Arts Global

Exhibiting a dynamic, expressive and thoughtful style, cellist Jacques Lee Wood is garnering attention as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician of the highest caliber. From a musical family of Korean and European heritage, he began his music studies from a young age – first on the violin, then on the cello. At the age of eleven, just two years after he began studying the cello, he gave his first concerto appearance. Since then Mr Wood has traveled the world performing solo, recital and chamber music concerts collaborating often with some of the world's finest musicians. Most recently, Mr Wood gave the Asian premiere of American composer Russell Peck's Voice of the Wood with the Pohang Symphony Orchestra in Pohang, Korea.

Mr Wood has received top prizes at the ARTS Competition and the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and was only one of six American cellists invited to participate in the 2005 Rostropovich International Cello Competition. Mr Wood has collaborated and worked with many distinguished musicians such as Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, Peter Salaff, Leslie Parnas and members of the Juilliard, Vermeer, Tokyo, Rasumofsky and Keller String Quartets, to name but a few. He is a frequent participant in several festivals including the Banff Centre, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the International Arts Institute. He is currently a member of the Grammy-nominated "Yale Cellos" and the recently formed collaborative partnership, Duo Chrysalis, with Japanese-Canadian pianist Ryo Yanagitani.

Jacques Lee Wood has performed with many orchestras including the Pohang Symphony, Ureuk Symphony and North Carolina School of the Arts Symphony Orchestra, among others. In addition, performances have brought him to some of the world's greatest concert halls including: Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall in New York, Youngsan Arts Hall and Mozart Hall in Seoul, and Boston's Jordan Hall.

In demand as a teacher, Mr Wood has held positions at Yale University Department of Music, Yale School of Music and Atlantic Union College. He has held teaching residencies at Central Connecticut State University and Ulsan University in Korea and currently serves on faculty at the Seoul Strings Research Institute and the Korea-Japan Summer Music Festival.

Mr Wood received his Bachelor of Music at the New England Conservatory of Music under Laurence Lesser and his Master of Music at Yale University under Aldo Parisot. He is currently a Doctoral candidate at Yale University completing his dissertation titled "Reconsidering Cumulative Form: Spirituality and Nostalgia in the Music of Charles Ives".

Upcoming concerts in the 2009-2010 season include concerts throughout Korea, Japan, the United States and Canada.