Angela Chan, ​Violin

Praised for her sensitivity and incredible tone, Hong Kong born Chinese violinist Angela Chan has found success both as a soloist and a chamber musician. She is the winner of 2024 Hannover Joseph Joachim Violin Competition and recipient of the prize for the best interpretation of commissioned work, first prize and winner of the best interpretation of concerto prize in the 2017 Louis Spohr Violin Competition, and laureate of the Singapore International Violin Competition and Shanghai Issac Stern International Competition. Founder and violinist of the AYA piano trio, the trio has won first prize of the WDAV Chamber Music Competition and Yellow Spring Chamber Competition. Angela is fast emerging as one of the most unique and polished violinists of her generation.

As a soloist, Angela has appeared with numerous orchestras including NDR Radiophilharmonie, The Staatskapelle Weimar Orchestra of Germany, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Symphonia. In 2016, She was selected as a soloist to a tour around the states with The Curtis Chamber Orchestra. She has held many recitals in various cities such as Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, Sicily, Rome, Hong Kong, and Beijing.

As an active chamber musician, Angela has collaborated with world famous artists such as Nobuko Imai, Ning Feng, Phillip Setzer, Hsinyun Huang, Peter Wiley, Gary Hoffman, and Marcy Rosen. Angela’s festival appearances as a soloist and chamber musician include Heifetz Institute of Music as Artist-in-Residence, Verbier Festival Academy, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Angela recently attended the renowned Marlboro Chamber Music Festival. Angela has also served as guest concertmaster for Singapore Symphony and Macao Orchestra.

Angela started playing the violin at the age of 3 under her mother. She continued her violin studies with Michael James Ma, Vera WeiLing Tsu in Beijing, China, and Shmuel Ashkenasi, Pamela Frank, and Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Institute of Music. With full scholarship granted, she received her master’s degree with Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory of Music. She is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Queen Elizabeth Music Chapel in Belgium.

Angela is the first awardee of the Music and Dance Distinguished Performance Commendation Scheme of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and the scholarship recipient of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance fund and the Lin Yao Ji Foundation.



Ying Li, Piano

Praised by Cleveland Classical as "graceful and lyrical," Ying Li is a 27-year-old Chinese pianist and the First Prize winner of the 2021 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. She has garnered numerous accolades in national and international competitions, including the inaugural Premio Internazionale Antonio Mormone in Italy, and first prizes at the Sarasota Artist Series Piano Competition, Brevard Music Festival solo and concerto competitions, and the International Liszt Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Moscow.

Highlights of her 24/25 season features a European tour of Beethoven 3rd Piano Concerto with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, debut concerto appearances with Kansas City Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic season finale, Nurnberg Philharmoniker, as well as guest soloist for Minnesota Orchestra’s Lunar New Year Concert.

Ying has collaborated with esteemed conductors and orchestras worldwide, including Maestros Lina Gonzalez-Granados with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Xian Zhang with the New Jersey Symphony, Mario Venzago with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Gabriel Feltz with the Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Dan Ettinger with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Laura Jackson with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Julio Garcia Vico with the Chamber Orchestra of Mantova, and Pier Carlo Orizio with the Brescia & Bergamo Festival Philharmonic.

As a recital soloist, Ying has debuted at venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Konzerthaus in Berlin, and the Fazioli Concert Hall in Italy. The 2024/25 season highlights include a Beethoven concerto tour with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, performances with the Minnesota Symphony for the Chinese Lunar New Year, and engagements with the Kansas City Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Eugene Symphony, and Nurnberger Philharmoniker.

Her debut album, featuring works by Mozart and Bartók, was released with Universal x Decca in the 2022/23 season.

Ying began her piano studies at age five in China, attending the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. At 14, she moved to Philadelphia to study at the Curtis Institute of Music with Seymour Lipkin and Jonathan Biss. After earning her Bachelor of Music degree from Curtis in 2019, she completed her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School under Robert McDonald in 2021. Recently, she achieved the prestigious Artist Diploma from Juilliard as the only Chinese piano graduate of the class of 2024.


 
Andres Sanchez-Linares, Cello

Cellist Andres Sanchez-Linares, born in Allentown PA, began his cello studies at the age of eight years old under the wing of former Puerto Rico symphony cello principal Miguel Rojas. He continued his studies with cellist Jesus Morales, member of the Dali Quartet and former principal of the Puerto Rico Symphony. At 10 years of age, Andres made his first solo debuts in the Midwest Clinic of Chicago and the Ocean City Pops orchestra. Three years later, he made his Carnegie hall debut as soloist with the ArCoNet chamber orchestra and at age 16 was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with cellists Peter Wiley and Carter Brey. Following his graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2020, he continued his studies at the New England Conservatory with Paul Katz and graduated this past Spring.

Andres has made solo appearances with the Kennet Square Symphony, the Central Jersey Symphony, the Summit Symphony, Pennsylvania Sinfonia, and the Gabrieli Ensemble. As member of the AYA Trio, he made his Beethoven triple concerto debut with the Waterbury Symphony and performed across the country in esteemed series including Concerts International in Memphis TN, the Schneider Concert series at the Mannes School of Music, the Brevard Music Center and New York City’s Merkin Concert Hall.

Andres has been a participant of several competitions including the 73rd ARD International Competition, 2024 Walter W. Naumburg Competition, the 2018 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, 2018 M-Prize, 2017 Hudson Valley, Greenfield, and the Carlos Prieto International Cello competition. In 2018, the AYA piano trio won 1st prize in the WDAV competition, and the trio also won joint first prize in the 2020 Yellow Springs Competition. The following year, the AYA trio was nominated as a semi finalist of the Naumburg Foundation Chamber Music Competition and the Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition. Andres was selected as a Senior division semi-finalist of the 27th annual Sphinx Competition as one of two cellists chosen to participate and was awarded honorable mention.