Tai Lin / Founder, Chairman
Dr. Tai Lin was born in Taipei, Taiwan and graduated from Taiwan’s National Tsing Hua University with the Bachelor of Science degree in Physics in 1983. Then, he came to Washington University in St. Louis for graduate study in 1987 and received the Doctor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1994 with a dissertation focus on the understanding of cochlear mechanics. In 1996, He went on to Harvard/MIT after receiving the NIH postdoctoral fellowship in furthering his research in this area at Eaton-Peabody Lab of Auditory Physiology in Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He then joined his former dissertation advisor Prof. Julius L. Goldstein together to apply such knowledge into innovative hearing aids designs and received both European and USA patents on this.
Dr. Tai Lin and his wife, Dr. Yuhling Lu, a Washington University Ph.D. in Biology, started a business, Ariel Premium Supply, Inc., in 1993 in Promotional Product Industry. Ariel has received numerous awards from the Promotional Product Industry as well as a Top 50 Company from the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association (RCGA) in 2004. As of 2020, Ariel ranks Top No. 16 supplier in North America Promotional Product Industry. Dr. Tai Lin’s personal interests in music started at the age of 10 with private piano lesson. The passion for music came much more stronger in high school band playing flute. He began his exploration of vocal and choir music in Tsing Hua University. He was the choir conductor in Tsing Hua University Choir during 1980-1981. He served his military service from l983-1985 in the R.O.C. Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra (國防部示範樂隊) as a flute player. During that two years, he also conducted the ChinSui choir in Taipei (台北金穗合唱團). After coming to St. Louis in 1987, he conducted a choir group, Friends of Music (唯歌小集) and co-directed St. Louis Taiwanese Youth Chamber Orchestra.(STYCO). Dr. Tai Lin’s deepest interests are in Art, Science and Technology of Sounds and Hearing on top of running a successful business, Ariel Premium Supply, Inc. |
Tzuying Huang / Artistic Director
Tzuying Huang, a native of Taipei, Taiwan, presently serves as the Bass Clarinetist for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, a position she has held since her appointment in 2015 under the direction of music director David Robertson. Prior to her role with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Ms. Huang held the Clarinet/Bass Clarinet position with the Kansas City Symphony. She has performed as a guest bass clarinetist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Dallas Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Ms. Huang has participated in various summer music festivals, including the Lakes Area Music Festival, the Britt Music Festival, and the Colorado Music Festival.
As an active soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Huang made her debut appearances at the Clarinet Association Convention as a featured performer in the summer of 2023 in Denver, Colorado. Beyond her orchestral commitments, she is the founder and artistic director of the Ariel Concert Series, a chamber music series based in St. Louis that stages monthly concerts. Ms. Huang also collaborates regularly with the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis, Chamber Projects St. Louis, the World Chess Hall of Fame Concert Series, and the Missouri Chamber Music Festival. In February 2023, Ms. Huang co-founded the Meridian Clarinet Quartet with three other professional clarinetists, a group committed to commissioning compositions for the Clarinet Quartet and conducting master classes and concerts throughout the United States. In addition to her performance career, Ms. Huang is a dedicated educator with two decades of teaching experience. She finds joy in working with the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony Education and Community Program. Furthermore, she has conducted master classes in Taiwan and various locations across the United States. Ms. Huang earned her bachelor's degree from the National Taipei University of Education. In 2007, Huang relocated to the United States to study with James Campbell at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University-Bloomington, where she earned her master's degree and performance diploma. Her primary teachers include James Campbell, Joaquin Valdepeñas, Burt Hara, Nathan Williams, Wei-Ling Bill Chen, and Pei-Lin Lee. As a Buffet Crampon performing artist and D’Addario Woodwinds Artist, Ms. Huang exclusively plays on D’Addario Reserve Bass Clarinet reeds, Buffet Crampon clarinets, and bass clarinets. |
Ann Fink / Artistic Coordinator
Ann Fink joined the first violin section of the Saint Louis Symphony in 2013. Before becoming a member of the Saint Louis Symphony, Ann performed as a violin fellow with New World Symphony in Miami Beach. She holds bachelor's and master’s degrees in music from the Juilliard School, and also studied at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Ann is a past winner of the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship from the University of Illinois. She has performed with the Opera in the Ozarks, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Spoleto Orchestra, the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra, and the Verbier Festival Orchestra and has studied with Alexander Kerr, Elmar Oliveira, Carol Cole, Hyo Kang, and Sergiu Schwartz. Fink performed Wieniawski’s Concerto No. 2 with the New World Symphony under the baton of Tito Munoz after she was selected as one of the 2012-13 New World Symphony concerto competition winners. A certified Suzuki Violin teacher, Ann Fink has worked as violin faculty at the Preparatory Center at Brooklyn College, Lucy Moses School, the Music Institute of Long Island, and Maryville University. She is an active member of the Chamber Music Society of St Louis, the St Louis Symphony's Community Partnership program, and the Ariel Concert Series playing chamber music and bringing music education across the St Louis community.
