Born in East Brunswick, New Jersey, seventeen-year-old Chinese-American cellist Matthew Ho seeks to merge his love of math and physics with music, creating imaginative programs and performances that bridge cultures while intertwining science, art, and heritage. He first discovered the cello in his elementary school orchestra at age nine and quickly fell in love with its voice. At thirteen, he was admitted to the Juilliard School Pre-College Division, where he has studied under Dr. Clara Minhye Kim.

A 2025 YoungArts Winner with Distinction, Matthew has also been recognized as a prizewinner at the 2025 Johansen International Competition, a semifinalist in the 2025 Stulberg International String Competition, and a finalist in the 2023 MTNA National Competition. He is the winner of the 2025 Juilliard Pre-College Cello Concerto Competition and is scheduled to solo with the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony in December 2025 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Lincoln Center. His additional honors include Grand Prize in both the Young Soloist International Music Competition and the New York Laureate International Music Competition, First Prize in the Adelphi Young Artists Competition, and Top Prize/First Prize in the International Grande Music Competition.

Matthew has been featured twice on NPR’s From the Top Daily Joy series. At age fourteen, he made his solo debut with the Camerata New Jersey Orchestra after winning First Prize in the Camerata Artists International Competition. He has since appeared as a soloist with the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra and the New Jersey Intergenerational Orchestra after winning their respective concerto competitions. His music has taken him to prestigious venues including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Paul Hall and Morse Hall at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center, Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory, the New World Center in Miami Beach, Bates Hall at the University of Texas at Austin, and Dalton Center at Western Michigan University.

An active orchestral and chamber musician, Matthew has served as principal cellist of the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony and his high school’s honors chamber orchestra. His ensemble, the Vivere Trio, was a finalist in the 2025 Coltman Chamber Music Competition. Over the past four summers, he has attended the Perlman Music Program and Morningside Music Bridge, where he studied solo, chamber, and orchestral music intensively with artists including Itzhak Perlman, Laurence Lesser, Paul Katz, Steven Doane, Zvi Plesser, Merry Peckham, Clive Greensmith, Ole Akahoshi, Natasha Brofsky, John Kadz, Andrés Díaz, and Wei Yu, among others.

Beyond the concert stage, Matthew is dedicated to using music as a means of connection and dialogue—bringing together diverse traditions and ideas to reimagine what classical music can be in the modern world. He is the founder of AllNote Alliance, a youth-led initiative dedicated to celebrating underrepresented and emerging voices in classical music. With this project, he won the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Young Musicians Innovation Challenge.

Having begun his cello journey in his elementary school orchestra, Matthew is passionate about sharing the joy of classical music with local elementary schools and inspiring a love of music in young students. In early 2022, he founded the NJ Middlesex County Branch of the Back to Bach Project, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring music education in young children, and has since served as its Regional Director. He also serves as Director of Global Operations and a Cultural Committee Member of the Bach to Bach Project, overseeing other branches and helping to bring classical music to more children while promoting cultural diversity in the arts.

Matthew is also a member of Mockingbird Melody, a local high school student music volunteer group, through which he performs at nursing homes, libraries, and charity concerts throughout the community. Outside of music, he enjoys reading, watching NASA documentaries, playing ping pong, and exploring all kinds of ramen.