Koa String Quartet: Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Colorado Boulder
Kisa Uradomo, First Violin
Leah Pernick, Second Violin
Devin Cowan, Viola
Heewon Lee, Cello
Program
String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat Major, op. 74 Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet No. 2 in a minor, Op. 17 Bela Bartok
String Sextet No. 1 in B Flat Major, Op. 18 (2 mvts tbd) Johannes Brahms
Programs are subject to change and additional works will be added.
Group Bios
The Koa String Quartet is composed of violinists Kisa Uradomo (Maui, Hawai’i) and Leah Pernick (Metro Detroit, Michigan), violist Devin Cowan (Long Island, New York), and cellist Heewon Lee (O’ahu, Hawai’i). Formed in 2023, Koa is the Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Colorado Boulder where they study with the Takács String Quartet and were the first prize winners of the 2024 Ekstrand Competition. Koa is invested in presenting high quality classical music, fostering musical engagement with communities, and performing music by living composers. In addition to performing classical string quartet repertoire, Koa also performs Hawaiian music written by Queen Lili’uokalani, fiddle tunes, film scores, and pop covers. As part of their residency at CU Boulder, Koa performs compositions written by composition students each semester.
In fall of 2025, Koa held a weeklong residency in Minneapolis through the MacPhail Center for Music. During this residency, they led interactive presentations for students at 5 different high schools, presented 4 children’s concerts, performed 2 concerts for assisted living communities, attended a side-by-side rehearsal with an amateur adult orchestra, and performed a full recital.
In the summer of 2025, Koa studied with the Dalí Quartet during the Off the Hook Music Spoke Festival; while at Off the Hook, they presented educational concerts for children, performed several community concerts, and collaborated with the Dalí Quartet on Niels Gade’s Octet and Mozart’s G Minor Quintet. They were also the Emerging Quartet-in-Residence at the Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival where they worked with the Arianna Quartet, Calidore Quartet and Brooklyn Rider, and collaborated with Wendy Chen and Christopher Constanza on the Faure Piano Quintet and Enescu Octet. While at Madeline Island, they also served as mentors for high school chamber groups and presented public concerts for the community.
During their time as a quartet, they have prioritized their education goals through their work with El Sistema Denver coaching chamber groups, their involvement with public school orchestra programs in Boulder, their weeklong residency at the MacPhail Center for Music, their weeklong residency at Bravo! Vail in 2024, and their work as the Quartet-in-Residence at the Hana Hou Music Program in 2024 and 2025, an educational nonprofit in Maui founded by first violinist Kisa Uradomo. This past year at Hana Hou, Koa visited 9 schools, taught 18 different sessions, and performed at 7 community concerts.
The name “Koa” comes from the tree in the Hawaiian Islands, and the wood symbolizes strength and courage.
Kisa Uradomo, First Violin
An aspiring professional violinist and music educator, Kisa Uradomo is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, where she received her Specialist degree in Violin Performance and studied with Professor Aaron Berofsky. She received her Masters of Music degree in Violin performance from the same institution, and in 2019, she completed her Bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance at the Eastman School of Music. She has also played in master classes for the Shanghai Quartet, the Elias Quartet, Roman Rabinovich, Hub New Music, Renee Jolles, Jennifer Ross, and more. In her formative years, Kisa also played percussion and trumpet in symphony/community bands and trumpet in jazz band. These experiences led her to thrive in environments such as being concertmaster for Eastman’s Studio Orchestra which is a group collaboration between the classical and jazz departments. She was then invited to play on recordings for jazz composers George Darrah and Dave Rivello.
As a music educator, Kisa was invited to be a teaching fellow at the National Orchestral Institute + Festival in 2019, which collaborated with Hawaii Youth Symphony’s summer program called Pacific Music Institute. There, she coached orchestra sectionals and chamber music groups while giving back to the youth program she participated in for 4 years. Kisa has also participated in numerous summer festivals such as Chautauqua Institution, Zephyr International Chamber Music Festival, Brevard Music Festival, National Youth Symphony of the United States, California Summer Music and Indiana University Summer String Academy. Her most recent education project is the establishment of the Hana Hou Music Program, which strives to encourage the growth of music education in Maui by utilizing a classical music background to inspire young students on the joys of live music. Hana Hou’s inaugural season will take place in the late summer of 2022, visiting dozens of public schools on the island of Maui, as well as providing a number of public concerts in the community.
Kisa was born and raised on the island of Maui where she grew up listening to the music of a rich cultural melting pot. Aside from classical music, Kisa was able to play alongside prominent Hawaiian musicians such as Uluwehi Guerrero, Amy Hanaiali’i, Branscombe Richmond, Makana and the late Willie Kahaiali’i.
Leah Pernick, Second Violin
Violinist Leah Pernick is currently based in Boulder, Colorado where she is a member of the Koa String Quartet studying in the University of Colorado’s Graduate String Quartet Program. Leah holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance where she studied with Aaron Berofsky and Kathryn Votapek. Previously, she studied violin with Elizabeth Rowin. Leah has attended music festivals throughout the United States and abroad, including the Chigiana International Music Program in Italy, Detroit Symphony Orchestra Summer Institute, Luby Violin Symposium, Chautauqua Music Festival, Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute in Toronto, and the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute. Outside of music, she enjoys making bagels, propagating houseplants, and spending time outdoors.
Devin Cowan, Viola
Devin Cowan is an artist and performer currently living in Boulder, Colorado. He holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, The Juilliard School, and University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Currently, Devin is in the doctoral track at University of Colorado at Boulder where he studies viola with Erika Eckert and Richard O’Neill. He is also a member of the KOA String Quartet; in residency at the university and learning from the Takács Quartet. Some of his most important former mentors have been Jinjoo Cho, Kirsten Docter, Carol Rodland, and Tomoko Fujita.
Devin has appeared in concert halls across the United States and is an active chamber musician, formerly a member of the Cushman String Quartet and the Solideo String Quartet. During his time in Massachusetts, Devin was part of the New England Repertory Orchestra. He has trained with the Cavani Quartet as well as with members of the Juilliard String Quartet, the Attacca Quartet, and the Bryant Park Quartet. In 2023, he made his concerto debut with the Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestra.
Devin has taught violin and viola at Clark University and was a member of the viola faculty at Kinhaven Music School Senior Session. He has also been a guest chamber music coach with the Stony Brook Young Artists Summer Institute as well as the Chamber Music Center of NYC. In his free time Devin loves riding his bike, hiking around the rockies, and is an avid New York Mets fan.
Heewon Lee, Cello
Currently based in Boulder, Colorado, Heewon Lee is the cellist of the Koa String Quartet and in the Graduate String Quartet program at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Prior to the Koa String Quartet, she has traveled the world touring on cruise ships, performing as the Lincoln Center Stage Piano Quartet and captivating audiences on and off the ship.
Lee has also performed in the cello section of the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Artosphere Festival Orchestra, the Sarasota Opera Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. She was recently appointed Principal Cellist of the Boulder Symphony in October 2024.
Lee held a faculty cello position at the Kanack School of Music and Artistry in Rochester, New York from 2020-2022. She has taught private lessons, group classes, and coached chamber groups of all ages while teaching students online from various cities of New York and California. Lee holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Eastman School of Music. Her primary teachers were Amir Eldan, Steven Doane, and Rosemary Elliott.