VC Artist Brannon Cho and Sydney Lee to Join McDuffie Center for Strings Faculty

The pair replace Sihao He, who leaves for positions at Tianjin Juilliard and the Shanghai Quartet

The McDuffie Center for Strings, which is hosted at Mercer University, has announced that cellists Sydney Lee and Brannon Cho will join its faculty — with Lee beginning in the 2024/25 season and Cho joining her at the opening of the 2025/26 season. They join the distinguished artist Hans Jørgen Jensen as cello professors.

The pair replace outgoing cellist Sihao He, who is taking up a position at the Tianjin Juilliard School — and will also become a member of the Shanghai Quartet. He hopes to build a relationship between the McDuffie Center and Tianjin Juilliard.

Korean-American cellist Sydney Lee made her solo debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at the age of 13. She won First Prize at the 2022 Washington International Competition, Second Prize at the 2022 Classic Strings International Competition, and First Prize at the International Antonio Janigro Cello Competition in Croatia.

Lee also holds the inaugural $50,000 Gurrena Fellowship from the Meadowmount School of Music. She is one of four members of VC Artists Galvin Cello Quartet, who won the silver medal at the 2021 Fischoff Competition and joined the Concert Artists Guild roster after winning the 2022 Victor Elmaleh Competition.

The recipient of the 2020 Janos Starker Foundation Award, VC Artist Brannon Cho also received the Landgraf von Hessen Prize from the Kronberg Academy, the 2019 Ivan Galamian Award (previously held by James Ehnes), and a scholarship from the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.

He has appeared with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Belgian National Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, and the Orchestre Philharmonique Royale Liège.

"I was very excited when I was invited back to the McDuffie Center for Strings in 2023 to teach together with Sihao He, and I am now equally excited to teach alongside Brannon Cho and Sydney Lee, both terrific cellists and wonderful teachers," said faculty member Hans Jørgen Jensen. "I look forward to having many opportunities to keep working together with Sihao He in the future."