Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Manuel Lok is currently a graduate student pursuing his master’s degree in violin performance studying under the direction of Ilya Kaler at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He recently participated in the National Youth Orchestra of Canada for their 2022 season and was the recipient of the Stephen Sitarski Leadership Award for his role as co-concertmaster of the orchestra. He was also accepted into the String Insiders’ In-Person Strings Intensive fellowship program for 2022 where he worked closely with and performed alongside the Rolston String Quartet. 

Lok holds a bachelor of music degree from the Mannes School of Music where he studied with Lewis Kaplan and Yibin Li. While at Mannes, Lok was a member of the Mannes Baroque Chamber Players, as well as Mannes’ Philip Glass Ensemble. Prior to his undergraduate degree, Lok was a member of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra for two years where he served as principal second violin for the 2016-2017 season. He is also a graduate of Unionville High School, where he participated in the Arts Unionville music program and served as the concertmaster of the Arts Unionville String and Symphony Orchestra in his senior year. He has previously also studied privately with Hyung-Sun Paik, Min-Jeong Koh, Erika Raum and Luri Lee.