Violinist Ko Sugiyama is Assistant Concertmaster of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra/Washington National Opera Orchestra, appointed by music director Philippe Auguin.
In addition, he is a member of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, a violinist for the King St. Quartet (an NSO Education Department In-School-Ensemble), and is on faculty at the Washington Conservatory of Music. As soloist or chamber musician, Ko has performed in North America, Europe, Asia and has performed at major US venues such as Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd St. Y's Kauffman Concert Hall, the Kennedy Center, Severance Hall, Phillips Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum's McEvoy Theater, and the National Gallery of Art. He has collaborated with members of the Tokyo String Quartet, the Keller String Quartet, the 21st Century Consort, Phillips Camerata, Paul Katz, Nicholas McGegan, Jeremy Denk, Daniel Blumenthal, Ole Akahoshi, and the greatest of them all, of course, his fellow members of the KCOHO/WNOO.
Ko received his Bachelors degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music while studying under Paul Kantor. During his time in Cleveland he was also a member of the CIM Intensive Quartet Seminar where he received coachings from Peter Salaff and the Cavani String Quartet. He continued on with his studies at the Juilliard School as a recipient of the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship and subsequently received his Master of Music degree studying under Masao Kawasaki. At Juilliard, his chamber music coaches included Fred Sherry, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Darrett Adkins. Previous to his appointment as Assistant Concertmaster of KCOHO/WNOO, Ko spent four years as a fellow with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, FL. As a fellow, he gave multiple subscription concerts as soloist with NWS, chamber music performances, world premiere performances, recital performances, and lecture/educational recitals.