Helen was born and raised in Hong Kong.

Helen started playing the violin at the age of 5 as she was accepted into the HKAPA Junior Music Program. Over 12 years, she had been a bright student of the Junior Program under Professor Michael Ma’s guidance and graduated from it around the age of 17, which is around when she graduated from the St. Paul’s Co-educational College, where she was accepted as a music talent and received specialised music education from their music scholarship program by Mr. Warren Lee, the music director.

Helen then took her Bachelor’s degree at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, where she studied more intensively with Professor Michael Ma. She received 4-year full scholarship from the Hong Kong Jockey Club. During her study there, she won the Academy Concerto Competition two times - with Sibelius (2019) and Brahms (2021). She was frequently appointed as the concertmaster for the HKAPA Academy Orchestra. She was also the champion of the Tokyo International Youth Music Competition virtuoso senior class for solo violin in 2020. She received chamber coaching over the years from Professor Ivan Chan. She graduated with first class honors.

Later, Helen got accepted into Professor Donald Weilerstein’s studio as a Master’s student, where she studied intensively with him for two years at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. During her study at NEC, Helen received the Dean’s scholarship from NEC and a full scholarship plus stipend from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund. In her first year, her piano trio won the NEC Honors Chamber Competition and she was the concertmaster of the NEC Chamber Orchestra. In her second year, she was appointed to lead as the concertmaster and principal second for NEC Philharmonia and she has also been invited to audition for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Associate Concertmaster position, Philadelphia Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra section violin positions. She received chamber coachings from Professor Kristopher Tong, Merry Peckham and Yeesun Kim.

After graduating with Honors, she stayed for another two years studying intensively with Mr. Weilerstein at NEC, completing and graduating a Graduate Diploma. During these two years, she was finalist for Hong Kong Philharmonic (section violin-no hire), semifinalist for New York philharmonic (section violin-one hired), semifinalist for Houston symphony (Principal second-no hire). She freelances as a section violinist in both Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Helen still put in lots of love in chamber music making during these two years. In the first year of GD, she performed a full recital for a retirement home with her piano trio back then, playing a full Brahms B major trio and Haydn E major trio for the elderlies with occasional guidance from Vivian Weilerstein and Max Levinson. She also performed the whole Arensky Cello Quartet in Burnes hall at NEC with the guidance from Ara Gregorian, which she loved a lot. In the past year, she played chamber music intensively with her dearest friends who won renowned international competitions and were Curtis/ Juilliard alumni. They received string quartet coachings from Paul Katz, piano quintet coachings from Ara Gregorian and Kim Kashkashian.

Thinking that she might just come home after graduating, she also only applied to NEC’s highly selective and rigorous Doctor of Musical Arts program (~10 instrumentalists; ~1-2 violinist per cohort), which she got accepted and very looking forward to her continued studies there.

Helen is very excited to start her doctoral studies in September. She will continue to actively participate in violin competitions/professional auditions during her studies.

As a passionate chamber musician, she performs with the Musicus Society in Hong Kong. She had been invited to attend the Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop as a Young Artist Fellow in 2024 summer. She had also been invited to attend the 2024 Mimir Chamber Music Festival as an emerging artist, as a guest violinist of the Cong Quartet, an pre-established string quartet based in Hong Kong. She attended Heifetz International Institute of Music’s chamber music seminar program in 2023 summer as a fellow.

For orchestral music programs, she attended Tanglewood, organized by the Boston Symphony Orchestra last summer. She was in the principal pool and had the opportunity to lead as the principal second and play solo as the concertmaster. She also attended Aspen Summer Music Festival two times as a fellow in 2019 and 2020. Back in 2019, she participated in the Curtis Summerfest, where she also appointed to perform as a concertmaster. She later got invited to attend the Curtis Online Mentorship Program, where she met her dearest mentor, Cindy Wu.

Helen is grateful for having collaborative pianist Dina Vainshtein, Yandi Chen and Maria Jee’s support throughout her years at NEC and HKAPA respectively. She is also grateful to have received her very first guidances from Monica Chu, who was the violin instructor of HKAPA Junior Program when Helen first joined the group classes as a 5-year-old.

Helen now plays on a Stradivarius-model violin by Philip Ihle. She had the opportunity to play on a Testore, loaned by the Colburn Collection during her time in Boston.