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XiaoXiao Qiang/Violin
Xiaoxiao Qiang has been a top prizewinner in many national and international competitions, including Second Prize in the 2011 Schmidbauer International Young Artist Competition, First Prize in the 2011 Ruth Burr String Competition, the Violin Performance Award in the 2009 Corpus Christi International String Competition, and the Third Prize of the Tuesday Musical Club String Competition in San Antonio. In 2008 she was the Grand Prize winner of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition in Singapore, and in 2010 was one of only 40 violinists invited to compete in the Eighth Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Originally from China, Qiang began playing the violin at the age of four under her father’s instruction. After attending the middle and high school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing from 1999 to 2005, she received a full scholarship with living stipend to study in the Bachelor of Music program at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore, where she studied with the head of the string faculty, Qian Zhou. Qiang then completed a Master of Music degree in violin performance under Cho-Liang Lin at Rice University, where she receieved the Dr. Joseph A. and Ida Kirkland Mullen Scholarships, the University’s highest scholarship awarded to any student of the year. Qiang has performed extensively as a chamber musician and soloist. She is the founding violinist of the Eon Trio, and with them toured throughout Asia. She represented the string quartet of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, which performed at the state banquet hosted in honor of H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in April 2007 and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in March 2006. She has collaborated as a chamber musician with renowned artists such as the Tokyo String Quartet, Cho-Liang Lin, Kyoko Takezawa, Robert McDuffie, Augustin Hadelich, and Jian Wang. As a soloist, she recorded “La Rosée Fond” by Kawai Shui, which was released on Ablaze Records in 2008. Qiang has also participated in many distinguished music festivals. She was invited to perform at La Jolla Summerfest , Tongyeong International Music (Korea) , and was the chamber music artist at the Texas Piano Festival, and received a fellowship to the Aspen Music Festival and School for 2009-10 and 2012. She has also performed in the Spoleto Festival. In December 2010, Qiang performed as part of the New York String Orchestra Seminar under renowned musician Jaime Laredo at Carnegie Hall. Along with her successes as a soloist, Xiaoxiao Qiang is also an experienced and accomplished orchestral musician. She has performed with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and was a member of Singapore Festival Orchestra during her studies in Singapore. In 2011, she joined the First Violin Section of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra after winning an international audition from a field of over 100 candidates. |
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Shawn Weil/Violin
A native of Chicago, Shawn Weil was appointed to the St. Louis Symphony in April 2005. Prior to his appointment, he played as a contracted member of the orchestra for two seasons. For four seasons, Mr. Weil was co-concertmaster of the New World Symphony. During his tenure at the New World Symphony, he was invited to represent the institution in chamber music performances domestically in Manhattan and the Hamptons, and internationally in Prague, Rome, and Monte Carlo. He has collaborated with Michael Tilson Thomas, David Robertson, Alasdair Neale, and the Miami String Quartet. An active educator and mentor, Mr. Weil is on the violin faculty of Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina. He is frequently involved with the Education and Community Partnership Program of the SLSO. From 2002-03, he served on the faculty of the acclaimed Opus 118: Harlem Center for Strings in Manhattan. Shawn Weil received his Bachelor of Music degree and the Performance Diploma from Indiana University. |
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Xi Zhang/ Viola
Violist Xi Zhang joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra viola section in 2014. She also won associate viola principal position in Kansas City Symphony prior to St. Louis. Born in Hubei Province, China, Zhang completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at New England Conservatory, where she studied with Martha Katz and Kim Kashkashian, as a recipient of the Ivanka and Bogdana Tchakarova Scholarship. Throughout her time at NEC, Zhang frequently served as viola principal with the NEC Philharmonia, NEC Chamber Orchestra and NEC Philharmonia Opera from 2009-2014. In 2013 she served as principal violist with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, under the direction of Charles Dutoit, and in 2012 was principal violist for a tour with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach. She also served as viola associate principal for New York String Seminar from 2009-2010, and viola associate principal for Colorado College Music Festival in 2009 and Spoleto USA orchestra in 2013. Other summer festival participation include: Grant Park Music Festival, Tanglewood, and Pacific Music Festival. During her studies in Boston, she played in local orchestra including Boston Philharmonic from 2008-2013, and Atlantic Symphony from 2009-2013. Zhang served as viola associate principal in Symphony Nova from 2013-2014. As an active chamber musician, Zhang regularly performs and collaborates with her colleagues in the SLSO at St. Louis’s Sheldon Performing Arts Center. Zhang appeared throughout Europe in summer 2008. Her chamber concerts in the United States included regular performances from 2008-2013 at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall that featured the string quartets of Beethoven, Brahms, and Mendelssohn. |
