A native of Los Angeles, Christopher Ahn has appeared in solo and chamber music performances across the U.S. as well as abroad in Europe, Australia, South Korea, South Africa, Canada and Central America. Recent performances include solo recitals at the Brand Library and Art Center, UCLA, California State University, Dominguez Hills, and Santa Monica College. He has also performed chamber music on the Dilijan, L’Ermitage Foundation, Music Guild, Trinity Lutheran, and Chapman University concert series, and has performed numerous times for live radio broadcasts on the Sundays Live recital series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Chris has enjoyed frequent collaboration with the Lineage Dance Company, most recently presenting a performance of the Bach Cello Suites with dance choreography on the Brand Library and Art Center Dance Performance series. He has also worked closely with several Los Angeles based composers, premiering new works for solo cello and chamber ensemble on new music series throughout the Los Angeles area.
Chris has been invited to summer programs at the Aspen Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Banff Centre Masterclasses, Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, and the Rencontres Musicales Camerata Lysy in Montepulciano, Italy. He has collaborated with members of the St. Lawrence, Ysaye, and Amar string quartets, and has performed in masterclasses for such distinguished musicians as Anner Bylsma, Ralph Kirshbaum, Lynn Harrell, Rohan de Saram, Paul Katz, Raphael Wallfisch, Matt Haimovitz, Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, and members of the Takacs, Cleveland and Borodin string quartets.
Chris pursued his studies at UCLA, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the University of Michigan, where his principal teachers included Antonio Lysy, Richard Aaron, Stephen Geber, and Colin Carr. He has also studied with Hans Jorgen Jensen, Andrew Shulman, Peter Rejto, John Walz, and Jenny Goss. Chris resides in Los Angeles, where he maintains an active and varied freelance career playing with orchestras, chamber ensembles, and recording for film and television. He was appointed Principal Cello of Opera Santa Barbara in 2018, and he currently serves as a member of the string faculty at Westmont College.
