meet the apollo musicians
William Wang and William Satterfield first met in the dorms of the Peabody Conservatory in 2016. Both of them immediately recognized the importance of chamber music in their lives. As a result, Apollo String Quartet was formed as the first step in fulfilling their musical dreams and passions. Along with inaugural members Xingqiao Ren and Angela Che, they have since performed numerous concerts and recitals in concert halls, community centers, and residential homes in the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC areas.
As a wedding and event performance group, Apollo has been described as talented musicians, professionally managed, flexible to work with, and able to bring the energy. They always uphold the highest standard and quality for any setting and musical needs of their clients.
In 2020, Apollo String Quartet expanded to include more musicians and instruments, renaming to Apollo Chamber Music to reflect the transition. Since then, Apollo has continued to proudly perform for gracious audience and happy couples in the areas surrounding Washington, DC, Northern Virginia, Baltimore, Delaware, and Southern Pennsylvania.
VIOLIN
Angela Che
Angela Che is a violinist who plays an array of musical genres with a love for chamber and orchestral works. She has been a finalist in the ASTA Competition Finals and received First Prize in the ASTA Regionals Competition for two years in a row. Angela is often featured as a soloist with youth orchestras such as the Olympia Youth Orchestra and the Pasadena Summer Youth Orchestra in the Los Angeles area. She also gives recitals most summers in parts of Guangdong, China often featuring China-based musicians as a way to bring eastern and western music together.
Angela served as second violin principal and later on concertmistress for the LACHSA Symphony Orchestra. Concurrently, she served as concertmistress for the Olympia Youth Orchestra and was also a featured soloist with the orchestra. In addition, she has served as co-concertmistress in a side by side with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Angela just received her M.M. in Violin Performance at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where she studied with Keng Yuen Tseng. She received her bachelor's degree at the Peabody Institute where she was awarded the Chung-Kotcheff Family Scholarship and the Carl Holzapfel Violin Shop Endowed Scholarship. Angela also received the Van Hulsteyn Award for Violin Performance (2020, 2022) as well as Chung-Kotcheff Blue Ribbon Scholars Scholarship for her Masters degree.
Tavifa Gascon
Tavifa moved to Washington D.C. in the spring of 2013 from Chisinau, Moldova. Back in her hometown she started playing violin at age 6 at a professional school for music and general subjects.
Right after a few weeks in the U.S. Tavifa established herself as an intuitive and dedicated performer.
She became Fellow of the National Symphony Orchestra and a member of the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra which led her to incredible opportunities. While being part of these organizations, Tavifa had at least one performance every month as a soloist, chamber player and orchestra member. She performed numerous times on the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center as well as the Concert Hall. She served as concertmaster for the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and the Summer Music Institute of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Tavifa currently studies with Judith Ingolfsson at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University under Jill McGovern – Steven Muller Fellowship.
Fangming Shen
Internationally acclaimed violinist Fangming Shen has performed as a soloist, orchestra musician and chamber musician in venues including Carnegie Hall, the Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Serge Koussevitzky Music Shed, Joseph MeyerhoffSymphony Hall and Wuhan Qintai Concert Hall. Fangming’s fascination with orchestra playing has led her to perform with symphony orchestras including Boston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Princeton, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Peabody Symphony Orchestras and among those.
Equally at home as a chamber musician, Fangming has coached by many lengedary chamber coaches including Juilliard String Quartet and Emerson String Quartet.
Fangming is the 1st prize winner of Peabody Conservatory Marbury Prize String Competition and 3rd prize winner of Yale Gordon Concerto Competition. She has participated in other renowned international festivals such as Tanglewood Music Center, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, New York String Orchestra Seminarand Summit Music Festival.
Originally from Wuhan, China, Fangming is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical and Arts degree under Herbert Greenberg at Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University.
Alison (Chih-Chun) Wang
Born in Taiwan, violinist Chih-Chun Wang began her musical education at the age of 6. After graduating from Wu-Lin Senior High School in Taiwan, she continued her study at Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University as a full scholarship student. She is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree under the tutelage of Keng-Yuen Tseng at the Peabody Institute. Besides working on solo performances, she is also an avid chamber musician and orchestral player. She is currently a violinist of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra (PSO), and Peabody Chamber Orchestra (PCO) at school, and also appear playing in Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and Washington Opera Society. She has attended numerous music festivals such as Salut Taiwan Festival and the Philadelphia International Music Festival (PIMF).
