The "Back to BACH" Project
Students for the Arts!
Abigail Leong
Member Since Fall 2019
Abigail Leong, age fifteen, started cello at the age of four. She currently studies under Jonathan Koh in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Previously, Abigail studied chamber music at the California Music Preparatory Academy and the Young Chamber Musicians program. In addition, Abigail has performed in masterclasses for renowned musicians such as Laurence Lesser, Paul Katz, Wei Yu, Julia Lichten, Mark Summer, the Daedalus Quartet, and Jon Nakamatsu. At the age of ten, Abigail made her solo debut at Carnegie Hall, performing the first movement of the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto. She recently performed the entire Dvorak Cello Concerto as the winner of the California Youth Symphony Young Artist Competition. Abigail has won first prize awards in the following competitions: California American String Teachers Association, Pacific Musical Society Foundation Competition, Burlingame Music Club Competition, Korean-American Music Supporters Association Competition, United States International Music Competition, ENKOR International Music Competition, and the American Protege International Concerto Competition. Since the age of six, Abigail has participated in summer music festivals. She studied at the Meadowmount School of Music for two summers. This past summer, Abigail attended Morningside Music Bridge at the New England Conservatory on full scholarship. She is a founding member of Quartet Cantare, which has helped raise funds to support the Northern California wildfire and Hualien Taiwan earthquake. During her free time, Abigail loves to dance, and is a member of the Ignite dance team at her high school.
Grace Huh
Member Since Fall 2019
Grace Huh, 16, a Junior at Lynbrook High School. Grace began playing the violin at the age of five. She is a scholarship student of Ian Swensen at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College Division and of Eric Chin of the Telegraph Quartet. Grace has soloed with Diablo Valley College Philharmonic Orchestra, KAMSA Youth Symphony Orchestra, Palo Alto Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, California Youth Symphony Senior Orchestra, and the Golden State Youth Orchestra. Her other accomplishments include First Prize at the Pacific Musical Society Scholarship Competition in 2015 and 2018, DVC/HNU Young Artist String Competition in 2018, and CMTANC Youth Music Competition in 2010 among others. She also won the Nafisa Taghioff Award of the Fremont Symphony Young Artist Competition in 2018 and Grand Prize at the DVC/HNU Young Artist String Competition in 2018 and the Korea Times Youth Music Competition in 2011. Grace has performed in master classes for acclaimed artists such as Noah Bendix-Balgley, Nikki Chooi, Midori Goto, Simon James, David Kim, Kyung Sun Lee, Jan Sloman, and William van der Sloot. She has worked with Jinjoo Cho, Ning Feng, Tadeusz Gadzina, Gwen Hoebig, Hagai Shaham, Almita Vamos, and Nancy Zhou. This summer, Grace toured Europe in prestigious halls such as the Elbphilharmonie and the Berlin Philharmonie as a first violinist in the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Aaron Hsia
Member Since Fall 2019
Violinist, Aaron Hsia, is a junior at The King’s Academy in Sunnyvale, California. He started playing the violin since he was four years old and is currently studying with Zhao Wei at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music pre-college division. Aaron has won many violin competitions, including the Chinese Music Teachers Association of Northern California (CMTANC) international competition, United States International Music Competition (USIMC), Bay Area Music Association (BAMA) competition, Silicon Valley Philharmonic Youth Music Competition, and United States Open Music Competition (USOMC). Adding on, his chamber groups have won the Galante Prize Competition, Silicon Valley Philharmonic Chamber Music Competition, USIMC Chamber Ensemble Competition. During the Christmas of 2017, Aaron played a concert with International Tchaikovsky Competition winner, Haik Kazazyan, in Taiwan. In addition, Aaron attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) during the summer of 2018, where he studied with Klaudia Szlachta, Hannah Choi, and Bayla Keyes. Aaron is currently a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. At school, Aaron is the concertmaster of his string orchestra and coaches the lower grade string clinic.
Philomen Wong
Member Since Fall 2019
Philemon Wong, age 15, is a junior at The King’s Academy. He has been playing the viola for 7 years, studying with Sujung Seok. Recent rewards Philemon Wong has won are 2018 USOMC Instrumental solo Int. 1st place, 2018 USIMC Viola 1st place, 2018 SVYS competition Viola High 1st place, and 2018 Korea Times Music Competition Viola 1st place. Philemon has been a member of Silicon Valley Youth Orchestra last 6 years, and participated in 2018 and 2019 All State Orchestra, and both places Phil plays as a first viola this year. Phil is happy to perform music as a solo or with his friends, and to be able to serve the community using his musical talent. This year he serves as a vice president at Nahnoom, which has been raising funds for disaster relief through concerts last 6 years. He is also very excited to play in Quartet Cantare, whose goal is helping the community.
Shawn Hsu
Member Since Fall 2019
Shawn Hsu, age 15, has been studying cello for 5 years with his teacher Jonathan Koh in Cupertino, California. He has participated and placed in many competitions, such as 1st place in KAMSA, honorable mention, 3rd place, and 2nd place at USIMC, 3rd place in USOMC, and 3rd place in VOCE state competition. He has also been selected as first chair of both CASMEC All-State Orchestra and MTAC Honors Orchestra. Furthermore, he attended Tanglewood Music Camp this past summer for the Shawn also plays in the Zeitlos Trio with pianist Tia Chang and violinist Laura Kim. With them, he has gotten 3rd place in both USOMC and the VOCE state competition. He has also played with them in a masterclass taught by the Parker Quartet.
Andrew Hartley
Member Since Fall 2019
Andrew Hartley (17) is a hardworking individual who has a passion for robotics and videography. Last season, his robotics team was awarded the inspire award for his unique design on the robotic arm. Andrew will be leading the Computer Aided Design team in robotics this year. Andrew also has filmed the Los Altos Hills Pathways run for his town for the past four years and has lots of experience filming his personal projects which include building batteries to designing a CNC machine.
Minho Kwon
Member Since Fall 2019
Minho is currently fourteen years old and attends The King's Academy in Sunnyvale, California. Minho started learning violin at the age of seven, and his current violin teacher is Saewon Oh. Minho had his first violin recital in third grade. He had participated in Silicon Valley Youth Orchestra for two years, and is currently participating in Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra and Korean-American Music Supporters' Association. Minho loves to help out his community with the things he had and so he actively participates in various activities, such as events at church, or at missions and also teaches violin to the seniors. Minho's other passion is playing many kinds of sports, but his favorites are basketball and volleyball.