The Mentors
All the badass mentors here.
Violinist Alan Choo is known on the international stage as a soloist, chamber musician and historical performance specialist. He made his solo debut with the Grammy Award-winning baroque orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, at the Tanglewood and Ravinia Music Festivals in 2017, and currently serves as Artistic Leadership Fellow for the ensemble, where he takes on soloist, concertmaster and guest director roles. He is also Founder and Artistic Director of Red Dot Baroque, Singapore’s first professional period ensemble and Ensemble-in-Residence at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music.
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A masters graduate of the Royal College of Music, Alexander is one of Singapore's finest Horn players who was the only South-East Asian representative at the Pacific Music Festival, Lucerne Festival Academy and Britten Pears Orchestra Academy. During his studies, he has won the NAFA Music Essentials Concerto Competition the RCM Contemporary Competition. Previously holding the Principal Horn position at the Sun Symphony Orchestra, Alexander is now a Brass Professor at his Alma Mater, NAFA.
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Allie Su has taught and performed extensively as a chamber musician throughout the United States, Asia and Europe. Specializing in wind and brass accompanying, Su has collaborated with many leading artists including Nitzan Haroz, Carol Jantsch, Denison Paul Pollard, Demondrae Thurman, Toby Oft, Benjamin Kamins, George Sakakeeny, and Alexa Still in various concert venues. Su has served as a collaborative pianists in major festivals including Perlman Music Program, Interlochen Center for the Arts, American Viola Society, Cooper International Violin Competition and Meadowmount School of Music Summer Festival.
As a internationally recognized chamber artist, Su has taught, performed and given master classes at the Oberlin Conservatory, University of Texas in Austin, University of Denver, University of Colorado in Boulder, Cleveland State University, Taipei University, Tunghai University, Sun Yat-sen University, Seoul National University, Yonsei University. Besides being an instrumental accompanying specialist, Su also served as a vocal coach and staff pianist for the Land of Enchantment Opera, Young Artist Program at the Butler Opera Center, and Franco-American Vocal Academy, ISING Summer Festival in Suzhou, China and Lingua e Canto in Sant’ Angelo in Vado, Italy.
Allie Su is currently on faculty at the Tianjin Juilliard School in Tianjin, China where she is an instructor in the graduate school, chamber coach in the pre-college division, and staff pianist area coordinator. Prior to her position at Tianjin Juilliard School, Su served as a full-time collaborative pianist at the Oberlin Conservatory and a piano faculty member at the Oberlin Community Music School.
Su has a DMA in collaborative piano from the University of Texas in Austin under the tutelage of Anne Apperson and an MM in piano performance from Arizona State University.
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Juilliard Graduate and Multi-GRAMMY Award nominee Alphonso Horne thrills audiences with his soulful sound and dramatic sensibility. The true embodiment of class and eclecticism, Alphonso has collaborated with artists from all genres and disciplines including Wynton Marsalis, Patti Labelle and Rihanna. Alphonso can also be seen on CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and in the Hollywood Jazz Film, “BOLDEN”.
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Amelia is currently concertmaster of the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong. Formerly concertmaster of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, she has also performed with the New York Philharmonic extensively. She has shared the stage as co-soloist or chamber music partner with musicians such as Sir James Galway, Richard Galliano, and Sharon Isbin. Her performances have been broadcast on WQXR, New York; WQED, Pittsburgh; West Virginia Public Broadcasting; BBC Radio Scotland; and RTHK Radio 4, Hong Kong.
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Andy Reiner, an award-winning fiddler, singer, actor and composer, began playing at age five with the Reiner Family Band. Many of Andy's string orchestra works, fiddle tunes and songs are influenced by mountains and nature. He is also known as the "Skiing Fiddler." Andy skis every month of the year and has skied while playing the fiddle top to bottom on double black diamond runs at Silverton, CO and Mt. Baker, WA.
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Anni Hochhalter currently serves as French horn player and Executive Director of internationally recognized wind quintet, WindSync. As a founding musician of the ensemble, she is an active innovator in the arts field and has performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles across North America, Europe, and Asia. Artistic distinctions with WindSync include being named a winner of the 2012 Concert Artist Guild International Competition, Gold Medalist at the 2016 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and M-Prize Finalist in 2018.