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Ann Fink/Violin
Ann Fink most recently performed as a violin fellow with New World Symphony in Miami Beach. She holds bachelors and master’s degrees in music from the Juilliard School and also studied at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Fink 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, and the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra and has studied with Alexander Kerr, Elmar Oliveira, Carol Cole, Hyo Kang, and Sergiu Schwartz. Fink recently 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, and the Music Institute of Long Island. Ann currently plays with St Louis Symphony in the 1st violin section. |
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Andrea Jarrett/Violin
Named a 2009 Presidential Scholar in the Arts by the U.S. Department of Education, violinist Andrea Jarrett received her Master of Music Degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in May 2015. While obtaining her degree, Jarrett was a student of Kathleen Winkler and served as concertmaster of both the chamber and symphony orchestras. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree from the Juilliard School in 2013, where she studied with David Chan. Jarrett joined the second violin section of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in September 2015. Prior to her appointment with the St Louis Symphony Orchestra, Jarrett participated in the 2013 New York String Orchestra Seminar under the direction of Jaime Laredo. While attending Juilliard, Andrea gave the world premiere of composer Neil Rolnick’s concerto for violin and electronics in November 2012, Gardening at Gropius House. In the same year, Jarrett served as concertmaster of the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra. Another highlight during her undergraduate years was her performance of the Mendelssohn Octet in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Meet the Music! Concert Series. Jarrett was a member of the first YouTube Symphony Orchestra in 2009, with concerts in Carnegie Hall under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. A native midwesterner, Jarrett has performed as a soloist with the Dearborn, Birmingham-Bloomfield, Toledo, and Ann Arbor symphony orchestras. |
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Andrew Francois/Viola
Born and raised in Kankakee, Illinois, violist Andrew Francois began his musical studies at the age of 10 on violin in his school's string program. He joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra viola section in September 2019. As a chamber musician and soloist, Francois has given recitals throughout the United States and Europe. He also served as artist faculty with the Anchorage Chamber Music Festival. As an avid orchestral player, Francois has played and served as principal with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra, and was in the inaugural class of fellows with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Resident Fellows program. Francois has received Artistic Excellence Fellowships from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University as well as Illinois State University. He enjoys teaching and community outreach, and has traveled to Medellin, Colombia, to teach master classes and lessons at Eafit Universidad. While an undergraduate student, he was a Teaching Assistant and private instructor at Illinois State University in its String Project program. As a graduate of the Jacobs School of music, studying under string department chair Stephen Wyrczynski, Francois held the title of Graduate Assistant for the string department, as well as at on the Jacobs School of Music Council as a Graduate representative. |
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Grace Eunhey Park/Cello
Grace Eunhey Park, began playing cello at 10 years old. She is a cellist with a passion for ensemble performance. She is a member of Ensemble Secreta, and was a member of Key Trio in Indiana. She is associate principle cellist of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra, and plays regularly with the Marion Philharmonic Orchestra, Anderson Symphony Orchestra, and Peoria Symphony Orchestra. She was an associate member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra and holds substitute positions with in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Huntington (WV) Symphony Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. In 2012 Grace won first prize of Indianapolis Matinee Musical Competition, graduate string/woodwind level and she received honorable mention in the Graduate Concerto Competition at Ball State University in 2011. She is a native of the Republic of Korea where she won the Catholic University of Daegu Competition in 2003, and her ensemble was awarded first prize in the Fringe Festival of the Tongyeong International Music Festival(TIMF) in 2006. Grace took second prize in the string division of Daesin University in 2013 in Korea. She was previously a member of the Daegu Opera Festival Orchestra in Korea. Grace was a cellist in the Orchestre de la Francophonie in Montreal, Canada, in 2013 and in 2008 attended the Festival Ensemble of the TIMF Academy in Korea on a full scholarship. She earned an Artist Diploma from Ball State University, where she studied with Peter Opie with a full assistantship. Prior to entering Ball State, she completed Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Yeung-nam University in Korea, where she studied with Seungzhin Lee. |