Young-Chang Cho gave his first public performance as a soloist with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 12. The following year, he went to the United States to study with David Soyer at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and later with Lawrence Lesser at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. After graduating from the NEC in 1980, he continued his studies in Europe with Siegfried Palm and Mstislav Rostropovich.

Between 1981 and 1985, Young-Chang Cho won numerous prizes at international competitions, including the Rostropovich International Cello Competition (Paris), Pablo Casals International Cello Competition (Budapest), and the ARD International Cello Competition (Munich). He also received prizes from international competitions for piano trio in Geneva and Munich together with his two sisters in the Cho Piano Trio.

His musical activities in different parts of the world include solo recitals, chamber concerts, radio and television appearances, CD recordings, and concerts as a soloist with prominent orchestras, including Washington National Symphony with Mistislav Rostropovich conducting, NHK symphony in Japan, Sofia Philharmonic in Bulgaria, and Theatro Communal of Bologna, Italy.

He has been invited to several international music festivals, including the Kronberg International Cello Festival, each time giving recitals and masterclasses. In 1994 and 1997, he was invited by Rostropovich to be on the jury of the Rostropovich International Cello Competition in Paris. He has also been invited to be on the jury of the Tchaikovsky International Music Competition (Moscow), ARD International Competition (Munich), ARD International Duo competition (Munich), Markneukirchen Competition, etc.

The New York Times praised Young-Chang Cho’s concerts as “one of the most exciting musical events of the year,” and The Strad wrote of him as “a player with atom-splitting control and seemingly endless powers of expression.” In 1987, Young-Chang Cho was appointed professor at the Folkwang Hochschule fur Musik in Essen, Germany.