Charis Shing, 13, began her piano journey at the age of 4. Charis currently studies with Annette Burkhart. In her free time, she finds joy in drawing, reading, and spending time with her dog, Flash.

Andrew Su, age 14, is a freshman at Clayton High School. This is his sixth year playing the cello. Andrew began cello lessons under the instruction of James Czyzewski, a cellist in the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. The 2024/2025 season will be his third year as a cellist in the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, and he is very excited to be playing alongside other young musicians.

Andrew has been a part of the Community Music School of Webster University for 5 years, being in the CMS String Orchestra, Young People’s Concert Orchestra, Young People’s Symphonic Orchestra, and the Preparatory program. He has also been in the Peer to Peer program Andrew is also in a school orchestra where he has had the opportunity of performing in the Missouri Music Educators Association (MMEA) three times. He has also won gold in the Saint Louis Area Music Teachers Association (SLAMTA) Young Artist Competition.

Lillian Chen is a 15-year-old 10th grader at Parkway West High School with a passion for piano that began at age 6. She has earned numerous honors in competitions, including winning the MMTA State Honors Auditions in Piano Solo in both 9th and 2nd grades, as well as in Piano Duet from 3rd through 7th grade. Lillian received Gold and Silver Medals at the SLAMTA Young Artist Competition in 2024 and 2022. She placed 2nd in Division I of the 2018 New York Steinway Piano Competition and performed with the Belleville Philharmonic Orchestra in 2021 as the winner of the Stars of Tomorrow Concerto Competition. Lillian has participated in several SLAMTA-sponsored masterclasses, including those at Eastman, Sylvan Negrutiu, and with Sasha Starcevich. In addition to piano, she plays violin in the Parkway West High School Symphonic Orchestra. She studied under Laura Schindler until 2022 and currently learns from Helen Chiu.

Brandon Hu is a freshman at the John Burroughs School in St. Louis, MO. He has studied under Joo Kim since 2017.

Brandon has won several competitions including second prize at the 2023 MTNA State Competition, and first prize at the Odyssey Concerto Competition in Columbia, Missouri 2024 which resulted in his concerto debut.

Brandon attended the world renowned Meadowmount School of Music, where he studied under I-Hao Lee. In the summer of 2023, he studied under Pasha Sabouri at the Jacob's School of Music's Summer String Academy.

Brandon is beginning his second season this fall as a full member of the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. He was also the Principal Second Violin of the Young People’s Symphonic Orchestra during the 2022-2023 season; the orchestra was chosen to perform at the Missouri Music Educator Association.

Ryan is a senior at Lafayette High School. He started piano lessons at eight. He was the 9th grade winner at the 2021 Missouri Music Teacher Association audition. He followed this up with an honorable mention the next year. He is passionate about sharing music with senior residents to cheer them up. He founded Heartbeats Music Share, which consists of more than 20 young music talents. So far, Ryan has performed about 30 concerts for 20+ senior centers in the greater St Louis area.

Eric Chen is a Junior at Marquette High School in St. Louis, Missouri. Eric began learning violin at the age of six with Joseph Kaminsky, and has been a student of Pavel Ilyashovsince the age of eleven.

Eric made his solo debut at age 12, playing Henryk Wieniawski Violin Concerto No.2 in D Minor with Belleville Philharmonic Orchestra. He competed in the national finals of the MTNA Junior Strings competition in 2021, after winning the Missouri and West Central Region divisions. He is a three-times winner of MTNA Junior String State Competition 2021-2023, winner of the 2023 Artist Presentation Society competition, 1st place winner of the 2023 Town and Country Symphony Orchestra Rising Talents Young Artists Concerto Competition, 3rdprize winner in the 11th Edition ENKOR International Music Competition, and runner-up of 2023 St. Louis Civic Orchestra Florence Frager Young Artist Competition.