17-year-old Alina Chen is a Year 13 student at Baradene College who is currently under the tutelage of Dr. Luca Manghi and Melanie Lançon. After beginning piano lessons at an early age, Alina began her flute studies when she was 9 years old. By the age of 12, she had achieved ABRSM Grade 8...
Esther Park was born in Korea and moved to New Zealand when she was ten years old. When she was young she picked up the flute, violin, cello, and piano, but she liked the flute the best. She is currently a student at the University of Auckland, majoring in Flute, Classical Music and learning...
Reynold has played the clarinet for 6 years and has achieved his LTCL diploma. He learns from James Fry. He has also achieved Grade 8 in piano, learns conducting with Vincent Hardaker and composition with Matthew Fuerst. Reynold is a scholarship member of the Pettman National Junior Academy and won his age category in...
Wayne is a Year 13 student at Macleans College, who is really passionate about music across all different genres. He plays in the orchestra and concert band at school as the Principal Clarinetist and he is also part of the school’s chorale and musical productions. Besides music, Wayne is part of the school debating...
Alex Wu started playing the oboe at the age of 8, and he has been learning from Martin Lee for almost 3 years. Alex has previously been the principal oboe of the Youth Orchestra Waikato and Aotea Youth Symphony. He won the Intermediate section of the New Zealand Double Reed Society Competition in 2019...
Joy is a Year 13 student at ACG Sunderland. She finished her ABRSM Grade 8 flute exam in early 2021. This is her sixth year being part of an orchestra and second year in AYO. She is looking forward to playing music with AYO this year. Joy also likes mathematics and making new friends....
This is Sue Lynn’s fourth year in AYO and she’s excited to continue meeting people, learning and making more amazing music as a part of the AYO community! After starting piano at a young age, Sue Lynn was introduced to the bassoon by her college music teacher. The school had just acquired a bassoon...
Akari completed her Bachelor of Music majoring in Classical Oboe Performance at the University of Auckland in 2020, where she studied under Martin Lee. She is currently pursuing her Honours degree. Akari has been a member of the Auckland Youth Orchestra since 2017 and has become the principal oboe in 2019. She was the...