Guest Artists

Aaron Ma, 17, is currently a senior at the Harker School. He began his musical journey at the age of three, studying piano with his mother, pianist Hang Li, and started violin at age six with Zhao Wei. From 2019 to 2022, he studied piano with William Wellborn at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) Pre-College Division. Aaron currently studies violin with Zhao Wei at SFCM, and receives mentorship from Ian Swensen. He was a member of Young Chamber Musicians for the 2024–2025 season as the violinist of the Mariposa Trio. He has been a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra since 2022, and now serves as its concertmaster. Ma has earned top prizes in numerous competitions. Most notably, he won the 2025 San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition and made his solo debut at Davies Symphony Hall. He is also the Grand Prize winner of the Enkor International Music Competition, the First Prize winner of the Central Oregon Symphony Young Artist Competition, Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Annual Competition, and many others. In the summer of 2026, Ma attended the Bowdoin International Music Festival under the tutelage of Ian Swensen. In the summer of 2025, Ma was invited to the Young Artist Institute of Chamber Music Northwest and toured East Asia with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States, performing alongside Ray Chen, Clara-Jumi Kang, and under the direction of Gianandrea Noseda. During the summer of 2024, he studied with Gerardo Ribeiro at the Meadowmount School of Music. In the summer of 2023, he participated in Music@Menlo and the Bowdoin International Music Festival, where he studied with Ayano Ninomiya of the New England Conservatory.