Guest

Casey Li Wei Xi, 10, piano
ABRSM: Grade 5

Casey is a Primary 4 student at Raffles Girls’ Primary School. She first started her musical journey at the age of four and has won several awards including:

• First Prize at the 2018 Piano Island Festival Competition (Singapore)
• Third Prize at the 2018 UCSI International Piano Festival & Competition (Malaysia)
• Two Platinum Awards at the 7th Singapore Performers’ Festival & Chamber Music Competition.
• Three First Prizes at the 2019 Korea Asia Piano Open Competition (Seoul)

Besides the piano, Casey is an avid reader and loves swimming, badminton and rollerblading.

Kaitlyn Tan Yu Xin, 10, harp
ABRSM: Grade 5 (Theory), Grade 5 (Harp), Grade 3 (Piano)

Kaitlyn started harp at six and has since won several competitions including:

• Gold award at the Third Hong Kong Harp Competition,
• first runner up in the American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition,
• third place at the Korea international Harp Competition 2018

In 2016, she was the youngest harpist to be invited to perform at the Rising Stars of Asia Concert in Seoul. Kaitlyn loves to bake and do arts and crafts.

Toby Tan Kai Rong, 10, piano

Toby started self-learning piano at three from watching Youtube videos, and he loves to improvise and compose.

He has won several awards with his original compositions. At seven, he won first prize at the American Protégé International Music Talent Spring Competition 2017. He also had a debut performance at the New York Carnegie Hall in that same year.

Toby loves all music genres and hopes to study at Berklee College of Music or The Julliard School to hone his classical music skills and to learn jazz, music composition and film scoring.

Anne Ying Altorfer-Ong, 10, pipa
ABRSM: Grade 5 (Theory)

Anne started learning the pipa five years ago when she was in Primary 1. Since then, she has performed with the Pipa Society at the National University of Singapore, and at various school and community events. Anne hopes to hone her skills as a true performer by continuing to develop her technical range and stage presence.

Michelle Zhu Manzhen, 11, cello
ABRSM: Grade 5 Theory, Grade 5 Piano

Michelle started learning cello at six, and won the first prize in the Strings category in the Singapore International Festival of Music three years later at nine.

In 2018, Michelle was selected as the youngest performer in the prestigious Cello-Akademie Rutesheim in Germany and was highly praised for her performance.

As the Cello section leader in her school orchestra, she enjoys performing at festivals and school events. Michelle would also take time to perform in various fund-raising concerts for charity organisations.

Ashley Foong Shu Yan, 13, violin
ABRSM: Grade 8 Violin Distinction, Music Theory Grade 5

Ashley has won top honours in many awards including:

• First prize in the American Portégé International Piano and Strings Competition,
• First prize in the American Portégé International Concerto Competition,
• First prize in the International Music Competition ‘Grand Prize Virtuoso’, and
• First prize in the Zhongsin International Music Competition.

A Secondary 1 student at Methodist Girls’ School, she made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2017 and performed in Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia, as well as the Esplanade and Victoria Concert Hall. She has also performed at the Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna and is a proud member of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra.

Vivian Li Wei Chang, 13, piano
ABRSM Grade 8 Distinction (Piano)

Vivian attained the Licentiate of the Trinity College London performance diploma at the age of 12. She has amassed a host of other awards over the years including:

• First Prize at the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition in 2014,
• First Prize at the Singapore International Youth Piano Competition in 2015,
• Platinum Award at the sixth Singapore Performers’ Festival & Chamber Music Competition in 2016,
• Bronze award at the ninth All Japan Piano Concours in 2018,
• Gold Prize at the third Singapore ‘Golden Lion Awards’ International Piano Competition in 2019, and,
• two Second Prizes at the Korea Asia Piano Open Competition in 2019. In her spare time, Vivian loves to read and swim.

Sun Yining, 14, piano
ABRSM: DipABRSM Distinction (piano)

Yining started taking piano lessons when she was five and obtained distinction in ABRSM Grade 8 piano in 2014 when she was nine. She joined the School of Young Talents at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) in 2015, and subsequently achieved DipABRSM at the age of 12 in 2017.

Besides playing the piano, Yining is also active in chamber music and enjoys swimming and playing table tennis.

Adrian Tang Zhi Feng, 14, piano
ABRSM: DipABRSM (piano), Grade 5 Theory

Adrian is a student at the Gifted Young Pianists Course in the School of Young Talents at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA).

He has won numerous top honours including:

• First Prize, Senior A Category, PIARA Grand Prix Award, and Shizuoka Prefecture Governor's Award, at the 22nd Japan PIARA Piano Competition 2018
• First Prize, Category 2, at the Fourth Steinway Youth Piano Competition 2018
• First Prize, Young Talents category, First Singapore International Festival of Music Competition 2017, and
• First Prize, Youth Class B, at the Singapore International Piano Competition 2019

Adrian also plays the double bass at the Singapore National Youth Orchestra.

Xu Ruojin, 13, piano
ABRSM: Grade 8 Distinction (Piano), Grade 6 Music Theory

Ruojin started his music learning journey at Yamaha Music School at a tender age of three. He started classical piano lesson when he turned five and joined the Gifted Young Pianists Course in the School of Young Talents at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) at six. He subsequently obtained his Grade 8 Distinction in piano at the age of nine.

Earlier this year, Ruojin won the first prize in Beethoven Sonata Class in the Singapore International Piano Competition.

Apart from playing the piano, Ruojin enjoys fencing and playing football.