Golden State Youth Orchestra presents the Fall Classic Concert: Vienna Connections. The program provides a glimpse into the music scene in 19th century Vienna. A concert encompassing composers who have spent significant amounts of time during their lifetime in Vienna, the world’s Western Classic Music capital.
Soloist Ariel Chien is a fifteen-year-old sophomore at Menlo-Atherton High School. She began studying piano at eight with Megan Chen and continued with Daniel Cheng. She currently studies with Sandra Wright Shen at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College. Ariel is a second-year scholarship recipient of the Chopin Foundation of the United States. She is the prize winner of numerous piano competitions, including the 2022 US Open Music Competition, 2021 San Jose International Piano Competition, 2019 Los Angeles Young Musician International Competition, and 2018, 2019, and 2020 USIMC Young Artist Award. Ariel has performed in masterclasses with great pianists, including John Perry, Ann Schein, Sasha Starcevich, Ning An, and Christopher O’Riley. In addition to her music studies, Ariel enjoys playing badminton, table tennis, and cooking.
Praised by the Polish Radio presenter Adam Rozlach as a “cheerful, vibrant and musically active conductor”, and recognized for his “very natural feel for conducting”, Yun Song Tay has guest conducted orchestras across Asia, Europe and North America. Recently appointed as the Music Director of the Golden State Youth Orchestra in 2022, Yun Song conducts the Senior Symphony and Camilla Kolchinsky Orchestra.
He previously served as the Assistant Conductor for Phoenix Youth Symphony Orchestras from 2020-21 and Arizona State University Orchestra from 2018-2021. During his time in the valley, he also led the Phoenix Symphony in their Education Concert Series. Other ensembles he has conducted during his vibrant career include Orchestra de Camera Fiorentina, Berlin Sinfonietta, European Youth Wind Orchestra, Dutch Royal Guards Band, Cleveland Heights Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Collective (Singapore), MusicaNova Orchestra, and the US Army Field Band. A strong advocate for contemporary music, Yun Song has also conducted the Cleveland Institute of Music New Music Ensemble in multiple performances.
Yun Song is the recipient of the Sim Hay Lum Music Scholarship and has received grants from the National Arts Council of Singapore. He was a semifinalist of 2014 Wind Band Conducting Competition in Jarvenpaa and a quarter-finalist in the 2017 Fitelburg Orchestral Conducting Competition. He was also a finalist in the Houston Symphony Assistant Conductor search in 2019 and was selected as a Reynolds Conducting Institute fellow in 2021.
Yun Song received his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from Arizona State University under Dr. Jeffery Meyer. He received his Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting at Cleveland Institute of Music and Bachelor’s degree in Wind Conducting at Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where his conducting mentors included Carl Topilow and Danny Oosterman. He has also conducted in masterclasses and lessons for esteemed conductors such as Leonid Korchmar, Lutz Kohler, Jahja Ling, JoAnn Falletta, Tito Muñoz, Carl St.Clair, Giancarlo Guerrero and Larry Rachleff.
Golden State Youth Orchestra (GSYO) is distinguished by its unusually large and diverse number of ensembles, a creative structure that enables GSYO teachers to offer an enriching musical education to the widest possible range of youth. The young musicians of GSYO are culturally diverse and range from those at the beginning of their musical training to those ready to establish their creative careers as performing artists. All receive high-quality learning, performance and leadership opportunities.
More than 450 K-12 students from over 100 schools from San Francisco to Santa Cruz train and perform in five orchestras and two ensembles, led by the award-winning, internationally recognized Symphony Orchestra. Concerts, tours, retreats, summer workshops, masterclasses and music festivals form a vital part of the GSYO experience, creating opportunities for youth at all levels of musical experience to develop socially and artistically while participating in the Bay Area's foremost instrumental training and education program.
A vibrant repertoire challenges the young musicians to excel as ensemble and solo players. Annual performance series and tours meet critical acclaim and inspire local, national and international audiences. An ongoing program of performance and ticket outreach makes these programs accessible to a diverse community of underserved youth, families, and seniors.
An internationally recognized artistic faculty supports the young musicians, who also have opportunities to perform in collaboration with soloists of international stature. GSYO musicians receive mentoring and coaching from a distinguished roster of professional musicians and conductors dedicated to opening the world of orchestral music to the next generation.
GSYO offers scholarships to students who demonstrate financial need. In addition, the different ensembles participate in various outreach and educational programs designed to bring music to the community.