Mandy (Man) Wang
Violinist Man Wang is a prize winner of numerous International solo and chamber music competitions. She has performed extensively as a soloist and member of the CNU String Quartet throughout Beijing and Shandong. From 2000 to 2006, Ms. Wang was frequently invited to perform in Japan, Korea and Taiwan with the Shandong Youth Philharmonic as soloist. In the summer of 2017 she performed in Aspen Music Festival under the baton of Ludovic Morlot and Jane Glover, where she studied with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Robert Chen and Cornelia Heard.
Man Wang received her doctoral degree in violin performance and Masters degree in viola performance from the University of Kansas. Since 2017 she is a faculty member at Ottawa University and performer-artist at NAVO Organization. In 2017 she joined the Community School for the Performing Arts in Manhattan, Kansas, where she serves as string division chair.
William Wang
Violinist William Wang is currently based in the DMV area. After moving to Philadelphia in 2004 with his family, William studied with Irving Ludwig and Juliette Kang of the Philadelphia Orchestra. As an orchestral musician, William performed with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and Philadelphia Sinfonia. He has participated and led as concertmaster/associate in multiple festival orchestras such as Philadelphia All-City Orchestra, PMEA District, Region, and State Festival Orchestras. In 2013, William won the Philadelphia ACO Festival Concerto Competition and debuted in Verizon Hall of the Kimmel Center. He attended the Texas Music Festival in June of 2019 as an orchestral fellow and led the orchestra as concertmaster under the baton of Maestro Rossen Milanov. William recently served as guest concertmaster of Mid-Atlantic Symphony and will join Annapolis Symphony violin section in the 2022-2023 season.
In addition to his orchestral endeavors, he is also an avid chamber musician. Upon attending Peabody, William has worked with a number of musicians from a variety of instrumentations. After forming the Apollo String Quartet in 2016, William has attended the Castleman Quartet Program the three following summers, under the mentorship of world-renowned musicians and pedagogues.
William studied with Qing Li, principal second violin of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
VIOLA
Ben Freedman
Since 2017, Ben Freedman has enjoyed a prolific career as an orchestral, chamber, and solo violist. Freedman started viola at the age of ten, studying locally before going on to achieve a Bachelor’s Degree in Viola Performance from the University of Miami, and is now pursuing his Master’s Degree at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. Freedman prides himself on having a very diverse background of performance. In the past, he has worked and performed nationwide with ensembles such as the Palm Beach Symphony, Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, and the Eastern Festival Orchestra of Eastern Music Festival
Pursuing his studies with former teacher Jodi Levitz, Freedman was a recipient of a prestigious Frost School of Music President’s Scholarship. He went on to receive a degree in Viola Performance with a minor in the Music Business and Entertainment Industry. Now, Freedman is studying with violist Victoria Chiang pursuing a master’s in viola performance. Freedman has played alongside notable musicians such as Marin Alsop, Benjamin Zander, Gerard Schwarz, Stefan Milenkovich, and Charles Castleman. Additionally, Ben has participated in masterclasses for violists such as Roberto Diaz, Rebecca Young, CJ Chang, Jordan Bak, and Ettore Causa.
When not studying viola, Freedman enjoys photography, mountain biking, and finding ways to improve and uplift his community as a proud LGBTQ individual.
Flavia Pajaro-van de Stadt
Violist Flavia Pajaro-van de Stadt is an avid chamber musician and has attended Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Kirchberg International Music Workshop and Festival in Germany, and Domaine Forget in Quebec, among others. She has had the privilege of playing in the viola section of the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as working and performing with musicians including Leon Fleisher, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Scott Yoo, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Keitaro Harada, Steven Moeckel, Mark Fewer, Steven Copes, and Karen Gomyo. She received her master's degree in viola performance with CJ Chang at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where she previously received her bachelor's degree in violin performance with Keng-Yuen Tseng. Flavia is particularly grateful to her teachers Sergiu Schwartz and Toby Appel for their ongoing mentorship.
