Acclaimed by Fanfare magazine as “tonally, technically, and musically superb,” 17-year-old Canadian cellist Luka Coetzee (first prize) made her solo debut at age 11 with the Calgary Civic Symphony. She has won prizes in several national and international competitions, including the 6th UNISA International Strings Competition, the 2022 Dotzauer International Cello Competition, the 2019 Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition, the Canadian Music Competition, and the 2021 Shean Strings Competition. In November 2022, she will be competing as a finalist in the Pablo Casals International Award in El Vendrell, Spain. This past September, Luka participated in the Kronberg Academy Cello Masterclasses where she received the Frans Helmerson Promotional Award. She also performed with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra in the new Casals Forum concert hall at the Kronberg Academy. As a member of the Echo Klassik nominated LGT Young Soloists, Luka has performed in numerous concert halls around the world including Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Berlin Philharmonie, theTonhalle in Zürich, and the Victoria Hall in Singapore. She also recorded and premiered a new arrangement of the Beethoven A major Cello Sonata for cello and strings on NAXOS at the Teldex Studio in Berlin. The CD was released in November 2020 and Luka was praised by Fanfare magazine as “sublime, with an interpretative grasp . . . playing of rare quality.” At the age of one Luka had her first cello lesson with Christine Bootland. She also started playing piano at the age of three and finished the Royal Conservatory of Music ARCT piano exam with First Class Honours under the instruction of Derek Chiu. Her previous mentors include John Kadz, Johanne Perron, and Horacio Contreras. She is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in cello performance at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt in Weimar, Germany.