from CASTYO
Mary Chang, 1st
Ka Ying Lydia Cheng, 2nd
Kerry Hwong, 3rd
Rosanne Wang, 4th
Audrey Vong, piano
Mary Chang is 15 years old
and began playing the violin at the age of 8. She has been taking private lessons under the tutorial of Ms. Jenny Liang for 4 years before transferring to Mr. Tony Fan. She is currently preparing for her RCM grade 10 examination. Mary has been a member of CASTYO for the last 4 years. She is an active member of school bands and orchestras.
Ka Ying Lydia Cheng, age 12,
began her violin studies at the age of 5 with Ms. Jenny Liang, then studied with Mr. Tony Fan. She currently studies with internationally renowned violinist and former TSO concertmaster, Mr. Jacques Israelievitch and studies piano with Ms. Jiayu Xie. She has been a member of CASTYO since 2006.
Lydia has been the recipient of the Royal Conservatory of Music YAPA Scholarship and the 1st place winner of the Junior Section of the Concerto Competition. She won the 1st in the Grade 10 violin & Recital Group, age 16 & under at the Yips Music Festival 2010 and was awarded the highest mark in the violin category. She received the 1st at the CCC Piano Competition 2010, Grade 9, List A.
Lydia is currently attending the Toronto French School. In February 2010, Lydia played in the school band for her school production of Fiddler on the Roof and enjoyed it immensely. In her spare time, Lydia enjoys reading, cooking (baking), traveling, watching Broadway Musicals and shopping or seeing movies with friends.
Lydia has been a Dj of the Little Dj Program at the Fairchild Radio AM1430 since 2007.
Kerry Hwong
Kerry has been a member of CASTYO for 3 years. She began playing violin and piano at the age of five. Studying with masters in different cultural backgrounds, she has completed her practical and theory examinations with first class honours and with distinction. Kerry has participated in many music festivals including Markham Music Festival, Kiwanis Music Festival, Richmond Hill Music Festival, York Region Music Festival and York Region Talent Search. She won a number of awards and has recently won the first award in the Richmond Hill Music Festival in Nov 2009 and the first award in the Kiwanis Music Festival Quintet in Feb 2010. Kerry is presently studying the ARCT performance in violin. Besides her involvement with her musical studies, she also enjoys playing sports. She was recently on the school’s badminton team, and she is also an active member of track and field team.
Zhuo-Ran Rosanne Wang
was born in China where her musical gift became apparent at a very early age. She began her violin studies at the age of six with Li Wei (李 伟), a former concertmaster of Hebei Provincial Symphony Orchestra. Rosanne is currently studying violin with Mr. Jacques Israelievitch and is now preparing for her Grade 10 RCM examinations. She has been accepted as a member of CASTYO Youth Orchestra under the direction of Mr. Tony Fan. She is also a guest assistant concertmaster of CCC Youth Orchestra.
She appeared as a young violin performer at age of seven when she performed violin at annual provincial music festival in Hebei. Her initial success took place two years later, when she moved to Halifax, Canada with her family, she was chosen by her teacher Jennifer Jones to play in the Featured “Single Digit” Young Artists performance in Halifax and successfully held the concert. During her stay in Halifax, Rosanne also was a member of MCPA (Maritime Conservatory for the Performing Arts) Chamber Orchestra. Resent highlights for Rosanne include a solo appearance at Claude Watson School for the Arts; a performance with CCC Youth Orchestra at First Music Festival of CCC; a performance with CASTYO Youth Orchestra at Toronto Chinese Community Church. In addition, she won first place violin solo and first place violin quartet at Kiwanis Festival 2010. Rosanne is a grade 7 student of Claude Watson School for the Arts and she developed her interests not only in music but also in dance, drama, arts and crafts as well.
Audrey Vong
is sixteen years old and currently attending Thornhill Secondary School. She began playing piano at the age of five, transitioning first to Nely Burla before studying under her current teacher Ludmila Urbanova at the age of ten. Audrey passed her practical ARCT examination in February and is currently completing the necessary requirements in order to achieve her diploma. She participated in the 2009 Kiwanis Festival, winning Gold in the piano solo Haydn/Mozart Sonata category. In addition to her individual career, she has played piano with award-winning CASTYO ensembles in the Kiwanis Music Festival and CAST Young Winners Gala. Accompanying her brother, CASTYO violinist Albert Vong, she earned a silver medal at the 2009 Yip's Music Festival. Audrey has been playing with CASTYO for two years and was also a flautist with them in the 2008-2009 season.
At her school, she is an honour roll student who is the senior Student Mentor leader, a Prefect House Captain and a senior executive on the Chinese Students' Association. Audrey is also the layout editor and contributing writer and photographer for TSS' student newspaper The Eye of the Tiger; both her writing and the paper have won awards at the Toronto Star High School Newspaper Awards. Outside of school, she teaches piano and is part of the Thornhill Youth Council.
In her spare time, Audrey peruses her constantly growing collection of books, hones her photography skills and expands the musical repertoire on her iPod. She also enjoys reading classic French literature and studies with Elena Voskovskaia. Without the pressure induced by practical examinations and anxious parents, she is now more willing to practice piano.
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