Mark taught orchestra, band, jazz, and choir for 35 years at Amador Valley High School, San Mateo High School, and Pleasanton Middle School. In the last decade, the Amador Valley High orchestras have performed at the California Music Educators State Conference 4 times. Mr. Aubel has been named “Teacher of the Year” twice in his career, including locally for the Pleasanton Unified School District. He has performed with Jamey Aebersol, Lou Rawles, Clay Aiken, and many others. He is currently active throughout the state as a guest conductor, adjudicator, professional musician, published composer, and mentor for new music teachers.
YouTube: www.youtube.com/ewentsai Musescore: www.musescore.com/ewentsai
Ewen Tsai began her music studies at an early age learning piano and cello in Taiwan. She holds double master degrees in both Music Performance and Education from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA and earned her bachelor’s degree in Music from Washington State University with President’s Honor Roll. Ewen has over 20 years teaching experience, has been on both string and music education faculty at various institutions, and won awards for her research on the Integrated Music Curriculum. Ewen’s arrangements have been performed worldwide, including 100 Cello Concert in Taiwan (2020) and Cello Paradiso in the 49th Istanbul Music Festival (2021). Ewen’s students have won top honors in many competitions, evaluations and orchestra auditions.
Ewen enjoys performing all genres of music and cooperating with various arts forms including dance and exhibitions. To further enhance her musical career, Ewen actively participated in masterclasses and workshops, including Mischa Maisky (cello), Jennifer Culp (cello), Forrest Kinney (composition), Pablo Ziegler (composition). From 2012-2019, Ewen represented North California to perform in the annual MTAC convention. In 2016-2020, Ewen was elected two terms Music Teachers’ Association of California Branch President, hosted and coordinated concerts, competitions, student recitals, masterclasses and lectures.
(The Music Teachers’ Association of California®, incorporated in 1897, is a professional organization dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in music education. With over 6,000 teachers, Certificate of Merit® (CM) is the most participated music evaluation program in the United States.)
Celicia Thendean, age 17, began her piano studies at the age of 3 under the guidance of her mother and Prof. Anna Poklewski. She later advanced her training with the renowned Ilana Vered.
Celicia had the honor of performing as a soloist with several prestigious orchestras, including the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Brunensis Virtuosi Orchestra, Livermore-Amador Symphony, Palo Alto Philharmonic, and SEEN Orchestra. Her exceptional talent has earned her top prizes in a variety of distinguished piano competitions, such as the Piano Texas International Festival Concerto Competition, the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition, the Claudette Sorel Piano Competition, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition, and the Philadelphia International Music Festival. Additionally, in 2024 she was awarded a scholarship from the Chopin Foundation.
Her musical development has been further enriched through participation in renowned summer programs, including the Juilliard Summer Program, Piano Texas International Festival, Music Fest Perugia, Southeastern Piano Festival, Vivace Music Festival, Philadelphia International Music Festival, and the Edward Auer Summer Workshop. Celicia’s excellence at the Vivace Music Festival earned her the prestigious Vivace Award in 2020, leading to an invitation to perform in Wilmington, North Carolina alongside distinguished professors Marina Lomazov, Joseph Rackers, and Ara Gregorian.
Beyond her professional achievements, Celicia is committed to using music as a force for good. She has performed benefit concerts supporting Alan Hu Foundation and Amador High School music programs, reflecting her dedication to community engagement.
In addition to her piano accomplishments, Celicia is a versatile musician, excelling in a variety of instruments such as the cello, oboe, English horn, and clarinet. She was also honored with the Ed Wolfe Scholarship in recognition of her outstanding performance in the All-State Middle School Big Band.
Ryan Wang, 16, is currently a Sophomore at Leigh High School in San Jose, California. He began playing the flute at the age of 7 with Ms. Li-Ling Chen. Since then, Ryan has participated in and won many international music competitions, including 1st Prize winner of the San Francisco International Innovative Music Competition, 1st Prize winner of the 19th Century Music Competition, 1st Prize winner of the Beethoven Young Musician Competition, 2nd Prize winner of the Caneres International Music Competition, 1st Prize winner of the Medici International Music Competition, 1st Prize winner of the 6th Glory International competition, 2nd prize winner of the Maurice Ravel Competition, and many more. He played first chair in the California Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony at age 12, co-principal chair in the California Youth Symphony Associate Orchestra at ages 13 and 14, and currently is the 2nd chair principal in the California Youth Symphony Senior Orchestra.
Mai Weber is a passionate musician with 18 years of experience playing both piano and cello. In high school she founded a music club called Bay Area Music Society, and gathered fellow musicians from her string orchestra and other music studios to perform at a number of recitals and volunteer performances at local retirement communities. After moving away for college, she continued to return during holiday breaks to rehearse and perform alongside her younger sister Lynn, who has been carrying on club activities. A graduate of UC Riverside with a B.S. in Biology, Mai is set to begin optometry school this coming fall. This concert marks her first performance as a piano soloist in years, and she is excited to share this moment before embarking on the next chapter of her academic journey.
Li-Ling Chen attended the Vienna Conservatory of Music in 1997, majoring in Flute Performance and Flute Pedagogy. She received the National Certificate of Flute Teaching in 2001 and earned the Premier Diploma of Flute Performance in 2004. She has performed at many concerts in Europe and Asia. Aside from the concert performances, she is also dedicated to teaching flute. She has mentored many students for over 20 years. Some of her students have won the prestigious national and international music competitions. Her passion for teaching flute continues to inspire the next generation of flutists.
Website: https://www.yihsuanlee.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yihsuan1230
Born in Taiwan, Taoyuan, Yi-Hsuan Lee started playing piano at the age of six. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from National Taiwan Normal University, her teachers including Lina Yeh and Su-Yin Hsaio. She has won numerous prizes in North America and Asia, including the second grand prize of the Vancouver International Music Competition, the most exceptional performance prize of the Charleston International Music Competition, and the Concerto Competition of National Taiwan Normal University.
She has performed concerti with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, the National Taiwan Normal University Orchestra in Taipei, and with the Perugia Piano Festival Orchestra in the Hall of Notaries, Perugia, Italy.
She holds dual master’s degrees in Piano Performance and Piano Chamber Music from the University of Michigan, and completed her Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) in Piano Performance in 2022, under the mentorship of Arthur Greene.
In 2022, Yi-Hsuan moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has been deeply committed to piano education, guiding students to success in various competitions and exams.
https://www.annapoklewskiacademyofmusic.com/piano-instructors
Fonny Chandra started playing piano at the age of four. She gave her first performance at that age in a children’s television program. By the age of 9, she had appeared in many concerts and television programs. In the same year, she joined Yamaha Junior Original Concert (JOC), an organization that teaches music composition to talented young musicians. She composed several pieces while studying in JOC. She made several appearances throughout Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia.
In 2004, she won Notre Dame de Namur Concerto Competition and performed Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Redwood Symphony. In summer 2006, Ms. Chandra was invited, and attended Bosendörfer Piano Academy in Vienna.
Ms. Chandra has over 17 years of teaching experience in piano lessons. Some of her students have been accepted in music conservatories in China. In 2002, she gave a piano workshop to piano teachers in Surabaya, Indonesia, and became one of the co-founders of Quatro Music Education School there.
In 2007, with her teacher Ms. Anna Poklewski, and her colleague Ms. Bianca Roesli, she founded the Anna Poklewski Academy of Music.