60th Cohort – 2023 Young Artists
This group of 19 exceptional violinists, violists, cellists, and pianists was selected through a rigorous international audition. The School’s alumni can be found in leading chamber music ensembles, orchestras, and teaching positions throughout the world. This summer, see the next generation of great musicians.
Violinists | Violists | Cellists | Pianists
VIOLIN
I-hao Cheng started his musical journey under the guidance of his mother at the age of 5 in Taiwan. He played piano, cello, and violin during his childhood but soon found his real passion in violin performance.
At the age of 12, I-hao was accepted to Mikhail Kopelman’s studio at the Eastman School of Music. In February 2013, I-hao gave his first U.S. solo violin recital at Eastman School of Music. His passion and talent soon brought him to the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto where he worked with Victor Danchenko and Barry Shiffman with full scholarship. During the two years at the Royal Conservatory of Music, I-hao also won the first prize at Royal Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition.
In 2016, I-hao was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia. It was at Curtis Institute of Music, I-hao’s technical skills, musicality, and interpretation of music was further refined by working with renowned musicians such as Aaron Rosand, Gary Graffman, Ida Kavafian, Arnold Steinhardt, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Meng-Chieh Liu, Steven Tenenbom and Pamela Frank. I-hao currently studies with Midori Goto and holds the Joseph and Marie Field Fellowship. I-hao is the recipient of the 30th Chimei Artist Award.
Meet Lingyu: https://youtu.be/qtMxcBddzfk
Lingyu Dong made his solo debut at the age of 7 with the Shandong Symphony Orchestra and won his first major competition at the age of 11 in the Hong Kong International Violin Competition of 2011. Currently he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance at Curtis Institute of Music studying with Midori Goto and Arnold Steinhardt. He came to the United States in 2018 to study at the Colburn School in Los Angeles under the tutelage of Margaret Batjer. He was concertmaster of the Hong Kong Symphony Orchestra in 2017 and of the National Youth Orchestra of China from 2015-2017. He has also performed as soloist with the Austrian Philharmonic Orchestra in 2022, the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra in 2021, and the Russian National Symphony Orchestra in 2015. Mr. Dong has won many awards including first prize in the East Asia International Violin Competition in Japan in 2015 and has performed on many of the world’s most prestigious stages including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Salzburg Concert Hall and the Russian Kremlin Hall. Mr. Lingyu Dong was born in 2000 in Jinan, China.
Hannah Goldstick is an enthusiastic chamber, orchestral, and solo violinist committed to exploring and sharing a diverse array of music. A native of Phoenix, Arizona, she has performed in venues such as the Musical Instrument Museum, the Mesa Arts Center, and the Phoenix Art Museum as a soloist and as a part of a string quartet. In years past, Hannah has participated in music festivals across the country, including the Heifetz Institute, Bowdoin Festival, Red Rocks Music Festival, and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in 2021 and 2022. Hannah has also participated in a number of recital series as part of her studio at New England Conservatory that has been broadcast and shared through the Harvard Musical Association and The Violin Channel. She has performed in Jordan Hall as a part of Borromeo String Quarter’s Beethoven Seminar and participated in NEC’s nec[shivaree] and First Monday concerts.
Hannah recently completed her Bachelor’s degree with a minor in Poetry at New England Conservatory with Miriam Fried and is currently pursuing her masters. Prominent teachers and mentors include Jing Zeng, James Buswell, and Paul Biss.
Violinist *Nick Hammel* is currently pursuing his Master’s in Violin Performance at the New England Conservatory under Donald Weilerstein, and has also completed his Bachelor of Music Performance at the University of Texas at Austin under Sandy Yamamoto. He has soloed with orchestras such as the Richardson Symphony, Austin Civic Orchestra, and the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra. Nick was also a semi-finalist in the 2022 Young Texas Artists Music Competition and the 2022 Jefferson Symphony Young Artists Competition. Most recently, Nick won first prize in the 2022 Ann & Charles Eismann Young Artists Competition.
Nick is also an active chamber music performer, and has performed with artists such as Sandy Yamamoto, Bion Tsang, Andrew Brownell, and Anton Nel. His former group, Trio En, won Silver Medal in the Senior Strings Division of the 2020 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. They also placed first in the 2020 MTNA Chamber Music Competition, and were semifinalists in the 2020 Coltman Chamber Music Competition. Nick was also second violinist of the Favola Quartet, which won Grand Prize in the 2020 Coltman Chamber Music Competition.
