Kate Vo

Kate is a 17-year-old violinist from Palo Alto, CA. She has been playing violin since the age of 4 and currently studies under Professor Chen Zhao. Kate is a student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College, as well as a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. She serves as Co-Regional Director of the Palo Alto region of the Back to Bach Project, where she aims to spread the love of music to local schools.

Kate won the 2025-26 Khuner Young Artist Concerto Competition and performed as a soloist with the Prometheus Symphony Orchestra in March 2026. In May 2026, Kate performed as a soloist with the Mill Valley Philharmonic in two concerts. Kate was recognized as Runner-Up of the 2025-26 San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition at Davies Symphony Hall, awarded second prize in the 2026 Nova Vista Symphony Mary Jane Beck Young Artist Concerto Competition, and named a winner of the 2025 YoungArts National Arts Competition. Recently, Kate had the honor to be invited by the Stradivari Society of Chicago to play for renowned violinist and conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky. Previously, Kate won 1st prize in the 2023 Vienna Virtuoso Music Competition with the Judge's Best Performance Award and the Best Performance Award of the evening at the Gala concert in Berlin, 1st prize in the 2023 Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition where she was invited to perform in Salzburg, and 1st prize in the 2021 US International Open Music Competition, 2020 VIVO International Music Competition, 2020 Elite International Music Competition, 2020 Prima Volta Music Competition, 2020 New York Artists International Music Competition, and 2018 East Coast International Music Competition. Kate has also played for distinguished artists Jessie Montgomery, Nathan Cole, and the Aris, Bennewitz, Beo, and Telegraph string quartets. Kate has performed multiple times at Carnegie Weill Hall, Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center, and Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center.

Kate was concertmaster of the CMEA Bay Section Winter Conference 2023 Honors Orchestra and the 2024-25 Palo Alto High School Orchestra. In addition, Kate performed in the 2023 CASMEC All-State Junior High String Orchestra, the 2023 CODA December Honors Symphony Orchestra, and the 2024 CASMEC All-State High School Symphony Orchestra.

In the summer of 2026, Kate studied at the Heifetz International Music Institute as part of the Senior Division. In the summer of 2025, she studied at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and in the summer of 2024, she studied at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, where she was selected as co-concertmaster of the Young Artists Orchestra.

Aside from music, Kate enjoys playing tennis, composing and arranging music, writing poems and stories, and traveling the world. With her music, Kate aims to heal people and take her audiences on an adventure through life.