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Award winning composer, Ari Barack Fisher, received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from the Jacobs School of Music and is highly trained in composition, arranging, violin performance, conducting, teaching, and aural skills. In addition, he completed the Certificate Program at the Nadia Boulanger Institute in Paris, France and his music has been used across the nation in television ads. His concert works have been performed in Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan, and across the United States.
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New York City-based acoustic/electric bassist and composer Barry Stephenson has been acclaimed as “one of the most sought-after bassists on the scene today.” Released in 2020, Barry’s The Iconoclast was nominated for the NAACP Image Award® for Outstanding Jazz Album (Instrumental), and was notably the only independently-produced album in a category that included work by Jon Batiste, George Burton, Christian Sands, and Immanuel Wilkins. The Iconoclast was also named by Offbeat magazine as one of the Top 50 Albums of 2020.
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Benjamin Yeo (b.1985) is a Singaporean composer-conductor who is internationally recognized for his original wind band works. Most of Benjamin's compositions have been published by well-known and long-lasting American publisher of band music, C. L. Barnhouse Company. Selected works have also been published by Carl Fischer Music (USA) as well as reputable European publishing houses including Beriato Music (Belgium) and Tierolff Muziekcentrale (The Netherlands). A well sought-after composer-conductor, Benjamin largely writes commissioned works and remains an active clinician and conductor with both local and overseas invitations. He is also the Dean of Aesthetics Department (Music) at the Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) in Singapore.
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Bin Huang, one of the most outstanding violinists from China, first came to international attention at age fourteen when she won the Junior Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Lublin, Poland, sharing First Prize with Maxim Vengerov. She has maintained international prominence, winning both the Paganini International Violin Competition in Genoa, Italy, and the Munich (ARD) International Music Competition in Munich, Germany. Ms. Huang has been universally lauded for her interpretive and technical skills, hailed as "a winner in what matters the most" (The Washington Post) and "a talent that leaves a listener flabbergasted." (The Sun, Baltimore)
Bin Huang’s live recording of the Beethoven Violin Concerto on Paganini’s own violin the "Cannon," released by Dynamic label (2013) is the only existing live recording captured with that legendary instrument. Diapason praised it as "an interpretation of the highest class." Bin Huang’s Baroque Violin Favourites released by Naxos (2003) was given the Editor’s choice in the American Record Guide. Her recording of The Christmas Story on Dynamic (2013) and The Complete Mozart Violin Sonatas on Vermeer (2017) has also won critical acclaim. Her live performance of the complete Mozart concertos with the Carlo Felice Theater Orchestra in 2017 has been released recently under the Carlo Felice Theatre Archives.
Bin Huang’s concert career has taken her throughout the world, performing with leading orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Korean Broadcasting System Symphony Orchestra, and China National Symphony Orchestra; appearing at important concert venues such as the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Opera City in Tokyo, Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, and the People’s Great Hall in China. She was invited to play in the Inaugural Concert at the China National Performing Arts Center in Beijing and featured on CCTV’s (China Central TV) special program of the Ten-Most-Celebrated Violinists
As an active chamber musician, Bin Huang has played in the Marlboro Music Festival, where she performed with members of the Beaux Arts Trio and the Juilliard and Guarneri String Quartet. Bin was a violin professor at the Shanghai Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music. She is currently the Chair of Orchestral Instruments Department at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Bin Huang has given master classes throughout the USA, Asia, and Europe, and has served as an artist jury member in the 12th Stradivari Violin Making Competition in Cremona, the 2nd China Violin Making Competition in Beijing, and a jury member in the 53rd and 55th Paganini International Violin Competition in Genoa, Italy.
Bin Huang began her violin studies at age four in China, and entered the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing at age nine. After graduating from the Middle School Affiliated with the Central Conservatory, she went to the United States to study at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree and Artist Diploma. She also received her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees at the Eastman School of Music. Her teachers include Zhou Shantong, Guo Shumin, Wang Zhilong, Berl Senofsky, and Zvi Zeitlin.
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Brandon Lee is a free-lance jazz trumpeter, composer and arranger based in NYC. He has led and recorded 3 projects under his name, and 2 projects as co-leader of Uptown Jazz Tentet. He is a member of the world-famous Count Basie Orchestra, and the Grammy Award Winning Christian McBride Big Band. Brandon studied at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Wynton Marsalis, Mark Gould, and Joe Wilder. He has also taught at Juilliard (2009-12), as well as the University of North Carolina, Greensboro (2013-18).
