Meet the Team

Heewon Lee

Cellist

Heewon Lee is the cellist of the Koa String Quartet, a recent graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder's Graduate String Quartet Program, where she studied with the Takács Quartet and David Requiro. She holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Eastman School of Music, institutions where she honed both her artistry and versatility. She was a six-time recipient of the Doris and Clarence Glick Classical Music Scholarship Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation from her hometown, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Before forming the Koa String Quartet, Heewon toured internationally as a member of the Lincoln Center Stage Piano Quartet, performing aboard Holland America Line cruise ships and bringing chamber music to audiences worldwide. As a passionate orchestral musician, she has performed with various ensembles, including the Colorado Symphony, Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, Artosphere Festival Orchestra, Sarasota Opera Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. In October 2024, she was appointed Principal Cellist of the Boulder Symphony.

Heewon is also a dedicated educator. During the pandemic, she not only participated in the inaugural CelloBello Teacher Training Seminar but also served on the cello faculty at the Kanack School of Music and Artistry in Rochester, New York, where she taught private lessons, group classes, and coached chamber ensembles. She worked with students across New York and California through online platforms and continues to inspire young musicians through her work with El Sistema Denver and the Hana Hou Music Program on Maui, Hawaii.