Performing Members
Sabrina Chen started playing piano when she was 7 years old. Born and raised in Palo Alto, CA, she studied with Steinway Artist Sandra Shen and graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics - Economics. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2013 as a winner of the American Fine Arts Festival. She is a three-time first place winner of the United States Open Music Competition and has also won first place in the California Spring Arts Talent Festival and the American Protégé International Music Competition. She has attended many summer music festivals including the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and Brevard Music Festival. Sabrina moved to New York last year and is currently working in the financial services industry.
CARL DI CASOLI, a citizen of both the USA and Italy, studied statistics at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, USA, earning both his masters and PhD degrees in statistics in 2006 and 2009, respectively. Although he currently works as a director of biostatistics at Dainippon Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals America (Sunovion) in Marlborough, Massachusetts (Boston area), he finds time to indulge his passion for piano by performing recitals and entering amateur competitions. In 2021, he was finalist and laureate at the International Chopin Competition for Amateurs in Warsaw, Poland and first prize winner at the World Piano Teachers Association – Missouri Amateur Piano Competition. In addition, he was first prize winner in the amateur divisions of the Bradshaw and Buono (New York) International Competition (2020), first prize winner of the Windsor (UK) International Competition (2020), a winner of the inaugural Pianolink International Amateurs Piano Competition (Italy) (2020), first prize winner in the San Diego International Amateur Piano Competition (2019), and the second prize winner of the Concours International de Grands Amateurs in Paris, France (2008). In 2017, he played a full solo recital at the München Gasteig Kleinersaal in Germany.
is a mathematician by education, a financial strategist by profession, and a musician at heart. He has been performing with NYPS since 2008 and is a NYPS performer in residence. Alok grew up in the UK and started playing both violin and piano at the age of seven. While in high school he was a prizewinner in numerous local and national competitions and was awarded an undergraduate scholarship in mathematics and music at Cambridge University. After graduation, he came to the US and obtained a PhD in mathematical computation from Yale University. Alok is currently Director and and Head of Equity Analytics at a large financial institution in New York City and is responsible for a variety of projects around the world in the areas of financial modeling, electronic trading, automation, and data science. After moving to New York in 2001 he was fortunate to find a thriving musical community; this provided inspiration to revive his musical studies and pursuits. Since then, he has performed regularly as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician in the New York area.
is an Italian pianist and earned a PhD in Mathematics and currently works in the financial industry. Mr. Facchi graduated cum laude from Conservatory “Luca Marenzio” (Brescia, Italy) in 2004. He further studied piano in the US. He has won national and international piano competitions and has given solo recitals in several Italian cities, Canada and the United States. He performs in various chamber music groups.
has appeared in solo recitals, chamber concerts, and with orchestras at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Town Hall. He has accompanied renowned Metropolitan Opera Sopranos Carol Vaness and Korliss Uecker as well as Metropolitan Orchestra Principals Julie Landsman (French horn) and Jerry Grossman (cello). He performs regularly with the New York Piano Society and was a finalist in the Van Cliburn “Professional-Amateur” Competition. Reviews described his "perfect voicing and projection and an arresting sense of drama." Dr. Horovitz is a board-certified Internist and Pulmonologist in private practice in New York City. He is listed among Castle-Connolly's and New York Magazine’s "Best Doctors," and was named Who’s Who “Pulmonary Professional of the Year.” He is on staff at Lenox Hill Hospital , and at Weill Cornell-New York Presbyterian Hospital, and he appears as a medical commentator on national and local news. Len Horovitz has been performing as a pianist since childhood — although he was born with three thumbs. His parents were told: “He’ll never play the piano.”
This is Ben Jablonski’s debut performance at Carnegie Hall. A native Australian, he has lived in New York for the last 15 years. Ben is an entrepreneur most passionate about his non-profit which unites Palestinian and Israeli farmers. Connected to music from a young age, Ben is honored to be a member of the New York Piano Society.
is a fashion designer for her own brand, ZuZu Kim, and is a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As a member of a diplomatic family, she lived internationally for many years, yet considers Seoul, South Korea her home. She currently lives in New York City. Christina began her piano studies as an adult and is passionate about her “serious hobby”.
Evelyn Mo began pursuing the piano at age 3 and is currently studying under the tutelage of pianist John O'Conor. As a soloist, she has performed across North America at venues including Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and US Department of State. She has been a top prizewinner of numerous international competitions, most notably the inaugural Cliburn Junior International Competition, the New York International Piano Competition, and the Ettlingen International Piano Competition. Evelyn made her orchestral debut at age 11, and has since performed with orchestras including the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orchestra of Northern New York. Evelyn has been featured on NPR’s “From the Top” and WQXR’s “Piano Prodigies”. She was named a National YoungArts Winner and full scholarship recipient of the National Chopin Foundation of the United States, and received admission to the Juilliard School. Evelyn holds a BA with Honors from Harvard College in Economics and Statistics, and is currently working in the financial industry.
Siqi Mou is the CEO and Co-Founder of HelloAva. She is a former Bloomberg anchor and also held several positions at Morgan Stanley, PIMCO, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York before starting HelloAva. Siqi was awarded Forbes 30 Under 30 (Consumer Tech) in 2019 and Inc Magazine’s 30 Rising Stars Under 30 in 2018, and has been featured in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, USNews, Marie Claire, Allure, The Cut, WWD, Fast Company, etc. Siqi held an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business, MPA from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and B.A. in Economics from Stanford University where she was elected Phi Beta Kappa.
A native of the Bay Area, Andrew studied Mathematics at UC Berkeley and works as a software engineer. He started playing piano at the age of 7 and enjoys the music of Scriabin and Medtner.