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Brandon Wong is synonymous with the classical, jazz, pop and musical theatre scene in Singapore. A brilliantly versatile musician and audio engineer, Brandon has collaborated with major ensembles including the Singapore Armed Forces Bands, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Metropolitan Festival Orchestra and Asian Cultural Society Orchestra. Brandon graduated from Singapore Polytechnic with a Diploma in Electronics, Computer and Telecommunications in 1998. A full scholarship recipient, Brandon graduated in 2017 with B.Mus Honours(Distinction) - Double Bass Performance from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, NUS and is also recipient of the prestigious Steven Baxter Memorial Award for outstanding performance and achievements. Multitalented and naturally inquisitive, Brandon extends his talents to being a double bass luthier, audio engineer and video producer with clients extending to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and University of California Irvine, USA to name a few.
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Carl Lundgren is a trombonist and arranger equally at home playing classical, jazz, and commercial music. Currently residing in Virginia, he was formerly an Adjunct Instructor of Trombone and Jazz Trombone at the University of North Texas. Carl was a founding member and the Musical Director of the Maniacal 4 trombone quartet. An alumnus of the One O’Clock Lab Band, he was nominated for two Grammys. Carl performs on Antoine Courtois Paris trombones and Denis Wick mouthpieces.
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Caroline Reyes received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in harp performance and ethnomusicology from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. An active performer and educator, Professor Reyes currently serves on the faculty of Los Angeles City College and has performed with many notable ensembles, including the Long Beach Symphony and The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Camille is a PR and communications consultant specializing in media relations, digital marketing, and special events production for artists, cultural organizations, and small businesses. Her work experience includes managerial positions at Blue Note Hawaii, George Mason University's College of Visual & Performing Arts, the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, and GALA Hispanic Theatre. She holds an M.S. in Arts Administration from Boston University, an M.M. from The University of Akron, and a B.M. from the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music.
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Soloist in the Grammy Award Winning album Duruflé: The Complete Choral Works. Cecilia specializes in Early and Contemporary music, and has premiered several operas and chamber works. Cecilia also works to promote Spanish and Latin American repertoire.
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A versatile musician and enthusiastic chamber musician, pianist Dr. Cherry Tsang has shared the stage with renowned musicians including Esteban Batallán Cons, James Thompson, Giuliano Sommerhalder, Florent Héau, Michel Arrignon and Piotr Milewski. Cherry is a piano faculty at Hong Kong Baptist University, and coaches piano chamber music and graduate degree collaborative piano at the HK Academy for Performing Arts.
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Curtis Stewart, NYC native and genre bending violinist, enjoys an eclectic career bouncing between concerts in various realms of music: from MTV specials with Wyclef Jean and sold out shows at Madison Square Garden with Stevie Wonder, to stints at the Kennedy center with the Jimmy Heath Big Band and performance installations at the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, and Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
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Violinist Chloe Fedor is known for her “lovely, plush, seductive tone” (New York Times), “soulful, virtuosic” playing and “impeccable technical control” (Opera News). A specialist in gut-string historical performance, Chloe is a sought after Baroque and Classical violin soloist, concertmaster and chamber musician across North America. She is a member of Apollo’s Fire and the concertmaster and curator of Baroque programming at the Lakes Area Music Festival.
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Chris Kim has been playing in orchestras and chamber groups since 2006. In 2010 Mr. Kim earned his BM from the University of North Texas under the tutelage of Jeff Bradetich and in 2013 he also earned his MM from Indiana University under the study of Bruce Bransby. He has participated in summer festivals including Aspen Music Festival and NRO. Mr. Kim was also a finalist and has played with the New World Symphony in Miami, FL. Currently, Mr. Kim resides in Portland, OR where he is an acting member of the Oregon Symphony and is an active teacher in the Portland area. Chris plays a Guy Cole double bass with a label dated 2011.