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Hannah Ji / Artistic Coordinator
Violinist Hannah Ji joined the first violin section of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2020 after spending two seasons as a one-year replacement member. Ms. Ji’s playing has been hailed by critics as "engaging, mature, well thought-out, and honed down to the finest details" (głos na Wieniawskiego, Polish Radio Journal). Ms. Ji holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Curtis Institute of Music, studying with the late Aaron Rosand, a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, studying with Ida Kavafian, and an Artist Diploma degree from The Colburn School, studying with Robert Lipsett. Ms. Ji began her musical studies at the age of seven in South Korea and previously attended Manhattan School of Music's Precollege Division, studying with Grigory Kalinovsky.
As a soloist, Ms. 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 in Canada Day concerts with Maestro Pinchas Zukerman in Centre National des Artes, 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. Additional venues at which Ms. Ji has performed include: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, David Geffen Hall, Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall and A. Mickiewicz University Hall in Poland. She has also recently performed at the United States Embassy of Canada. As a classical and contemporary chamber musician, Ms. Ji has collaborated with renowned groups and artists such as 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, respectively. Ms. 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. As an orchestra musician, Ms. Ji served as Concertmaster and Principal Second with Symphony in C, Spoleto Festival USA, YMF Debut Orchestra, The Colburn School, The Juilliard School Orchestra and Curtis Symphony Orchestra. She has been a participant at the Sarasota Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Artosphere Festival Orchestra, Taos School of Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Summit Music Festival and the National Arts Centre's Young Artist Programme. Additionally, Ms. Ji has held Artist Faculty positions at The Danbury Music Centre's Chamber Music Intensive, The Bronx Conservatory of Music, Manhattan in the Mountains, and The Curtis Institute's SummerFest Young Artists Program & Adult Chamber Music Program. She was a substitute faculty member at The Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division, and had a large studio in New York City, the students of which have been accepted to conservatories and summer festivals across the country. She currently enjoys working as a mentor through SLSO’s Mentoring the Music: Peer to Peer program. |
Robert Walker / Administrator, Audio Editing
Robert Walker, a USC graduate, is overjoyed to return to Southern California as Principal Clarinet of Pacific Symphony. He previously played Second/E-flat Clarinet with the Louisville Orchestra and has held principal posts with the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago and the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, OH. Other orchestral work includes appearances with the symphony orchestras of Saint Louis, Cleveland, Nashville, and Sarasota.
As a composer/arranger, Robert has collaborated with "Baby Got Bach" at the Aspen Music Festival, and "One Found Sound" in San Francisco. As an electronic artist, he has collaborated with Ayjay Nils under the nom de guerre Bad Belzig and co-founded a musical collective that curated live shows in New York City. As an audio engineer, he is employed by the Ariel Concert Series in Saint Louis, MO, with whom he also performs. Before becoming a full-time musician, Robert held down a series of jobs that left an indelible mark on his perspective of life as a professional musician and the role of the arts in America more broadly. This includes employment as an elevator operator, an orchestra librarian, an assistant to a Hollywood film composer, a florist, an apprentice groundskeeper, a box office teller, and a social movements archivist. Each of these experiences informs his work ethic, his performances, and—most importantly—his personal contributions toward increasing the reach and relevance of symphonic music in contemporary culture. An accomplishment of his that puts these principles into practice was his work with the Louisville Orchestra's "Creator Corps." As the orchestra's sole rank-and-file representative on the hiring committee, Robert helped review hundreds of resumes for the class of creators that would ultimately embed themselves in Louisville to foster collaborative partnerships with underserved artistic communities across the city and state. Robert's primary teachers include Yehuda Gilad at USC and Alan Kay at The Juilliard School of Music. Other absolutely crucial musical guides along the way include Nathan Williams, Burt Hara, Joaquin Valdepenas, and Charles Neidich. Outside of music, Robert likes to read novels, bike, travel, rewatch prestige TV of the early 2000s, and sing to his cats. |