William Satterfield
William Satterfield started playing violin at the age of 6. Since then, Satterfield has served as concertmaster and principal violist for multiple orchestras across the United States. Some of these orchestras include the Iolani Pit Orchestra, the Hawaii Civic Orchestra, Interlochen's Academy Orchestra, Peabody Concert Orchestra and, Peabody Symphony Orchestra. Some of his orchestral achievements include serving as associate concertmaster of a Hawaii based orchestra which won 1st place at the National Orchestra Festival in Boston, Massachusetts. He has also played in the prestigious David Geffen Hall, home to the New York Philharmonic, with the Interlochen Academy Orchestra. In addition to orchestra, Satterfield is an active chamber musician. He has played violin and viola for over a dozen different chamber groups. He competed as a member of the Ehrling String Quartet at national competitions such as Fischoff and The Saint Paul Chamber Competition. In addition to his exploits on violin and viola, Satterfield has studied conducting with Donald Schleicher of the University of Illinois, and Larry Rachleff of Rice's Shepherd School of Music. Satterfield's conducting studies started by his attendance of the Chicago Conducting Masterclass Workshop Series at the age of 15. He would then become the first underage participant of the renowned International Conducting Festival Workshop at the age of 17. Using his conducting training, he has put together many student ensembles, some of which are still active today. Satterfield graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in the 2015-2016 academic year. Since then, he has played in masterclasses with Csaba Erdelyi, CQP alumnus Jeffrey Irvine, Chee-Yun Kim, Jonathan Vinocour, the Brentano Quartet, and the Pro Arte Quartet. Satterfield completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Viola Performance at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University with CQP alumnus CJ Chang, principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is currently pursuing his Master’s Degree in the Fall studying wity Liz Freivogel, violist of the world renowned Jupiter Quartet, as a member of the Graduate Quartet in Residence
VIOLONCELLO
Jihyeuk Choi
A Korean-American cellist Jihyeuk Choi is rapidly building his international reputation. Choi moved to New York City from Seoul, South Korea under the Kaufman Music Center’s sponsorship of a 4-year full scholarship to continue his journey at Special Music School High School in 2014. At the age of 16, Jihyeuk Choi made his debut with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong as the winner of the 4th Hong Kong International Competition.
Choi has proved his virtuosity and professionality by winning plenty of prestigious international competitions including the MIGP International Competition, the Hong Kong International Competition, and the New York International Competition. He has performed in professional venues such as the Weill Hall/Zankel Hall at the Carnegie Hall, the Merkin Concert Hall, the Hylton Performing Arts Center, the Hong Kong City Hall, and the IBK Chamber Hall at the Seoul Arts Center. Choi has supplemented his professional studies by participating in international music festivals such as the Keshet Eilon International String Mastercourse, the Clarion Society Collegium, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival, also by masterclasses with David Ying, Jeffrey Ziegler, Myron Lutzke, Paul Katz, and Tamas Vargas.
Jihyeuk Choi is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Music degree at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University with a 4-year full scholarship under the tutelage of world-renowned cello soloist Amit Peled.
Sunnat Ibragimov
Sunnat Ibragimov has established himself as an artist of creativity, passion and technical command. He is one of the most prominent cellists to emerge from the Central Asian republics and has studied with many of the top artists of our time. He has performed live and on radio with major soloists, chamber musicians, orchestras and conductors. He performed with orchestras (“Soloists of Uzbekistan,” Uzbek National Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Shenyang Symphony, Hays Symphony, Southeast Kansas Symphony), chamber musicians (Shmuel Ashkenasi, Borromeo String Quartet); festivals (the Orford Music Festival in Montreal, Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival) and has worked under such prominent conductors as Carl St. Clair, Gerard Schwarz , John Nelson, Hugh Wolff, Michael Stern , Thomas Wilkins and Robert Spano. In 2017 as a cello fellow he performed with the Aspen Festival Orchestra under Joshua Weilerstein.
Born in Tashkent, he began the cello at 7 and studied at the Glière State Music School and the Uzbek State Conservatory. Ibragimov earned a Bachelor of Music from Park University’s International Center for Music, where he studied with Martin Storey and Daniel Veis, and he continued, also on full scholarship, at the University of Southern California with Andrew Shulman and Ben Hong. In 2017, he finished his Masters degree at the University of Kansas under the tutelage of Hannah Collins and Mark Gibbs. Currently, Sunnat Ibragimov is working on his Doctoral Degree at Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University with Alan Stepansky.
Sua Jo
South Korean cellist Sua Jo is a performer and educator who enjoys every aspect of musical creation. Currently she is pursuing a master’s degree in cello performance and cello pedagogy under the tutelage of Professor Alan Stepansky at the Peabody Institute. She has previously studied with Yeonsun Joo of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, protégé of the cellist Lynn Harrell.
Born in South Korea, she started her cello journey after she moved to the United States at the age of 8. As she has lived in the US, South Korea, and Germany during her childhood, the cello remained the one constant in her life. She has been influenced by her early cello teachers and music teachers who have always encouraged her to give back to the community. She has served as principal cellist in the Peabody Concert Orchestra under Joseph Young in 2019 and assistant principal under Marin Alsop. Recently she was awarded the Dorothy Silverman Pollack Conservatory Scholarship for the 2022-2023 school year.