Known for her genuine musicality, Jeein Kim has appeared in numerous stages worldwide. She has collaborated with orchestras including the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra, Northwest Sinfonietta, JK chamber orchestra, Prime Philharmonic Orchestra and Yonsei University Orchestra. She also gave recitals in the Kumho Art Hall, Shinhan Art Hall, Yonsei Kumho Art Hall and Elim Art Center. Other performances include appearances at Seattle channel ‘Music Encounter’, Chosunilbo Debut Concert, Young Mozart Concert and Mast Summer Academy Rising Star Concert.
She has won prizes in several competitions including Menuhin International Competition, Seoul International Competition, Northwest Sinfonietta Youth Competition, Shinhan Music Award, Ewha & Kyunghyang competition, Eumak Chunchu Competition, Donga Competition, Busan Competition and Joongang Competition.
She increased her musical boundaries to chamber music in the past several years, engaging in Borromeo Beethoven String Quartet Seminar, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and Heifetz Summer Institute.
Jeein graduated from the Preparatory School of Korea National University of Arts, Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts, Yewon school, Seoul Arts High School, Yonsei University, New England Conservatory and is currently studying with Ani Kavafian at Yale School of Music. Her former teachers on her journey include Soovin Kim, Dong-suk Kang, Sang-soon Lee and Bon-ju Koo.
Taiwanese violinist Yu-Ming (Andrew) Ma began his musical studies at the age of five. Since then, his dream has always been to be a musician. Being a well-rounded violinist, he enjoys performing actively as a soloist, a chamber musician, and an orchestra musician.
As a soloist Yu-Ming has performed concerti with a variety of orchestras. Highlights include Chausson’s Poème with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, and Dvorak’s Violin Concerto with the SiungSong Orchestra and Maestro Wen-Pin Chien in Taiwan. He has also appeared as a soloist in recital playing Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas, Ysaye’s Sonatas, and Strauss’ Violin Sonata in both Kaohsiung, Taiwan and the United States.
Yu-Ming’s chamber music festivals and competitions include the Encore Chamber Music Festival in Cleveland Ohio and the Kneisel Hall Chamber music festival in Blue Hill Maine. His string quartet, Quartet Avanzare, advanced to the semi-final round in the Fischoff 2019 Chamber Music Competition in South Bend Indiana. In February 2020, Yu-Ming was invited to the Tongyeong International Music Festival in Tongyeong Korea as a guest artist by noted violinist Jinjoo Cho. He performed a concert of string sextets that included works by Mozart, Strauss, and Schoenberg.
As an orchestral musician, Yu-Ming was a contracted member of the Akron Symphony Orchestra and performed with them regularly from 2017 to 2019. Memorable performances with the ensemble include Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 with guest conductor Benjamin Zander and Bernstein’s West Side Story. His orchestral experiences also include substituting for the Houston Symphony in 2022-2023.
During the course of his musical training, Yu-Ming’s teachers have included Todor Pelev, Ivan Zenaty, Jinjoo Cho, Jan Sloman, and Jaime Laredo. Currently, Andrew holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Cleveland Institute of Music and a Master’s Degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Rice University studying under the tutelage of Paul Kantor.
Julia Schilz is a 20-year-old violinist from Cleveland, Ohio. She began her violin studies with Kimberly Meier-Sims and Stephen Sims at CIM’s Sato Center for Suzuki Studies. This coming fall, Julia looks forward to continuing her undergraduate studies at Juilliard with Donald Weilerstein and Catherine Cho.
Julia is passionate about the symphonic repertoire, as evidenced by her engagement in a breadth of orchestral experiences. She spent the 2022-2023 year under a full-time, one-year contract with the Houston Symphony. Julia served as concertmaster for the Rice Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. She has also performed as a member of Carnegie Hall’s New York String Orchestra Seminar.
As a soloist, Julia has performed in Severance Hall with the Cleveland Pops and Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra as a concerto competition winner, and appeared with the Lakeland Civic Orchestra as a concerto winner in their junior and senior divisions. She performed with CIM Orchestra as winner of their pre-college concerto competition. She won first prize in the 2019 Ohio MTNA senior string division, and was the recipient of The Cleveland Orchestra Alice B. Weeks Memorial Scholarship award. She has performed in masterclasses given by Christian Tetzlaff, James Ehnes, Paul Kantor, David Bowlin, Laurie Smukler, and members of the Cleveland, Emerson, Cavani, and Miami quartets.
