SOLOISTS
25
26
Yang Zhou, alto saxophone
Artist Presentation Society Competition winner
October 17, 2025
Yang Zhou, born in Dali, China, is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts in saxophone performance at the University of Iowa, where he studies with Dr. Kenneth Tse.
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Yang holds a Master of Arts in saxophone performance from Truman State University, where he studied with Dr. Xin Gao and served as a graduate teaching and research assistant. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in China, where he was a two-time recipient of the China National Scholarship under the mentorship of Qiang Chen and Professor Yusheng Li.​​
An award-winning saxophonist, Yang has gained recognition in national and international competitions. He was a finalist in the 2024 University of Iowa Concerto Competition, winner of the 2022 SIYAO Southern Illinois Young Artist Organization Instrumental Competition, and first prize recipient in both the 2021 MMTA Collegiate Woodwind Graduate State-Level Competition and the Truman State University Gold Medal Competition. Additionally, he advanced to the live rounds of the prestigious 2023 Adolphe Sax International Competition (Dinant, Belgium) and the 2022 Walter W. Naumburg Saxophone Competition (New York, NY), showcasing his artistry on a global stage.
​Yang currently performs as the baritone saxophonist for the Dimma Saxophone Quartet and the tubax/bass saxophonist for the Iowa Saxophonists’ Workshop. His 2025 engagements include performances at the U.S. Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium (Fairfax, VA), the North American Saxophone Alliance Regional Conference (Brookings, SD), and the 20th World Saxophone Congress (Harbin, China).
Eric Chen, violin
Young Artist Concerto Competition Winner
November 21, 2025
Eric Chen, a Senior at Marquette High School, began learning violin at the age of six. He is currently a student of Pavel Ilyashov.
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Eric made his solo debut at age 12, playing Henryk Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No.2 in D Minor with the Belleville Philharmonic Orchestra. His most recent awards include: 2025 National YoungArts award winner and scholar, 2nd and 3rd place winner in the 12th (2025) and 11th (2024) Editions of the ENKOR International Music Competition, and winner of the St. Louis Philharmonic Young Artist Competition (2025). Eric is a four-time winner of the Missouri MTNA Strings competition (2021-2024). He also competed in the national finals of the MTNA Junior Strings competition, having won the Missouri and West Central divisions, in 2021. Eric’s chamber group won the audience prize in the 2025 Saint Paul String Quartet National Competition.
Eric made his solo debut at age 12, playing Henryk Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No.2 in D Minor with the Belleville Philharmonic Orchestra. His most recent awards include: 2025 National YoungArts award winner and scholar, 2nd and 3rd place winner in the 12th (2025) and 11th (2024) Editions of the ENKOR International Music Competition, and winner of the St. Louis Philharmonic Young Artist Competition (2025). Eric is a four-time winner of the Missouri MTNA Strings competition (2021-2024). He also competed in the national finals of the MTNA Junior Strings competition, having won the Missouri and West Central divisions, in 2021. Eric’s chamber group won the audience prize in the 2025 Saint Paul String Quartet National Competition.
Eric is in his 5th season with the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and has been the co-principal and 1st violin, 2nd chair, for the past three seasons. He has also played chamber music in the CMS Preparatory Program, the Rader Young Artist Program, and most recently with the St. Louis Chamber Music Society. In past summers, Eric has studied at various music festivals, including Ascent International Chamber Music Festival, Vivace International Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and Northwestern University Summer Violin Institute.
Eric has served as the regional director of the Back to Bach Project for the past four years, overseeing the St. Louis region, and has hosted several events in local public schools, as well as in video format, to contribute to this nationwide program.
Outside the concert hall, Eric enjoys playing tennis, gaming, and spending time with his brothers. Eric is an active member of the Very Asian Foundation, promoting Asian Arts and Literature in the local community.
Hannah Ji, violin
St. Louis Symphony Assistant Concertmaster
February 27, 2026
​As a soloist, Ji made her SLSO debut in October 2022 performing Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges’ Violin Concerto No. 2, conducted by Jonathon Heyward. She recently performed with the Missouri River of the Arts Festival Orchestra with SLSO’s former Assistant Conductor Stephanie Childress, and with the Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra with Guillermo Figueroa. Ji’s performances have been widely publicized on NPR’s “From the Top,” Philadelphia’s WHYY, Taos’ KTAOS Solar Radio, and “Live from Lincoln Center” by PBS, which broadcast throughout North America. She performed at the United States Embassy of Canada, Canada Day concerts with Pinchas Zukerman at the National Arts Centre, with pianist Jeremy Denk for the non-profit organization, “The Art of Giving Back,” and a Gala Concert with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble at Lincoln Center.
​Ji has toured Europe with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as Guest Associate Concertmaster. She also served as Guest Concertmaster with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Associate Concertmaster with the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, Colorado, and with the Sun Valley Music Festival in Idaho. Ji previously served as Concertmaster and Principal Second with Symphony in C, Spoleto Festival USA, YMF Debut Orchestra, The Colburn School Orchestra, The Juilliard School Orchestra and Curtis Symphony Orchestra. Additional music festival appearances include the Artosphere Festival Orchestra, Sarasota Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Taos School of Music, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Summit Music Festival and the National Arts Centre’s Young Artist Programme.
