Amely Zhou

Amely Zhou began her music studies at an early age. In 2001, she was accepted into the Shenzhen Arts School, where she majored in erhu and minored in piano. Her teachers include Lei Zhang, Zunlian Zhang, and Hong Liu. Amely has also attended numerous master classes by Huifen Min. With the school orchestra, she participated in many large scale events, including the Shenzhen Spring Festival Concert. In 2005, she was recognized as an outstanding music student and had the opportunity to perform as a soloist at the school’s Honour Students Music Gala.

After immigrating to Canada in 2006, Amely joined the Toronto Chinese Orchestra. In 2010, she was awarded first prize at the Kiwanis Music Festival for solo erhu performance. In the same year, she also co-founded Eastern-Western based fusion group, “Spire”, where she arranges music and performs on a regular basis. Amely regularly teaches the erhu both privately and at the Centre for Information and Community Services.

Amely is currently pursuing her Bachelors of Fine Arts with a specialization in Music at York University.

周嘉麗自幼學習音樂，2001年考入深圳藝術學校，主修二胡，副修鋼琴。師從張雷，期間曾得到張尊連教授以及劉虹教授的指導，並且多次參與閔惠芬的教學講座。嘉麗曾多次隨學校民樂團外出參加包括深圳春節晚會音樂會在內的各類大型活動 。2005年她被評爲在校優秀民樂學生，並且在優秀學生音樂會上獨奏並獲得好評。嘉麗於2006年來到加拿大，參加了多倫多中樂團。在2010年Kiwanis音樂節的比賽中，嘉麗憑借著她的二胡獨奏獲得了一等獎。同年，她參與合作創立了中西合璧的旋越樂隊，並且一直負責參與音樂的編排與演出。目前她開設了自己的二胡課程傳授演奏技藝，同時也受聘在華人諮詢社區服務處擔任二胡教師。

Wendy Zhou

Wendy started learning pipa at the age of five. She competed in the Youth Pipa Competition in Su Zhou, China, and received great praise. After immigrating to Canada in 2001, she began her studies with renowned pipa soloist, Ms. Gui-Lian Liu. Wendy joined the B.C. Chinese Orchestra in 2002 and held the position of the section leader. During this time, she won multiple awards in the Kiwanis Music Festival. In 2005, she was awarded the S.K. Lee Scholarship for Ethnic Instruments and won third place in the Kiwanis Gala Concert. She completed Performance Level in the Chinese Conservatory of Music Exam for pipa in 2007 and was highly praised for her performing abilities and sense of music. In 2010, she co-established Spire and began to explore the boundary of Eastern and Western music through rearranging and composing multiple pieces for the group.

Wendy is currently pursuing her Bachelors of Health Sciences at McMaster University.

周晚濛五歲開始學習琵琶。兩年後，她參加了中國蘇州少年琵琶大賽並獲得一致好評。在2001年隨父母移居加拿大後，她開始是師從著名琵琶演奏家劉桂蓮女士繼續學習。2002年，晚濛參加了卑詩省中樂團並在今後幾年內成為了樂團彈撥樂首席。這段時間，她屢次在Kiwanis音樂節上獲獎。2005年，她在中國民族樂器組獲得S.K. Lee獎學金並且在與西洋樂器同臺競技的Kiwanis Gala音樂會上獲得第三名的好成績。她於2007年完成了中國中央音樂學院演奏級的考核並以她出色的演奏能力和極具天賦的藝術意識受到考官的褒獎。2010年，晚濛來到安省就讀於麥克馬斯特大學， 自那時起，她參與合作創立了旋越並且開始通過為旋越重編曲及創作新曲的方式來試探著打破東西方音樂的界限。

Ken Yang

Ken Yang has performed extensively as a classical pianist across Canada, US, and China. Among many other venues, he has been a soloist at the Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, the Roy Thompson Hall, and the Glenn Gould Studio. He studied under James Anagnoson, renowned pianist and dean of the Glenn Gould School of Music. Masterclass credits include Lang Lang, Leon Fleischer, and Jamie Parker of the Gryphon Trio. He is a past national winner of the Canadian Music Competitions and his recordings have been broadcast on CBC Radio 2 and Classical 96.3 FM. Ken regularly coaches and performs with promising young pianists from Toronto. As a past SHRCC grant recipient, Ken worked for University of Toronto psychologist Alison Chasteen where his research focused on social cognition and multi-group identity perception.

