Estelle Choi

Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, cellist Estelle Choi began her music studies at the age of five. She garnered top prizes as a soloist and as a chamber musician in the Canadian Music Competition, the Alberta Music Festival, and the Calgary Concerto Competition. She has gained international recognition as a founding member of the Calidore String Quartet, an ensemble celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2020. Praised by the New York Times for its “deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct” and by the Los Angeles Times for its balance of “intellect and expression,” the Calidore made international headlines when they won the Grand Prize of the 2016 M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition. As a member of the Calidore, Ms. Choi is an Avery Fisher Career Grant winner, BBC 3 New Generation Artist, recipient of the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist award, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust recipient. The Calidore recently completed their third year as members of CMS’s Bowers Program. Internationally, Ms. Choi was a prize winner in the ARD Munich competition as well as the Hamburg Chamber Music competition. She studied with John Kadz for 13 years and went on to work with Aldo Parisot at the Yale School of Music and Ronald Leonard at the Colburn Conservatory. She holds a bachelor’s degree and artist diploma from the Colburn Conservatory and a masters from the Yale School of Music. She teaches and performs at the University of Delaware and University of Toronto.