Julia believes her chamber music background played a significant role in shaping the musician she is today. She participated in Cleveland Institute of Music pre-college chamber performances for ten years under the tutelage of Peter Salaff and the Cavani Quartet, as well as the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra Advanced Performance Seminar. She attended the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival for two summers, and the Heifetz International Music Institute for three. Julia is also appreciative of the power of chamber music to connect people and communities. In 2018, she traveled to Kolkata, India as an intern with Kolkata Classics, a Secretary of State Award-winning NGO which seeks to use music as a vehicle for social service and advocacy.
Julia is grateful to all her mentors for their musical wisdom. With each performance, she strives to honor the honesty, elegance, and visceral joy of their musicianship. Her past musical influences include Jaime Laredo, the late Jan Sloman, William Preucil, and Cho-Liang Lin.
VIOLA
Hsiang-Hsin Ching is a passionate and committed Taiwanese violist and recording engineer. Currently attending the Peabody Conservatory studying with Choong-Jin Chang, Hsiang-Hsin is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Recording Arts and Viola Performance.
Invited as an orchestra academy member and section leader in the 2018 and 2019 Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, she earned abundant experiences in chamber music and orchestra. She was awarded full scholarships in Taipei Music Academy and Festival 2020 and Aspen School of Music 2022. In January and February 2023, she joined the Rachmaninoff 150 concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and pianist Yuja Wang. In March 2023, she played in the Philadelphia Orchestra with pianist Emanuel Ax and conductor Herbert Blomstedt.
Conor McAvinue, a violist from Wilmington, Delaware, currently plays in the viola section of the Houston Ballet Orchestra. He has previously subbed with the San Francisco Symphony, New World Symphony, and Canton Symphony Orchestra. While this is his first summer at Taos, Conor has attended other music festivals including IMS Prussia Cove, Sarasota Music Festival, New York String Orchestra Seminar, Aspen, Bowdoin, and NYO-USA. As a freshman, he won the Ohio Viola Society competition and has performed as a soloist with the CIM Orchestra, Lansdowne Symphony, and Newark Symphony Orchestra. Grateful for all his teachers and mentors, Conor first began studying with Shelley Beard-Santore at the Music School of Delaware and Sidney Curtiss of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He completed his undergraduate studies with Dimitri Murrath and Jonathan Vinocour at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with additional studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Jeffrey Irvine. Currently, Conor studies with James Dunham at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.
Nicolas Perkins, 21, is a Mexican-American violist who is currently studying at the Juilliard School under the guidance of Hsin-Yun Huang. He has had the privilege of studying with esteemed members of the Juilliard, Brentano, and Borromeo string quartets. In addition to his studies, Nicolas has also attended Kneisel Hall and the Gstaad Menuhin String Academy in Switzerland, where he had the opportunity to perform Brahms B-flat Sextet alongside Rainer Schmidt, the violinist of the Hagen Quartet. While at the Aspen Music Festival, he played a concert cycle of the Brandenburg concerti with Jory Vinikour, Chad Hoopes, Paul Huang, Matthew Lipman, Timothy Ridout, Nadine Asin, and Elaine Douvas. He has also participated in masterclasses with renowned violists such as Nobuko Imai, Antoine Tamestit, Ettore Causa, and Carol Rodland. Recently, Nicolas performed as part of Juilliard’s creative residencies at Chelsea Factory and Lincoln Center. He is a Virtu Foundation Scholar, and he was awarded a Joseph Grubaugh & Sigrun Seifert viola, which he plays on generous loan.
CELLO
Wei-An Hung is a Taiwanese cellist who began her musical studies at the age of seven. She is a well-rounded cellist who enjoys performing actively as a soloist, a chamber musician, and an orchestral musician.
As a soloist, Wei-An has performed concerti with a variety of orchestras. Some of her notable performances include Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante for Cello and Orchestra with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Inland Valley Symphony Orchestra, and Shostakovich Cello Concerto with Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra. Wei-An has also presented numerous recitals in Taiwan, China, the United States, and Canada. She has won several top prizes and awards, such as the Gold Medal and Agnew Bach Prize winner of the 2017 Cleveland Cello Society Scholarship Competition, Third Prize in the 2017 Tuesday Musical Scholarship Competition (TMSC), First Prize in the 2018 Arden J. Yockey Scholarship for strings, winner of 2018 CIM Concerto Competition, and made it to the semi-final round in the Fischoff 2019 Chamber Music Competition.
As an orchestral musician, Wei-An played in the Akron Symphony Orchestra and Canton Symphony Orchestra and performed with them regularly from 2017 to 2019. She was also invited to participate twice in the New York String Orchestra Seminar conducted by Jaime Laredo.
