Brava to cellist Angeline Kiang, grade 5, on her first-place finish in this year’s United States International Music Competition! Kiang’s talent, diligence and appreciation of cross-cultural music earned her a cash prize of $300, a trophy, a certificate of recognition and a possible radio show interview.

Hosted by the Chinese Music Teachers’ Association of Northern California, the annual event features gifted young musicians – ages 22 and under – on the piano, violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, marimba and traditional Chinese musical instruments. The winners’ recital and awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on June 7 in Stanford University Department of Music’s Dinkelspiel Auditorium.

Having played the cello since the age of 5, 10-year-old Kiang now studies under San Francisco Conservatory of Music faculty member Amos Yang, who serves as assistant principal cellist of the San Francisco Symphony. She was previously named a finalist at Berkeley’s 59th Annual Junior Bach Festival and came in second place in the Pacific Musical Society’s 2015 competition for instrumentalists, pianists and vocalists, where she performed Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Variations on a Rococo Theme.”

Kiang soon will be charming the audience at a far more familiar venue, performing at the upcoming fifth grade promotion ceremony in the Bucknall Gymnasium.

As a cellist in the lower school orchestra, Kiang has received nurturing, guidance and support from Louis Hoffman, director of the after-school instrumental program, who in turn has benefited greatly from working with the virtuosic youngster.

“She has been a wonderful student, inspired her fellow musicians, been an active part of our program and a true example of a student who both loves to play and is willing to put in the hard work and time it takes to achieve excellence on a musical instrument,” Hoffman said. “I’m incredibly honored and blessed to have been one of her teachers.”