Soo Bae (born 1976 or 1977) is a Korean-Canadian cellist. She is a first-place winner of the 2006 Canada Council Musical Instrument Bank National Competition, which included a three-year loan of the Bonjour Stradivarius Cello.
Soo Bae was born in Seoul, South Korea[1] in 1976 or 1977.[2] She began learning to play cello at age six, and has an older sister who played piano, as well as an older sister who played the violin.[3] Bae and her family moved to Toronto when she was eight.[3]
Her education includes the Royal Conservatory of Music, and then the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she completed her Bachelor of Music in 2001.[1] Bae completed her Masters of Music degree and the Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School.[1]
Bae began her career at age 11 with the Korean Canadian Symphony.[1]
Bae has won several awards and competitions, most notably the 2006 Canada Council Musical Instrument Bank National Competition. Her first place award is the three-year loan of the (c.1696) Bonjour Stradivarius Cello.[4][2][5] She was also a winner of the 2005 Concert Artists Guild International Competition,[3][6] and was awarded in the 2006 Adam International Cello Festival and Competition.[7] In 2014, she was loaned the Ivashkin Joseph Guarneri filius andreae of 1710 cello for five years, which had been permanently loaned to cellist Alexander Ivashkin before his death.[5]
Bae has collaborated with other musicians, including as a duo with jazz clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, in a trio with fiddle player Mark O'Connor and pianist Soyeon Lee,[8] and in the duo "Walk 132" with her pianist and guitarist husband Jason Suh.[2] She has also performed with the Musicians from Marlboro tour.[9]
Bae has also had works composed for her by the composers Huang Ruo ("Four Fragments")[2] and Jay Gach ("Elements of Style").[10]