Wei-An holds a Bachelor of Music degree and a Master’s degree from Cleveland Institute of Music, an Artist Diploma from McGill University Schulich School of Music, and she is currently a doctoral student in Musical Art and a teaching assistant of Colin Carr at Stony Brook University.
Jonah Kernis is twenty years old and has been playing the cello from the age of three. Jonah currently studies with Paul Katz at the New England Conservatory. He recently was principal cellist for NEC’s symphony orchestra and was appointed a position in the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Prior to enrolling at NEC, Jonah studied with Natasha Brofsky in the Juilliard Pre-College program while enrolled at the Professional Children’s School.
As a cellist in Face the Music’s “This Side UP” string quartet, he participated in Kronos Quartet master classes and performed with them in Carnegie Hall in 2014. Jonah performed with “This Side UP” from 2013 to 2015 at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, the Metropolitan Museum, Queens Museum and many other venues, featuring more than 10 contemporary string quartets each year. In February 2017, Jonah premiered a new composition for solo cello by Mario Davidovsky at Greenwich House Music School.
As soloist, Jonah won Kaufman Music Center’s Concerto Competition and subsequently performed the Shostakovich Cello Concerto with orchestra in Merkin Hall on February 11, 2018. He also won the Gold Prize at the 2017-18 Vivo International Music Competition. Jonah recently traveled to Shanghai and performed a cello and piano duo with his father, the esteemed composer Aaron Jay Kernis.
As cellist of the HaWK Piano Trio. Jonah performed at Lincoln Center’s Rose Studio in Merkin Hall as a top prize winner in the League of Performing Arts National Chamber Music Competition. The HaWK Trio was a semi-finalist participant in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition (May, 2019), as well as finalists in the Coltman Chamber Music Competition (March 2020).
He has participated in summer music programs including the Aspen Music Festival and School, Kinhaven Summer Music School in Vermont for three summers, and at the Bowdoin Music Festival in 2017. He has also participated at Yellow Barn’s Young Artist Program and Greenwood Music Camp for four years. He is extremely grateful to be spending this summer at the Taos School of Music.
Nicco Mazziotto is an avid chamber and orchestral musician who has recently completed his graduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music. He has been studying cello since the age of fourteen and his primary teachers have been Joseph Kimura, Julia Lichten and David Geber. Aside from his studies in school, he has participated in many festivals including Music Academy of the West, Heifetz Institute’s Ashkenasi Kirshbaum Chamber Music Seminar, Bowdoin International Music Festival and the Meadowmount School of Music. Recently he performed with artists Martin Beaver, David Geber and Karen Dreyfus at the Music Academy of the West in a performance of Schubert’s Cello Quintet. Nicco has also performed as principal of multiple orchestras including Music Academy’s Festival Orchestra, New York Youth Symphony and Manhattan School of Music’s Symphony Orchestra. Currently, Nicco resides in New York City as a freelance artist and, as a passionate teacher, maintains a cello studio at the Long Ridge School of Music in Stamford, Connecticut.
With a great enthusiasm for music, Yi-I Stephanie Yang has demonstrated her artistic talent through great sensitivity in her cello playing. Yi-I has performed actively with a wide range of artists such as Jaime Laredo, Hugh Wolff, David Loebel, George Li, and Ling-Yi Ouyang. Throughout her training as a young cellist, Yi-I was a member of New York String Orchestra Seminar in 2022 and received the first prize in Hsinchu City Cello Competition. She was also selected as the most outstanding cellist by the Taipei Symphony Orchestra in 2018.
As a chamber musician, Yi-I has collaborated with pianist Michael Ertzscheid from Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris in France in 2015, and performed Dvorak Piano Quintet with pianist Pi-Hsien Chen in Boston in 2016. Her piano trio received the first prize of the National Taiwan Chamber Music Competition in 2019. She later participated in a Music For Food Broadcast with her trio in 2020. Yi-I and her string quartet were invited by the Taipei Economy and Cultural Office in Boston to perform on the National Day Reception in 2021.
Yi-I currently studies at the New England Conservatory, under the guidance of cellist Paul Katz.
Cellist *Davis You* is a senior and presidential scholar at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, where he is pursuing his undergraduate studies under the guidance of Laurence Lesser. Prior to studying with Lesser, studied with Jonathan Koh of the San Francisco Conservatory. Davis has been recognized as a top prizewinner and laureate of competitions including the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, Klein International String Competition, Stulberg International String Competition, Isang Yun International Cello Competition, Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, National YoungArts Foundation Competition, Galante Chamber Competition, Borromeo Quartet Guest Artist Award Competition, and NEC Honors Ensemble Competition.
