Heesoo is a cellist from the Gold Coast, currently in her third year at ANAM, studying with Howard Penny.
She began her musical training in Paris at the École Normale de Musique de Paris and the Regional Conservatorium of Paris, where she earned an Artist Diploma with High Distinctions under Geneviève Teulières-Sommer and Hélène Dautry. Heesoo then completed her Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney in 2023, studying with Julian Smiles and Georg Pedersen.
Heesoo has performed as soloist with several orchestras. Recent highlights include Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor with the South Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2024, Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in C with the Brescia Orchestra at the Talent Music Summer Festival in Italy in 2019 and Camille Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra at the age of fourteen, following her Young Instrumentalist Prize award.
She is the recipient of the Sydney Eisteddfod Doctors’ Orchestra Instrumental Award, has appeared on the Dean’s List for Excellence in Academic Performance, and in 2023 was invited to give a solo recital at Salle Cortot in Paris.
Chamber music is central to Heesoo’s artistic life. She received the Henderson’s Traveller’s Quartet Scholarship in 2022 and 2023, which supported a European tour and studies with leading chamber musicians including Gregor Sigl and Oliver Wille. She is particularly passionate about interdisciplinary collaboration and hopes to continue contributing to projects that bring music into dialogue with other art forms.
Professionally, Heesoo has appeared as a casual player with Opera Australia since 2022, Orchestra Victoria since 2024, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2025.
Outside of music, she enjoys food and coffee, building model kits, visiting galleries, and watching films.
FROM: QLD. Lands of the Yugambeh people.
Heesoo is supported by ANAM Syndicate donors Jerry Koliha and Marlene Krelle, Neil and Hunter Moore, Lee and Greg Ridder, Margot and Morry Rottem, the Jack and Hedy Brent Foundation, Igor Zambelli OAM.
Photo by Pia Johnson