Luna Chu, Violin
Originally from China, Dr. Chu is a section violinist of Austin Opera and adjunct lecturer of Huston-Tillotson University. She has recently awarded as an Excellent Teacher from Lin Yao Ji Violin Method. Since started teaching, her students have had many achievements including First Place at American Protege International Concerto Competition, Honorable Mention at National YoungArts Award. Her students have also been selected in All-Region Orchestra and All-State Orchestra in Texas.
Dr. Chu leads a varied career as a performer and educator. She has performed as a soloist, chamber player and orchestra player. Before coming to the U.S., she served as acting concertmaster in Xi'An Symphony Orchestra. She also has played in many major orchestras including National China Performing Arts Orchestra, Chinese Youth Symphony Orchestra, EOS Orchestra. As an orchestra player, she performed in many countries including South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, China as well as the U.S. As a chamber performer, she was the 1st violin of Qianxun piano quintet and has performed throughout China. While studying at UT with Butler Excellent Scholarship, Dr. Chu has been appointed as concertmaster of UTSO. As the winner of Austin Civic Orchestra-BSoM Strings Division Competition in 2015, she performed as one of the soloists in Texas Rising Start with Austin Civic Orchestra in Bates Concert Hall. In 2017, she played as 1st violin soloist of Mozart Serenade No.6 with UTSO.
Dr. Chu is a passionate and dedicated teacher. Because of the interests of violin pedagogy, for her doctor dissertation, entitled "Pedagogical Guide for Kreutzer 42 Studies for Violin", she dedicatedly studied all 42 etudes and analyzed each etude in technical and musical aspect. She was violin instructor in the University of Texas at Austin String Project from 2015-2017. In summer 2017, she was honorably selected as teaching fellow at the Interlochen Summer Arts camp in Michigan which was founded in 1928 and is one of the largest and most successful summer arts camp for young musicians in the U.S. She maintains her private studio in Austin and Round Rock area and she has also been team teaching with her professor Ms. Sandy Yamamoto.
Dr. Chu earned her Bachelor's Degree from Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing China and her Master and Doctor's Degree from The University of Texas at Austin. Her principal teachers including Peiyan Liu, Keqiang Sui, and Sandy Yamamoto.
Ms. Lynn started her violin studies at 6 years old. She has won several Chinese national and regional competitions throughout her childhood, including 1st place at Shandong Province Young Violinist Competition and 2nd place at Tsinghua University 2008 Pre-College Winter String Competition. Ms. Lynn has also performed with the prestigious Beijing Jiaotong University Orchestra for 4 years.
After moving to the United States in 2004, Ms. Lynn performed with the Pikes Peak Philharmonic as Principle of 2nd violin, St. Edward's University Orchestra as Assistant Concertmaster, and various chamber ensembles in the Austin area.
Ms. Lynn started teaching violin to children when she was in college. She has over 20 years of experience of working with young violinists. She is a Certified Suzuki teacher. She is passionate about teaching and enjoys making music with her students.
Lynn Cui, Violin
Jingyi Song, Violin/Viola
Originally from China, Ms. Song is pursuing her Doctor degree in viola performance at the University of Texas at Austin under Prof. Roger Myers. She is currently on faculty with the String Project at the University of Texas. She is a certified Suzuki teacher. Her students have also been selected in the All-Region Orchestra in Austin, Texas.
Ms. Song studied the violin at the age of four and the viola at twelve. She has been a part of a number of professional symphony orchestras throughout North America and China, such as the Central Texas Symphony Orchestra, Mid-Texas Symphony Orchestra, Tianjin Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Filarmonica Di Catania's Opera, and so on. She performed with The Juilliard School Joint Concert as an undergrad. She has been selected as the Young Artist Fellow by the Round Top Music Festival in 2021, and also participated in the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Summer Strings Academy for Girls, and the International Music Academy of Frostburg State University. In March 2022, she participated in ASTA National Conference in Atalanta, GA.
During her student career, Ms. Song has studied with many world-renowned musicians including Susan Dubois, Michelle LaCourse, Kimberly Sparr, Korey Konkol, Jeffrey Irvine, Daniel Getz, Miró Quartet, and Juilliard String Quartet, among others. She got third place in the 2021 American Classical Young Musician Award and 1st Prize in the Hong Kong International String Open Competition Tianjin Division, 2016.
Ms. Song holds a Master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin under Prof. Roger Myers’ studio and received her Bachelor’s degree from the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, China under Prof. Yanming Xu.