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An avid classical and contemporary chamber musician, Ji has collaborated with renowned groups and artists including Jamie Laredo, Jennifer Koh, Roberto Díaz, The Borromeo String Quartet, The Calidore String Quartet and Time for Three. She has worked with members of the Borromeo, Brentano, Shanghai, Emerson, Guarneri and Orion String Quartets. Ji has been an active participant in The Juilliard School’s ChamberFest and Focus! Festival, which features U.S. and world premieres of works by composers around the world. She was also a contemporary ensemble artist at Atlantic Music Festival, and performed at the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra: Live at the Pulitzer series. Ji also performs frequently with the Missouri Chamber Music Festival, Ariel Concert Series, and the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis.
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As a mentor and teacher, Ji has held faculty positions at the Bronx Conservatory of Music, Manhattan in the Mountains Festival, Curtis SummerFest Young Artists Program & Adult Chamber Music Program, and The Danbury Music Centre’s Chamber Music Intensive. She was a substitute faculty member at The Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division, and currently enjoys working as a mentor through the SLSO’s Mentoring the Music: Peer to Peer program.
Lux Nova Duo:
Jorge Paz Verastegui, guitar
Lydia Schmidl, accordian
April 24, 2026
"Fantastic, bravo! I can see your deep musical work!“– Cuban conductor and composer (Grammy winner 2017),
Leo Brouwer to the Lux Nova Duo
The Hamburg award-winning Lux Nova Duo is formed by the Peruvian guitarist Jorge Paz Verastegui and German accordionist Lydia Schmidl. Created in 2012 in inspiring Barcelona, the duo sheds new light on the unusual combination of instruments. The Lux Nova Duo has performed in major concert halls in Europe and South America such as the Elbphilharmonie, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Glocke Bremen, the Laeiszhalle, the Sendesaal Bremen, the National Theatre of Costa Rica, the National Theatre of Peru, the Resonanzraum Hamburg, the ZKM Karlsruhe, the Auditorium Enrique Granados Lleida (Spain) and the Auditorium Girona (Spain). They have been invited to international festivals such as the Festival Klub Katarakt at Kampnagel, the Brandenburg Summer Concerts, the Hamburg Guitar Festival, the Hamburg Guitar Days, the Festival Josep Soler Barcelona, the Villa Sottocasa Bergamo (Italy), and the Forum Neue Musik Hamburg.
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In addition, the creation of a new composition – the world premiere – is a special moment for the two musicians. Until now, more than 35 compositions have been dedicated to this duo with their innovative instrumentation. The duo works with composers from all over the world. Among them, they worked with the fantastic composer Leo Brouwer, who is considered one of the most important composers in South America and received a Grammy in 2017. Another two awarded composers who worked with the duo are the Argentinian Mario M. Mary, who wrote for them Misteriosa persistencia, and Jose Maria Sanchez Verdu, who composed the espectral Lux Negra. The Nigerian-Swiss composer Charles Uzor used for “Sephardic Lilt” a Sephardic melody and a Bach chorale, BWV 640, for his composition. The duo plays this piece along with a recording of two microtonal theorbos. At their debut concert at the Elbphilharmonie, they played a world premiere by the famous Peruvian composer Alejandro Nuñez Allauca. He combined European compositional techniques with the mystical sounds of the Andes. For the Peruvian guitarist of the duo, it is a great pleasure to perform music from his country of origin.
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In October 2020, they played the world premiere of the “Variaciones concertantes despues de Beethoven”. This concerto for guitar, accordion, and string orchestra was dedicated to the duo by Leo Brouwer. The concert was broadcasted live from the Sendesaal Bremen on German National Radio (Deutschlandfunk Kultur). Subsequently, the American premiere was streamed from the National Theater of Costa Rica with the Orchestra de Heredia (Costa Rica) conducted by Eddie Mora (Grammy Award 2018).
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Their current, fifth CD, Transcend, was released last year, 2023. The two musicians recorded concertos for guitar, accordion and orchestra with the renowned Württemberg Orchestra Heilbronn. All works were first recordings and were dedicated to the duo. It includes works by Leo Brouwer, Sascha Lino Lemke, Hector Docx and Eddie Mora, who was also the conductor of the project. The fourth CD Meeting Leo Brouwer is entirely dedicated to the Cuban guitar legend and was created in collaboration with the composer. Previously, Inspiracion Bach was released on the Genuin label. On the second CD Hamburg Dialogues (label Costa Records) the focus is on Hamburg composers. Their first CD Intuiciones with Spanish/Latin American music was released as a first price of the competition the University of the Arts Bremen.
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The duo is deeply dedicated to education and to support new talents. They are actively collaborating with young composers and performers by their festival Hamburg Dialogues. It is a contemporary music festival created by the duo that is now in its fifth edition. They also give master classes and pedagogic concerts across Europe and Latin America. The duo has been a guest on national and international radio stations such as Deutschlandfunk, NDR, Spain’s national radio station RTVE, Bremen zwei, as well as contributions to the BBC (England), ORF 1 (Austria) and SRF 2 Kultur (Switzerland).