1. Yu-Chien Tseng – (B. 1994) Born in Taipei County (now New Taipei City). He started to study the violin at the age of 5. By the age of 6, he had already performed with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. After moving out of Taiwan, he immigrated to the United States where he enrolled in the Curtis Institute. Winning back to back major competitions like the 10th Pablo Sarasate International Competition in Pamplona (Spain) and then the 2011 Isang Yun Competition in Yongyeong (South Korea), he set himself up for major success in future competitions.
After early success in competitions he went on to get a special prize at the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition and in the 2012 Queen Elisabeth Competition he placed 5th. From these outcomes in competition he had opportunities to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Belgium and orchestras in Singapore, Taipei and Navarra among others. As a soloist he’s given concerts in cities across Europe, Asia and the US.
2. Peter Fang – was born into a musical family and learned to love the piano from growing up in a house where his father taught piano. At the age of 4 he began playing and by the age of 7 he gave his first public performance.
Peter holds degrees from the New England Conservatory, The Juilliard School, and Yale University. He is currently pursuing a Doctoral of Musical Arts degree in piano performance at USC, where he studies with Jeffrey Kahane. A first prize winner at the 2012 Steinway Piano Competition, Peter has performed at Lincoln Center in New York, Symphony Hall in Boston, Universität Mozarteum in Austria, and National Concert Hall in Taipei, as well as other prestigious venues.
3. En-Chi Cheng – Taiwanese violist En-Chi Cheng’s recent performance highlights include a solo appearance with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra playing the Walton Concerto. He also performed as part of the 30th anniversary celebration concert series of the Taiwan National Concert Hall and chamber concert tours led by Nobuko Imai. He has been heard in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera House, and Dresdner Philharmonie. He garnered the Balmoral Prize and the Josef Weinberger Publisher Prize in the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. He was a semifinalist in the 67th ARD International Music Competition and the 4th Tokyo International Viola Competition. He received the Chi-Mei Arts Award from the Chi-Mei Cultural Foundation in 2012 and 2014. He has held the principal viola chair of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard Orchestra, and the Moritzburg Academy Chamber Orchestra, among others. As a chamber musician, he has performed with renowned artists such as Nobuko Imai, Ilya Kaler, Joseph Lin, Meng-Chieh Liu, and Peter Wiley. He has participated in a number of festivals, including the Marlboro Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, and the Taos School of Music. Mr. Cheng completed a master’s degree at The Juilliard School, studied with Samuel Rhodes, and was a recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the Curtis Institute of Music, as a pupil of Joseph de Pasquale and Hsin-Yun Huang.
4. I-Lin Tsai – Just off her West Coast Concert Tour 2022, Concert Musician I-Lin Tsai is, “re-engineering pop music into classical forms” and taking the “tradition of great artists…and carrying it forward” (New York Weekly). As a pianist and designer of digital music and art, she has delivered concert experiences across Asia, Europe, and the United States.
I-Lin Tsai was born in Tainan, Taiwan and began studying piano and violin at age seven. Today, based in the US, she’s captivated audiences with her approach to designing programs that feature music from Chinese Pop (C-Pop) arrangements to classical music composers like Debussy, Chopin, Bartok and Ravel. “She’s bringing the technical depth of a trained classical pianist to the catchy melodies and hypnotic harmonies of pop music…it’s exactly what classical music audiences are looking for – a renaissance.” (London Daily Post)
Along with being an active concert artist, she enjoys composing immensely. She is currently a composer for Diaghilev, a subsidiary of Oclef, Inc. As a project manager in the composer collective she has composed music for animated shows by producers and directors from Disney, Netflix and TCL. Also in her role as a Professor of Stage One Piano at Oclef School, she helps students to learn music by arranging pieces, developing curricula and by doing regular coachings.
I-Lin Tsai received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Penn State University under Dr. Christopher Guzman. She studied with Prof. Eteri Andjaparidze at New York University with the dual degree program (Master of Music and Advanced Certificate in Piano Performance and Pedagogy). I-Lin furthered her education at Oberlin Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Prof. Peter Takács, where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree
Now living in San Jose, California, I-Lin loves swimming, traveling and playing with her lizards and cat. When she’s not at the piano, her hobbies include creating digital art, listening to music by JJ Lin and playing League of Legends. She’s forever grateful for all the encouragement and help that she’s received from her beautiful mother, loving father and supportive brother that allowed her to pursue her passion for music all over the world.
5. Chih-Jung Lai – Chih-Jung LAI, who is currently studying at Royal College of Music and has won the First Prize for the 2018 International Haydn Piano Competition in Vienna.He made his concerto debut with Kaohsiung Youth Symphony Orchestra in 2007, playing Mendelssohn’s first concerto. He has performed in numerous concert halls including Taipei National Concert Hall, National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts, Rector’s Palace in Croatia, etc. He is also selected to play in several masterclasses and festivals, such as Salzburg Festival under Dominique Merlet and Robert Levin, and workshop by Maria João Pires. Chih-Jung is currently studying at the Royal College of Music for Artist Diploma under Ilya Kondratiev and Sofya Gulyak. He graduated with his Bachelor’s degree from the National Taipei University of the Arts (Taiwan) where he studied with German pianist, Rolf-Peter Wille. Wille’s guidance nurtured Chih-Jung’s interest in German-speaking composers, especially Beethoven and Schubert. Chih-Jung has won prizes at several national and international competitions, including first prize in the International Haydn Piano Competition in Vienna, and second prize in the national piano competition in Taiwan.