As a performer, Davis has been invited to appear on notable programs across the nation, including NPR’s From the Top radio show, the San Francisco International Piano Festival, and the Noontime Concerts series. He is also a member of Quartet Luminera, a rising string quartet based at NEC who has had the privilege of performing alongside esteemed artists such as Miriam Fried, Paul Biss, Jonathan Swensen, and the Borromeo String Quartet.
Davis is also dedicated to using music to positively impact his community. He is an active member of the Back to Bach Project, an organization that connects with local school children through interactive classical music presentations, and maintains a private cello studio. Through his teaching and his involvement in the project, Davis has been able to share his love of music with others and inspire the next generation of musicians. This is Davis’s second year appearing in the Taos Young Artist program.
PIANO
Meet Charles: https://youtu.be/bCPsfedzF5w
Charles Berofsky grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and began piano lessons when he was six years old. He also developed an interest in composition from a young age and started organ lessons at age 14.Today, Charles is pursuing a Master’s degree in piano performance at the New England Conservatory, studying with HaeSun Paik, after having obtained his Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music with a double major in composition and piano performance.
Charles was awarded Third Prize at the 10th New York International Piano Competition in 2022, as well as the Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz First Prize for the one piano, four-hands ensemble round. Charles was also recently named the winner of the 2022 NEC Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition. Past awards include First Prize at the 2021 Thousand Islands International Piano Competition (senior division); Second Prize at the 2021 Chautauqua piano competition; and Runner-Up in the 2021 New York MTNA piano competition (Young Artist Division). In 2020 Charles became one of the youngest students to win a concerto competition at the Eastman School of Music, performing Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto. For his compositions, he has received a commission from the American Guild of Organists and four prizes from the Eastman composition department. He also won first prize at the 2018 Chicago College of Performing Arts Young Composer Competition, first prizes at the Dearborn and Dexter Youth Artist Concerto Competitions in southeastern Michigan (2018 and 2016 respectively), and first prize in the 2017 Rosalie Edwards Youth Artists Competition in Ann Arbor.
Charles is the pianist of the Newbury Trio, which was selected as one of NEC’s honors ensembles for the 2022-2023 school year. He also enjoys playing with members of his family as the pianist of the Berofsky Piano Quartet.
Meet Felix: https://youtu.be/ggU1BYnYnsg
Ruogu Felix Wen was born in Xi’an, China, in 2003. He began to learn piano playing at the age of 4 and was once under the guidance of Ms. Xi You, a Steinway Artist and the piano professor at the Central Conservatory of Music. In 2021, Ruogu graduated from the Music Middle School Affiliated with Shanghai Conservatory of Music (where he was first in his class) and was admitted to the Bachelor of Music Program of the Juilliard School, with Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky as his professor.
At the age of 7, he made his first performance on the stage of Xi’an Concert Hall. Since then, he has performed many recitals and concerti at prestigious venues throughout the world, including in China with the Shanghai Opera Orchestra,, the United States, and Europe. As a prize winner of the 5th Piano Competition of the Imola Summer Piano Music Academy and Festival, he performed on the stage of Cortile Palazzo Monsignani in Imola, Italy. In 2018 he also performed on the stage of Ettlingen Stadthalle as a prize winner of the 16th International Piano Competition for Young Pianists Ettlingen in Germany. At Juilliard, he performs frequently with the Juilliard Orchestra, AXIOM, and the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, and is currently an accompanist at the Juilliard Preparatory Division. Ruogu is also a talented and dedicated composer who has composed over 30 works for solo piano in the past years 2021-2023. He has also made world premieres of his compositions in Shanghai in 2017 and 2018 and in Aspen in 2022.
Ruogu has received many important awards in domestic and international competitions. In 2014, he got first place in Category A in the 4th Shenzhen Open Piano Competition. In 2016, he took part in the piano competition of the 5th edition of Imola Summer Piano Music Academy and Festival, where he received the first prize of Category B as well as the highest award Premio al Talento’ Florence Marzotto Daniel’. The same year, he was also awarded a semifinalist prize in the 1st Arthur Rubinstein International Youth Piano Competition. In 2017, he got the second prize in Category B in the 8th Steinway National Youth Piano Competition. In 2018 he received the fourth prize in Category A in the 16th International Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Ettlingen and the second prize in Category B in the 17th Hsing-hai Cup National Youth Piano Competition.