Yingwei Ouyang

Yingwei, 21, first began piano lessons at the age of 6 and picked up the violin three years later. In 2006, Yingwei passed the Trinity-Guildhall Grade 8 in violin with Honours and obtained a Distinction in her ABRSM Grade 8 in piano the following year. In 2008, Yingwei was admitted to the School of the Arts (SOTA), Singapore, with a full scholarship, under the tutelage of Chan Yoong Han. During the course of her study at SOTA, Yingwei took part in Singapore’s biennial National Piano and Violin Competition 2009 and emerged as a semi-finalist. In 2010, she also obtained a high distinction in her LTCL (Recital) in violin performance. As part of the school’s Artistically Gifted Programme, she was given the opportunity to attend overseas summer schools. She has attended the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, USA, where she was appointed the concertmaster of the Interlochen Intermediate Symphony Orchestra, and also the Meadowmount School of Music, an intensive 7-week strings summer course in Vermont, where she studied under Sally Thomas and Alan Bodman. In 2011, Yingwei joined Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, studying under Yumi Sasaki. While at Chetham’s, she has played in a masterclass by Susanne Gressner and has done several internal and external concerts performing a range of solo, chamber and orchestral works. In her final year she also obtained her LRSM diploma in violin performance. Yingwei was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music in London but decided to pursue Chemistry at Imperial College London, which has awarded her the top Ash music scholarship. An active musician at Imperial, she plays in the Imperial College Symphony Orchestra (ICSO) and has been given opportunities to perform in Imperial’s lunchtime concert series which features professional musicians weekly. Passionate about chamber music, her quintet has also played in the lunchtime concert series and even once in Sibelius’ house. Her quartet has also played at important events held in Imperial College. Having won ICSO’s concerto competition in 2014, Yingwei has earned a few concerto opportunities. During ICSO’s summer tour in Helsinki, she performed Prokofiev’s second violin concerto twice, in the Church of St Lawrence and in the Sibelius Hall. Yingwei’s last performance of the concerto was in Imperial College’s Great Hall in the autumn term, where she played to a full house. Yingwei is currently in her second year at Imperial and as an Ash scholar will continue her violin studies with Professor Itzhak Rashkovsky at the Royal College of Music. Yingwei hopes to continue pursuing her passion for music, particularly in chamber music.