Ken briefly studied Piano Performance at the University of Toronto before receiving his Bachelors in Psychology. After earning his JD/MBA, Ken plans to work in entertainment talent management.

Jaimie Chan

Jaimie began her musical journey at the age of 10. She fell in love with the mellow yet melancholic sound of the cello when her father first introduced her to the instrument. For 10 years, Jaimie studied the cello with Mr. Da Jing Yang. Since then, she has been an active participant in many orchestras, chamber ensembles, and duets, both in and outside of school. In 2004, Jaimie was awarded first place in the cello duet category with her sister at the Peel Music Festival. Jaimie has also been involved as a long-term member and formal Treasurer of the Toronto Chinese Orchestra. Jaimie has completed her undergraduate degree with a specialization in psychology at the University of Toronto, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in developmental psychology and education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Fun facts:

• Jaimie loves mangoes!
• Jaimie also plays the double bass.
• Jaimie has travelled to the Bahamas, Austria, Germany, and Japan, and would love to visit Korea and Taiwan one day.
• Jaimie is passionate about helping children with special needs and hopes to work in the mental health field.

Perry Ho

Perry began studying the violin privately at the age of 15 with Chen Yu-Guang and within 3 years passed the Royal Conservatory of Music Grade 10 Violin Performance Examination. During his studies, Perry was actively involved in a number of music ensembles ranging from chamber strings to symphony orchestras. He had the opportunity to perform in Vienna and Poland with the Toronto District Youth Orchestra as a first violinist in 2006, and was the youngest member to be a part of the North Toronto Collegiate Chamber Strings where they had the opportunity to perform along-side with Sinfonia Toronto. In 2007, Perry served as concertmaster of the North Toronto Collegiate Symphony Orchestra where they placed first in their division at the Kiwanis Music Festival and competed in nationals. Since 2008, Perry has been performing as a first violinist with the Overseas Chinese Youth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Chuen Tam. In 2012, he was appointed the position of Principal Second Violin, and performed under the direction of Samantha Chang.

Perry received his International Bachelor of Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business at York University.

William Tran

William Tran plays the drum set for the group and he is in his third year of musical performance studies in percussion at the University of Toronto under the tutelage of Beverley Johnston and John Rudolph. William began his studies in percussion in 2005 and has since learned to play a variety of classical percussion instruments. He is currently playing with the University of Toronto’s Wind Ensemble and he has experience with a wide variety of musical styles ranging from western classical music and traditional Chinese music to more conventional western pop music. He has performed with the Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra in their 2011-2012 season, the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony in two concerts in 2012, and the Toronto Chinese Orchestra through the past 3 years.

Lipeng Wu

Lipeng began practicing and playing flute since he was in elementary school. He has completed the Jiangsu Musician Association Level 10 examination and the Central Conservatory of Music Level 8 Examination in Beijing. While in China, Lipeng served as a flutist in the Chinese Orchestra of Nanjing University, and had the opportunity to perform with the orchestra in both Japan and South Korea. After moving to Canada, he performed regularly as a flute soloist at the annual Saskatoon Chinese New Year Gala. Since 2010, Lipeng has been performing both as a member and as a soloist with the Toronto Chinese Orchestra and currently teaches the dizi regularly at an after-school program class.

Lipeng received his Bachelors of Computer Science from the University of Saskatchewan and is currently working as a software developer.