Julian Kwok

About

Julian Kwok serendipitously began playing the viola at the age of eight after being told that his school had run out of violins to borrow. He has played the viola ever since, except for his final year of high school as he had no intention of continuing with a career on the viola at the time. However, with an evident change of heart, Julian has gone on to complete his undergraduate music performance degree in 2024 at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he studied the viola with Stuart Johnson and Roger Benedict. As an orchestral violist, he has played with the Australian Youth Orchestra (AYO), undertaken AYO’s professional immersion program with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and was principal viola of the Sydney Youth Orchestra (SYO) in 2022. He has performed on tours to the United Kingdom and Europe with the Sydney Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra in 2022, and SYO in 2019. As a chamber musician, Julian has participated in the AYO’s Chamber Players program, and he is the violist of the Delvinian String Quartet, which was awarded Third Prize in the 2024 Convimus International Chamber Music Competition in Porto, Portugal.

Photographer: Christopher Hayles