Twelve-year-old Anny Wang was born in Singapore and moved to Auckland with her family in 2016. She has been learning the piano since she was 5 and in 2018 began learning the cello with teacher Taki Zhang. Anny joined Pettman National Junior Academy of Music in 2020 and has been learning from Edith Salzmann. In...
Ray holds a LTCL with distinction in violin performance and was the APO Young Soloist of the Year for 2015. He is also a keen chamber music player, winning the NZCT Chamber Music Contest in 2013. He has also performed fundraising recitals for the North Shore Hospice. Ray has been mentored by Mdm Zhang...
Olivia is a 16 year old violinist currently studying at Baradene College, who joined AYO in 2023. Ever since her exposure to music at the age of 4, she has since participated in various festivals, orchestra, concert bands and choirs. She has achieved Grade 8 violin with Distinction, having previously achieved Distinction in her...
Nineteen-year-old Esther Oh (they/them) first picked up the violin at age six. Since then they have taken part in a plethora of competitions, such as the National Finals of the NZ Chamber Music Contest. Qualifications include the NZQA Scholarship for Music, and the Trinity College London Diploma in Violin Performance, which they received with...
Ray is a Year 9 student at King’s College. He started playing violin at 5 years of age and piano at 6, and to date has enjoyed playing in school symphony and chamber music groups. Ray enjoys sports, including ice hockey, inline hockey, tennis, badminton, water polo, etc. He is also learning to code...
Celestine started learning the violin at the age of 12 and she is a current student at Mount Albert Grammar School. She has been passionate about music since a young age, when she learnt the piano, and has even had the opportunity to learn the trombone. Celestine plays in the orchestras at school and...
Isabel Lu is a first year student at University of Auckland studying Architecture. She started music at the age of 7, learning piano with teacher Guy Donaldson. She then began learning violin with Marise McNeill at 9 years old, and currently learns from Yury Gezentsvey. Isabel has completed her ATCL diploma for violin and recently...
Archie is 17 years old and is entering his final year of school at St Peter’s College in 2023. He has been playing the violin for 8 years and, having gained distinction in his Trinity College Grade 8 exam in 2019, is currently working towards his LTCL diploma. He is the concertmaster of his...
Damon began playing the cello shortly before his 4th birthday. From his formative start through the Suzuki Method with Sally-Anne and Anna-Marie Alloway, Damon went on to intensive studies with baroque specialist James Bush. In 2020 his chamber group Trio Achilles was runner-up at the NZCT National Chamber Music Competition, winning the inaugural Helen Young...
Eva is a 16 year old cellist who joined AYO in 2021. She enjoys performing solo as much as being in chamber groups and orchestras. In the past years, Eva has been performing both locally and internationally; in 2019, she performed at the Winners Recital in Carnegie Hall, New York. She also participated in...
Wenjia started learning the violin at the age of 4, and was admitted to the ninth grade of the Central Conservatory of Music in elementary school (the highest score) in China when she was 11 years old. Wenjia passed ABRSM Grade 8 with distinction when she was 12 years old and was admitted to...
Jessie is a fourteen-year-old student at ACG Sunderland who will be playing the double bass in AYO for the second year in 2022. She plays in the school chamber orchestra and has also played in Aotea Youth Symphony. Her teacher is Evgeny Lanchtchikov and she started learning double bass when she was 11. In...
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Oliver is a Year 13 student, studying double bass under the APO’s principal bass, Gordon Hill. Oliver is very interested in exploring the bass not only as an orchestral instrument, but a solo instrument too, which has led him to play in competitions such as the AYO concerto competition, and the NZSO Young Soloist...
Michael Wai-Kit Tran is a 17 year old student born in New Zealand. He started playing the violin at 13 years old and has been passionate about playing music ever since. Michael is also very passionate about composing music, in particular composing symphonic orchestrations....
Phoebe has been involved with music since the age of 4. Back then, Piano was her favourite, but due to school workload, she had to stop learning it. Phoebe started learning the cello at the age of 12 and, having achieved Distinction in the grade exams, is currently working towards her ATCL exam in...
Justin is a Year 11 student at Auckland Grammar School. He started playing the violin at the age of 6 with the Suzuki Music Program and achieved his Grade 8 exam in Nov 2019 with Distinction. In recent years, Justin has been searching for more performance opportunities to gain experience. Starting with the school...
Martin is in his final year studying engineering at the University of Auckland. He started playing the violin when he was seven and has achieved Grade 8 with Distinction. He also plays the piano and has completed his DipABRSM. Martin has been playing in AYO since 2019 and he is excited to continue working...
Zosia is in demand as a solo, orchestral, and chamber musician, as well as an organist, and emerging young conductor in the New Zealand choral and instrumental space. She was appointed Concertmaster of AYO in January 2022, was also the 2022 Concertmaster of both the University of Auckland Symphony Orchestra and the UofA Opera...
Bryan started playing in AYO in 2017. He is studying towards his piano performance degree at the University of Auckland and hopes to further his study in violin performance thereafter. Bryan enjoys performing for people in the community and loves playing in (too many) orchestras as well as smaller chamber music ensembles. Outside of...