She has performed in many solo masterclasses given by Astrid Schween, Gary Hoffman, Phillipe Muller, and Natalia Gutman. She has also participated masterclasses from the musicians of the Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony, and Houston Symphony Orchestras. Past festivals include the Manchester Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, and the National Orchestral Institute. She has been in many chamber music ensembles over the years and received masterclasses by members of the Escher and Jupiter String Quartet, along with masterclasses from Adam Neiman, Edward Arron, and Clive Greensmith.
Sua has continued to be active in both performing and teaching in the Maryland area. She has been teaching privately both on zoom and in person since 2020, and she is currently a cello instructor at the Bethany Music Center in Ellicott City, Maryland.
William (Xingqiao) Ren
Chinese Cellist Xingqiao Ren began his cello studies at the age of 9 in Beijing. During 2009.9-2015.7, he attended the Middle School Attached to China Conservatory where he studied with Jianan Zhao. In 2010, he won Second place and “CHINESE AWARD” at the AiQinBei cello competition in Beijing, China. In 2011, in the state of Pennsylvania, he joined the Music Festival where he won 1st place of Concerto Competition and he also performed the Haydn Cello Concerto in C major with the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra at Fulton Theatre Hall in Lancaster City. Into 2012, he was assigned by the Chinese Ministry of Culture to the Petersburg Music institute in Russia where he got a solo performance and Academic communication. During 2012-2014, he was the cello principal in the China Youth Nationalities Orchestra. He got performance with CYNO in America, Korea, Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In 2017.6-7 he joined The Castleman String Quartet Program with his string quartet in Peabody, “The Apollo String Quartet”. He is currently a master student at the Peabody Conservatory in the studio of Alan Stepansky, and is the grateful recipient of the Stephen Kates Memorial Endowed Scholarship at Peabody.
PIANO
Marie Herrington
Marie is a composer, pianist and vocalist originating from North Carolina, who performs regularly in Baltimore, Washington DC, New Orleans, and New York City. Marie is best known for the variety of musical skills she possesses: working as a freelance composer of post-classical music, a freelance contemporary soprano, a freelance organist and pianist, as well as being a full time music director having 3 choirs. Marie performs a lot of her original compositions on the piano and organ, and have had a few debuts of original pieces this year at Govans Presbyterian Church (Baltimore, MD), and Arnolia UMC, (Parkville, MD), not to mention at various locations in New Orleans, LA, and Minneapolis, MN. Marie's piano mentor includes a successor of the greats from the Moscow Conservatory, but she didn't begin piano lessons until age 11. Marie has been playing piano by ear since age 3, which led her to composing and writing arrangements on the piano, organ, and many more instruments. To learn more about Marie as a musician, visit her website at www.marieherringtonmusic.com
Yihan Sun
Yihan Sun, from Qingdao, China, has been studying the piano since the age of 6. She currently lives in College Park and is a doctoral candidate in Collaborative Piano, studying with Rita Sloan at University of Maryland. Prior to joining UMD, Yihan studied under Alexander Shtarkman and obtained her master’s degree in piano performance from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
Throughout the years, Yihan won for several piano competitions, including the 4th Kawai Asia Piano Competition, the 4th Shenzhen Piano Open Competition and TMTA Piano Competition. She has appeared as festival fellow at the Colorado College Summer Music Festival and Eastern Music Festival where she won the concerto competition and performed under the baton of Grant Cooper with EMF Young Artists Orchestra. She also has solo/chamber masterclasses with many distinguished musicians, including Leon Fleisher, Kim-Woo Paik, and Seymour Bernstein. Moreover, Yihan was chosen to perform alongside Yi-Yang Chen for the Embassy Series in November 2018 at Washington, DC. With her passion in collaborating with other musicians, she participated in ensemble performances as well as accompanying voice studios at East Tennessee State University, Ohio University, Peabody Conservatory and University of Maryland.
HARP
Erin Baker
Erin Baker is a Baltimore based harpist and music educator. She earned her Master’s degree in performance/pedagogy at the Peabody Conservatory under the tutelage of the late Ruth Inglefield. Erin maintains a busy schedule with a variety of performance and teaching opportunities in and around Baltimore, MD. She can be heard on the recently released single, “Freedom” by Batlimore artist Ray Winder and is also featured on the album “Stories Out of Cherry Stems”, a collection of compositions by Peter Dayton, which was released in May 2022. She currently holds a faculty position as the harp instructor for Baltimore Orchkids and the Baltimore School for the Arts TWIGS program. In her free time, Erin loves to stay active playing disc golf, jogging, cycling, or practicing yoga.