Isabella performs on Show 444.

Wei-Ning (Isabella) Ko (piano), 15, is a 10th grader in the piano conservatory at the Orange County School of Arts in Santa Ana, California. Isabella started her musical journey at Yamaha Music School when she was 6 years old, and at age 8 was chosen to perform her composition at the Yamaha Junior Original Concert. Isabella started her formal piano training at age 10 with Yu-Hui Jen and developed an affinity for piano performance.

She was accepted to attend the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Piano Program in the summer of 2023. Earlier that year she won awards in the International Association of Professional Music Teachers Concours Online Grand Prix Competition. In 2022, she won awards in the United States International Music Competition, the Seattle International Piano Competition, the Southwestern Youth Music Festival, the Music Teachers’ Association of California Scholarship Competition, the California Association of Professional Music Teachers Contemporary Competition, and the Music Teachers National Association National Competition. In 2021, she won awards in the Pacific International Piano Competition, the Aegio International Piano Competition, the Music Teachers’ Association of California State Solo Competition, the Bay Area Piano Competition, the Carles & Sofia International Piano Competition, and the Radda Rise International Piano competition. In 2020 and 2019, she won awards in the Junior Bach Festival Complete Work Audition, Southwestern Youth Music Festival, the Glissando International Youth Piano Competition, and is a two times Satori Summer Festival Grand Prize and Shoenfeld Award Winner.

Isabella has had the honor of working with several experts in the field of piano performance, such as Professor Nina Scolnik from the University of California Irvine, Dr. Hyunjoo Choi from Concordia University Irvine, Dr. Andrew Park from Azusa Pacific University, Dr. Sarkis Baltaian from the Orange County School of the Arts, Professor Dmitri Shteinberg from University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Steinway Artist Ms. Sandra Wright Shen, Dr. Shun-Lin Chou from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University Long Beach, and Professor Kevin Fitz-Gerald from the USC Thornton School of Music. Isabella also shares her love of music through collaboration with other pianists and violinists. She has worked on piano duets and violin sonatas, such as Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 6 in A Major, Op. 30 No. 1, showcasing her ability to communicate ideas with fellow pianists to work towards a common goal.

When she is not practicing piano, Isabella enjoys playing tennis and the video game Crossy Road.