Biography

Born in San Jose, California, Taiwanese-American cellist Jocelyn Yeh is a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. She recently received her master’s degree from The Juilliard School studying with Darrett Adkins after having received her Bachelor of Music from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music as a Memorial Compinsky Music Scholarship recipient studying with Antonio Lysy. Yeh began cello studies at age ten, and primarily studied under Chingwen Hsu, Shinyu Liu, and Chien Lee while in Taiwan. She entered in numerous competitions and received first prizes from the European Duo International Music Competition in 2013, Asian Cup International Music Competition in 2016, and Excellence Music Open Competition of Taiwan in 2017; and second prizes from the National Student Competition of Music in 2013 and 2015. In 2019, she was a winner of the UCLA All-Star Concerto Competition. In 2022, she received Honorable Mention at the Atwater Kent String Concerto Competition and won the Best Classical Musicians Awards.

She recently played in Tzu Chi Jing Si Hall in both Hualien and Hsinchu, and in Santa Clara Convention Center for Tzu Chi’s charity concerts. As a soloist, she performed the first Shostakovich Cello Concerto with the UCLA Philharmonia under maestro Bruno Nascimento at Royce Hall, and also played as guest soloist with the UCLA Wind Ensemble under maestra Doris Doyon at Schoenberg Hall. She played with the innovative classical music ensemble Jacaranda Music in Noon to Midnight, Los Angeles Philharmonic’s new music marathon, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall under maestro David Bloom. She was also invited to perform at the Los Angeles Violoncello Society Honors Recital in 2019. While at UCLA, she was co-principal cellist of the UCLA Philharmonia and UCLA Symphony.

As an active chamber musician, Yeh has played in various chamber groups including string octet with Los Angeles Philharmonic associate principal cellist Ben Hong and clarinet quintet with Berliner Philharmoniker principal clarinetist Wenzel Fuchs, and has performed in venues including Morse Hall and Paul Hall in The Juilliard School, St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University, National Concert Hall and Eslite Performance Hall in Taiwan, National Tsing Hua University Recital Hall, Taipei National University of the Arts Concert Hall, and Lani Hall at UCLA. She is a group leader of Hire Juilliard Performers, working with clients and musicians and performing in varying events throughout New York.

She has participated in various music festivals such as the Meadowmount School of Music in 2017, the Taipei Music Academy and Festival in 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2023 on full scholarships, the Telegraph Quartet ChamberFEAST in 2020, the Vivace Cello Festival in 2021, and the Juilliard ChamberFest in 2023. Additionally, she has performed in masterclasses led by Lynn Harrell, Ben Hong, Ralph Kirshbaum, Dmitri Atapine, and Deborah Pae, and has played for and worked with musicians including Anne Martindale Williams, Astrid Schween, Brinton Averil Smith, Carter Brey, Frans Helmerson, Jonathan Koh, Julia Lichten, Lewis Kaplan, Lluis Claret, Marion Feldman, Mark Kosower, Molly Carr, Natasha Brofsky, Nicholas Mann, Norman Fischer, Peter Stumpf, Richard Aaron, Samuel Rhodes, and Steven Doane. Other than performing, she enjoys teaching and sharing her knowledge to students interested in learning music. She was previously the cello mentor of the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra and worked with high school students in their weekly orchestra rehearsals.