy Bracy; and Dance & Embodied Curiosity, with Erin Foreman-Murray.

Recording of Leland Ko performing Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8 — III. Allegro molto vivace used with permission.

Photo of Leland Ko by Tam Lan Truong, used with permission.

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