Ian Cheung, violin, Co-Winner Khuner Young Artist Concerto Competition 2024-25
January 2025 Concert Program Biography:
Ian Cheung, 17, is a violinist from Henry M. Gunn High School. He currently studies with Professor Chen Zhao of the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), and he is attending SFCM’s Pre-College Program. He joined the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, serving as co-concertmaster during the 2024–25 season. He is also playing as the concertmaster in both Chamber and Symphony Orchestra in his high school music program.
Born in Hong Kong, Ian began violin studies at age six, discovering the beauty of classical music early on as his mother often played Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik on the home CD player. He previously studied with Professor Michael Ma, and Ms. Li Junjun, serving as the principal violinist for the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Art’s Junior Strings and Junior Repertoire Ensembles.
Before Ian and his family relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, he attained the Fellowship of Trinity College London (FTCL) Level 7 Diploma in Violin Performance in August 2022. He has achieved top prizes in competitions including the 2024 Peninsula Symphony Young Musicians Competition, 2024 KAMSA Competition, 2024 Charleston Competition (Baroque and 20th Century Music), and the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival.
In March 2024, he also received the Best High Strings Soloist award at the National Orchestra Cup in New York City, where he led Gunn High School’s Chamber Orchestra to a Grand Champion win. He was also a member of the California All-State Music Education Conference (CASMEC) High School Symphony Orchestra in 2023 and the Stanford Summer Symphony in 2024. As a soloist, Ian achieved Command Performance at the 2024 CMEA Solo Music Festival and performed at the 2024 Junior Bach Festival.
Ian is committed to bringing music to his community, serving as secretary of his school’s Tri-M Music Honor Society and regularly performing at benefit concerts for children’s welfare and senior communities. Beyond violin, Ian loves computer programming, music composition, and biking. He enjoys teaching middle schoolers in coding classes and composing music with his peers. He aspires to combine and apply his knowledge in both music and computer science to inspire individuals to use technology as a medium to embrace, share, and create.
Ian is honored to perform Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major with the Prometheus Symphony Orchestra in January 2025.