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Dr. Christopher Janwong McKiggan is a multiple award-winning pianist, and playing has been called as “masterful, highly contrasted and sharply characterized” (Gramophone). He is the co-founder and head faculty of the Piano Academy of Bangkok, and his students have won hundreds of national and international awards. He is also the CEO of Chris the Pianist Productions, and has won awards as director and producer and has created many music videos, documentaries, company promotional videos and created commercials for brands such as AIS, Yamaha among others. His feature length Thai Documentary “Pain of Silence” has been awarded multiple winning awards from international film festivals and has been selected as an official selection at the BAFTA qualifying film festival Carmarthan Bay Film Festival.
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Canadian violinist Christopher Whitley is a versatile performer, dedicated educator, and genre-defying composer. As a founding member of the Thalea String Quartet, Christopher has performed recitals across North America, Europe, and China. Christopher has spent more than a decade developing and presenting innovative educational programming. As a composer, Christopher has released original works on a number of international record labels. Christopher performs on the 1700 “Taft” Stradivari, generously on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank.
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Christina Zhou is the Founder of 12Petals. A highly sought-after freelance violinist and leading educator in Singapore, she is currently the Director and Principal of Coronation Music School. Christina has performed extensively as a classical chamber and orchestral violinist, as a session player for other genres and commercial projects both in the States and in Singapore. With a life-long mission to empower and uplift others, Christina strongly believes in creating a healthier ecosystem through music and education.
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Chun Meng Kang has been hailed as one of the most exciting brass soloists in Singapore, currently serving as the Principal Euphonist of the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band and the Lion City Brass Band. After his debut with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, he has been invited to perform in countries such as Germany, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia as a soloist. Also established as a brass educator in Singapore, he is currently Adjunct Principal Study Lecturer of Euphonium at his alma mater, the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
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Cornelia Sommer is a bassoonist, arranger, and educator dedicated to sharing music with diverse audiences and expanding the bassoon’s repertoire. Originally from Seattle, she is now a doctoral candidate at The Juilliard School, where she currently teaches music history. Cornelia has appeared with the Seattle Symphony, International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico, and American Bach Soloists. She will release her first album, New Enchantments, in 2021. Cornelia is a graduate of Yale University and Indiana University.
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Singaporean Composer-Conductor Darius Lim is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Voices of Singapore Festival & Choral Society. His numerous hats in the music industry include Council Member in the Asia Pacific Choral Council, Board Chairman of the World Alliance of Children’s Choirs, and Deputy General-Secretary of the National Instructors & Coaches Association. An advocate of using choral music to change the lives of people in this new generation of technology, he was also a TEDx Speaker in 2020 presenting “The Voices of Singapore – Strengthening a Nation Through Choral Singing”. He has also served on various other international music adjudication panels and boards around the world and has held former posts as President of the Choral Directors Association (Singapore), Associate Choirmaster of the Singapore Symphony Children’s Choir and Music Director of the National University of Singapore Society Choir.
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After earning degrees from Northwestern University and Yale University, concert artist and educator, Duane Padilla began his performance career as an orchestral and active chamber musician. He is a section violinist in the Honolulu Symphony & New Haven Symphony. He was also a violist in the touring show of Lion King. Duane's more recent artistic endeavors have turned towards jazz. As a Founder of the award winning jazz group Hot Club of Hulaville, Duane has also served as an Executive Board Member for the American String Teachers Association. He is currently researching and exploring Hawaiian Music with the Sovereign Strings and the Mana Music Quartet.
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Senior Airman Dominic Sbrega is a former Grammy Band member, and Downbeat award winner. He Attended the Eastman School of Music, and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Performance from McGill University in Montreal. He worked as a cruise ship musician for 2 years on 3 cruise lines. He also has a year of freelancing in New York City under his belt. In 2019 he won an audition to become a bassist for the Air Force Academy Band in Colorado Springs.
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Core & Guest
Mentor
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is involved in
1:1 mentorship Program, Fireside Chat, Workshop
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is involved in
Fireside Chat, Workshop
Adam Maalouf is a Lebanese-American multi-instrumentalist, and composer. His cross-genre style of music forms a common thread between the cultures of the East and West. Adam has shared his music in venues across the world including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, MoMA, St. Basil's Cathedral, Tanglewood to name a few. As a collaborator, Adam has performed with ensembles such as The Brooklyn Raga Massive, Pink Martini and with artists such as Steve Reich, K'naan, Kygo. Adam holds a BA in Percussion Performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY and MBA in Music Business from Berklee School of Music.
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