Performing Members

David Caldine started clarinet at age 7 but changed to piano at age 18. From 1982 to 1992 he studied with Elvin Schmitt at George Mason University. At GMU David finished the performance requirements in the Bachelor of Music program, as well as receiving a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He played about 20 solo recitals in the Washington Area and in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia, and participated in many amateur piano competitions, David is the Grand Prize winner of the 2018 Chestnut International Amateur Piano Competition in Kiev, Ukraine, as well as finalist in the 2014 Piano Bridges Amateur Piano Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2017, he was semifinalist in the WIPAC competition. He also performed many times for the New York Piano Society. David has studied with Eric Himy for 12 years. After 12 years as electronic designer and 20 years as software engineer, he now works as Software Engineer on US Navy communications. He has travelled to Russia, Ukraine, and Crimea many times and is writing a book on history of Crimea in 1944-54. David also composes for solo piano and orchestra.

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.

ARPAN DOSHI is from Mumbai, India. Arpan studied philosophy and political science at Northwestern University. After graduating, Arpan worked as a chef in professional kitchens like Per Se in New York before working in enterprise business development at a tech startup. He started playing the piano at the age of 15 and has attended music festivals such as a Brevard Music Festival. After a break, Arpan now takes private lessons with Jeffrey Swann at NYU.

Michael Errico began piano lessons at age 4 and studied classically for 13 years with Isabel Sant Ambrogio at Steinway Hall. At Yale, he majored in Theory and Composition of Music. In New Haven, life intervened for him musically and he played professionally with jazz and society bands which required him to learn hundreds of songs from Broadway shows, the jazz repertoire and the evolving popular music of the day. He co-wrote a show in the 1990’s which ran intermittently for eight years at the Algonquin’s Oak Room which drew on quotes from 200 songs.

In 1995, he returned to serious classical study with the Evening Division at Juilliard studying with Lisa Kovalik and Ann Maria Trenchi de Bottazzi. He performed multiple recitals both solo and duo piano at Steinway Hall (1998), the Villa Durazzo in Santa Margherita Italy (1999), the Lincoln Center Institute (2004), the Southampton Library (2007), and the Art Museum in San Jose Costa Rica (2007). He joined several New York City serious amateur groups and recently performed at Weill Recital Hall, Baruch College, and the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center Library with the NY Piano Society. He was a finalist in the New York Amateur International Competition (2006), and was a semifinalist there (2005) and in the Washington International Amateur Competition (2007). He advanced to the semi finals in the Boston International Competition for Amateurs (2015) and received the award for the best programming. In 2020, he placed third in the Lamcaster International Piano Competition for amateurs.

In October 2013, he performed the Mozart K488 piano concerto at St, Gregory the Great Church in Manhattan with the Sinfonietta Concertanti Orchestra and then again in January 2014 in California with the California Concerto Weekend program. In 2020, he performed the Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra with Mari Ito again with the Sinfonietta Cocertanti Orchestra.

He is a Board member of the Pianofest of the Hamptons, a training ground for young brilliant up and coming pianists run by Paul Schenly in the Summer in East Hampton, New York. He studies with Mr. Schenly regularly during the year. He is still a working Orthopedist.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yiran Wang, a native of Beijing, China, combines a keen interest in both the quantitative field of engineering and finance and the artistic realm of music. His initiation into piano studies began at the age of eight under the guidance of Ling Jiang, and he maintained his commitment to music while pursuing a major in engineering at Tsinghua University. Yiran later moved to the US for graduate studies at Cornell University, and continued his piano studies, under the mentorship of Professor Xak Bjerken.

Upon moving to New York City, Yiran joined the New York Piano Society almost a decade ago and has continued his studies at The Juilliard School’s evening division. Together with NYPS, his performances have graced some of the most esteemed concert halls in the city, including Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall and Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, and the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center. Yiran’s commitment to music has also been acknowledged through accolades from various piano festivals and amatuer competitions in Fort Worth, Boston, Washington D.C., San Diego and Seattle.

Parallel to his musical pursuits, Yiran’s enthusiasm for mathematical and computing-related challenges fuels his professional career. He currently works at an investment management firm as a quantitative investment professional. As he describes himself: “Finance professional by day, husband and dad by night, number and computer nerd by brain, musician by heart.”

Simon Yates is currently Global Head of Equities at Nomura and has previously held positions as CEO, Two Sigma Securities and Managing Director, Global Head of Equity Derivatives at Citibank and Credit Suisse. 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 three 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 as both a singer and pianist. Simon has been an NYPS performing member since 2011.

Celia Zhang's passion in music started when she first took accordion lessons in China. After moving to the United States, Celia picked up piano at the age of 11, and played in and won numerous regional and state level piano competitions across Michigan and Indiana. She was also a frequent soloist and played concertos with her local orchestra throughout high school. Celia attended Harvard University where she pursued a degree in Statistics and Economics, and moved to New York City after graduating, starting her career in investment banking at Citi. She is now VP of Operations at Tailorbird, where she leads finance, operations, and HR. Celia is thrilled to be returning to piano performance again after nearly a fifteen year hiatus!

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.