Qiele Guo

Bio

Qiele’s music career began at the age of 14 when he was recognized as one of the “Ten Talented Young Artists of China.” Two years later, Qiele won second prize at the prestigious “Ai Qin Bei’’ Competition in Beijing, China. In 2013, Qiele won the top prize at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory (YSTCM) Concerto Competition in Singapore. In 2018, Qiele won the Grand Prize of the Enkor International Chamber Music Competition as a member of the Benefic Piano Trio.

Born to a musical family, Qiele was initially trained in classical music by his father, the principal cellist of the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, and later continued his studies with Hao Guo, the associate principal cellist of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. In 2010, he attended the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music as a full scholarship student, studying with the world-known soloist Li-Wei Qin. Qiele earned his master’s degree(MM) in music and artist diploma(AD) with full scholarship at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where he was studying with the legendary cellist Mr. Ronald Leonard and Tokyo Quartet cellist Mr. Clive Greensmith. In 2017, Qiele was appointed as artist in residence for the Philharmonic Society of Myanmar, two years later he was appointed as the artist and production director at Hawaii Chamber Music Festival. In 2021, Qiele became a doctor of musical arts (DMA) candidate with the prestigious Chancellor’s Fellows award from UC Santa Barbara, where he studies with cellist Jennifer Kloetzel.

Qiele is an active chamber music musician. In 2013, he collaborated with violinist Gina Medina, the concertmistress of the Manila Symphony orchestra, and pianist Mary Anne Espina. Cello was invited to play in a series of chamber music concerts in 2014 with Seiji Ozawa in Japan. In 2015, Cello was invited to Weimar in Germany and played as solo and principal cellist in the ensemble under the baton of Helmuth Rilling. In 2017, Cello won the international audition and became a Lincoln Center Stage chamber musician. In the same year Qiele with award-winning violinist Misha Vayman and pianist Sunhwa Kim formed the Benefic piano trio and has been giving concerts regularly. In 2019 the trio was invited to collaborate with Poway Symphony with maestro John LoPiccolo and had a huge success with their performance of Beethoven Triple Concerto. In 2021, the trio finished recording their debut album with composer Daniel Carr and Singer Mindy Chu which released in 2022.

As an experienced orchestral musician, Qiele served as principal cellist in the Weimar International Bach Academy Baroque Orchestra, the Hawaii Chamber Music Festival Orchestra, the YSTCM Symphony Orchestra and the Young Artists Symphony Orchestra of Los Angeles, as well as guest principal in Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra. Qiele has also played in many other orchestras such as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, the Sichuan Symphony and the Debut Orchestra of Los Angeles. In 2018, Qiele won one of six core positions at the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra and became the youngest tenure member. In 2021, Qiele played as acting principal for the Hawaii Symphony special summer season.