Christine Kim
Young Cellist Award

Congratulations to Aaron Liu, Winner of the 2024 Christine Kim Young Cellist Award!

Many thanks to the cellists who applied for this inaugural award and to our wonderful adjudicator, Norman Fischer, who listened to each applicant’s video and provided thoughtful comments.

Aaron will receive a $500 prize and perform SEVEN for solo cello by Andrea Casarrubios on Jasper Chamber Concerts Season Finale, April 11, 2024

Aaron Liu, 17, is a cellist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has been a part of Temple Music Prep’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians and the principal cellist of their Youth Chamber Orchestra for the past two years. Aside from just being the principal cellist, he made his solo debut with the orchestra, performing the Haydn Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major, and went on a tour with the orchestra to Iceland, performing in venues like Harpa, Eldheimar in Vestmannaeyjar, and the Reykjavik art museum. Aaron was recently announced as a quarterfinalist at this year’s Fischoff Competition with Temple567 trio, traveling to South Bend, Indiana, this coming May to compete. Other competition wins include being named a 2024 National YoungArts Foundation winner in the classical music discipline, the Bösendorfer Competition, and the Tri-County Competition. In addition to competition wins, Aaron has been selected as one of the ten cellists for the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) and will be doing a South American tour this summer, performing in Montevideo, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. Other attendances at summer festivals include the Bowdoin International Music Festival for the past two summers and Curtis Summerfest in 2020. Currently, Aaron studies with Priscilla Lee, the associate principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and previously studied with Christine Watts.