M2 Fellowship Program

Sylvia Jiang is a young concert pianist from New Zealand and serves as Artistic Director and co-founder of non-profit organization Muffin Music Inc.. Hailed by critics as a ‘gifted young pianist of genuine substance’ and ‘New Zealand’s most notable young emerging pianist,’ Sylvia has been featured on BBC News, The Washington Post, ABC Australia, Radio New Zealand Concert, and other notable news networks and publications. 

Sylvia has performed as a soloist with numerous internationally renowned Orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, Queensland Symphony, Music Academy of the West, and Juilliard Chamber Orchestras. Solo performance highlights include Alice Tully Hall in New York City, Auckland Town Hall, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Sylvia has served as Artistic Director for multiple arts organizations and events, with a focus on her interest in multi-disciplinary collaborative work. She was invited to be a featured soloist in The Kennedy Center’s Ballet Across America with Dance Theatre of Harlem and Miami City Ballet. 

Over the years, she has won numerous top prizes at national and international level competitions including the prestigious Lev Vlassenko, Kerikeri, Music Academy of the West, and Hastings International Piano Competitions. She most recently served as the sole Artist Diploma Candidate at Johns Hopkins University.

She is currently on faculty at the University of Aukland School of Music.

Learn more about Sylvia here

Helen Zhibing Huang is a Chinese-born soprano, praised as “impressive” by The New York Times for her portrayal of Pamina in The Magic Flute at The Glimmerglass Festival. She is known for her versatility across standard repertoire, contemporary opera, and artist-driven projects centered on storytelling and cultural identity.

In the 2025–2026 season, she makes role debuts as Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore with Opera Grand Rapids and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with Knoxville Opera, and returns to the Alabama Symphony Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah. She reprises the roles of Ming in Byron Au Yong’s Stuck Elevator with Opera Grand Rapids and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette with Resonance Works Pittsburgh. She also sings the role of Mei in the workshop of Huang Ruo’s The Wedding Banquet with the Metropolitan Opera.

Huang’s other operatic roles include Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Monica (The Medium), Baby Doe (The Ballad of Baby Doe), and le rossignol (Le rossignol). Her concert repertoire includes Bach’s Magnificat, Fauré’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.

She has worked with companies such as Washington National Opera, the New York Philharmonic, Deutsche Oper Berlin, The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Hawai’i Opera Theatre, Washington Concert Opera, Nashville Opera, and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. Huang is the executive director and co-founder of Wear Yellow Proudly, a nonprofit organization amplifying Asian American voices by telling the stories of Asian American communities using the power of music. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking and eating traditional Chinese dishes.

  Praised by the New York Times as a pianist with “assurance and vitality,” Alan Woo made his Lincoln Center debut at Alice Tully Hall performing with the Juilliard Orchestra under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He has since collaborated with conductors Daniel Hege, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and Tito Muñoz in solo appearances with the Houston Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, and Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra. 

Woo’s recent engagements include solo recitals throughout the US, Brazil, Europe, and Asia. He has been featured on The McGraw Hill Financial Young Artists Showcase broadcasted on WQXR in New York and has performed in venues such as Carnegie’s Weill and Zankel Recital Halls. As chamber musician, he has made appearances at the New York Philharmonic Ensembles, Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta, Lake George Music Festival, Chamber Music Athens, Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, and La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest series, among others.
 

Born in Arlington, Virginia, Woo is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Peabody Conservatory where he completed degrees in piano performance under Robert McDonald and Yong Hi Moon. He currently teaches at the University of Georgia as an assistant professor of piano, having previously held positions at Elizabeth City State University and Peabody Institute.