At the age of five, Alex discovered his passion for the keyboard upon being mesmerized by a xylophone street performer. He first began playing piano by ear, and his father enrolled him in lessons shortly thereafter. Throughout his childhood and teen years, Alex studied piano in Florida under Nina Selyutin, a pedagogue of the Russian piano tradition. Alex attended Yale University where he studied Mathematics and Philosophy, while continuing to pursue piano performance at the Yale School of Music. Upon graduating from Yale in 2014, Alex moved to New York to work for Citi, where he spent seven years structuring financial derivatives for corporations throughout Latin America. While at Citi, Alex was introduced to the New York Piano Society by his mentor and colleague, Simon Yates. Alex continues to play piano actively through NYPS. He currently works at Riverside Risk Advisors, a boutique financial advisory firm.
received a Bachelor's degree in music from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Master’s Degree in Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Sisskin was the first prize winner of the Chicago International Amateur Competition, concerto division in 2014. He has appeared as soloist with the New York Piano Society, with the New York Concerti Sinfonietta, and with the Fort Worth Symphony as part of the PianoTexas Amateur Program. Mr. Sisskin has worked as a software developer for Bloomberg, LP since 2002.
A corporate lawyer turned management consultant, Tammy lived in Singapore and London before settling in New York two decades ago. She is currently a Partner at SYPartners where she specializes in strategy development and culture transformation for multinational corporations.
Tammy began piano lessons at age 6 and as a teen, completed her piano performance diplomas and played the cello with the Singapore National Youth Orchestra. Her most memorable piano-related experience growing up was playing for noted English pianist Phyllis Sellick on her vintage Steinway that was a gift from Sir Henry Wood, the founder of the annual Proms concerts in London.
After a 20-year break away from the piano, Tammy is delighted to be playing seriously again, and to be a part of the New York Piano Society. Since her return to the piano, Tammy has been featured in Pianist magazine’s YouTube channel, and has performed in masterclasses and taken lessons with Dmitri Alexeev, Boris Berman, Noriko Ogawa, and Vyacheslav Gryaznov.
started learning how to play piano when he was eight, and has made modest progress since then. He attended The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT, where he studied with Brazilian pianists Fabio and Gisele Witkowski. His high school senior recital ended melodramatically with Isolde's Liebestod, as transcribed by Liszt. He spent several summers studying at the Amalfi Coast Music Festival, where he played in master classes for Paul Badura-Skoda. In college he studied with Diana Fanning and under her tutelage won first prize at the Middlebury Concerto Competition with Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat. After college he lived in India for a year teaching music at a small music conservatory and transcribing Bollywood film scores for Oscar winning composer A.R. Rahman. His favorite composers for the piano are Ravel and Rachmaninoff. He has lived in New York for six years and currently works in digital strategy for Verizon. In his spare time he is an enthusiastic Wagnerian and is desperate for tickets to Bayreuth's 2020 "Ring" cycle.
was born in Beijing, China. He began his piano study with Ling Jiang at the age of 8 and showed great interest and enthusiasm in piano at an early age. Though chose engineering as his major while attending Tsinghua University in Beijing, he kept on with his practice and concert engagements as an amateur pianist. In 2009, Yiran came to the US attending Cornell University for graduate education in engineering and finance, where he continued his piano study with Professor Xak Bjerken. After moving to New York City in 2011, he furthered his journey in the evening division at The Juilliard School and joined the New York Piano Society as a pianist in residence. Yiran has since been regularly performing at major venues including the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, and Merkin Concert Hall. He has been a winner in many amateur music festivals and competitions in Boston, Washington D.C., New York, San Diego and Seattle. Yiran is fond of math / computer problems and currently works at a US asset management firm as a portfolio manager.
is currently CEO of Two Sigma Securities and has previously held Managing Director positions as Head of Equity Derivatives at Citibank and Credit Suisse in New York City. Born in England, Simon began piano lessons at the age of four and subsequently began studying organ and voice. He attended Cambridge University where he studied Mathematics with a scholarship as organist of Emmanuel College. After leaving Cambridge, Simon joined JP Morgan as an equity derivatives trader - he fell in love with New York on an early business trip and has considered the US as his home for almost two decades. He is actively involved in the musical life of New York City, has performed at numerous events and festivals in the US and UK, and is a member of the board of the Metropolitan Opera and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Simon joined NYPS in 2011.
is an award-winning trumpeter. He has significant musical experience as the principal trumpeter in the Imperial College symphony orchestra and as their concert tour manager organizing many shows throughout Europe. He enjoys playing piano in his spare time. Derek is an Executive Director at JPMorgan. He holds a B.Eng degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Imperial College and a M.Sc in Finance from the London School of Economics. Derek is on the Board of Trustees for the New York Youth Symphony.
Arabella Zito is a native Las Vegan who began playing piano at the age of 7. She was self-taught until the age of 14 when she began her studies with Muriel Adler, a student of Isador Philippe. She was a piano major at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and later continued her studies in the Julliard Extension Division. She is currently a student of Assaff Weisman. In addition to piano, she studied harp with Susan Jolles of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and has played professionally throughout Las Vegas. She was also a voice major at the Mannes College of Music and studied the Old Italian School of technique with Anthony Frisell. She continues her flute studies with Nicolas Duchamp, student of the legendary Jean-Pierre Rampal. Her performance venues include Merkin Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Villa Favard in Italy. In addition to music, Ms. Zito has an extensive dance background in ballet, tap, jazz, and flamenco. She is the artistic director of a dance studio in Brooklyn that serves the orthodox Jewish community, and she enjoys choreographing and teaching ballet. She is also the mother of 7 children.