The RR Star Students are a select group of outstanding performers who have demonstrated exceptional musicianship and academic excellence throughout their studies at RR Academy. Get to know some of our incredible Young Artists below!
Current Star Students
Cindy Liang
Student of Nicholas Rada
Cindy Liang has has been studying with Nicholas Rada for 8 years, and was a theory student of Evgenia Rabinovich from 2016-2020. Cindy is a winner of numerous local and national music competitions, including North Shore Music Festival, Festival on the Lake, Student Performers’ Guild Festival and Canadian Music Competition. In May 2015, she competed in the Student Performers’ Guild and was given the Diane Globe Trophy with the Highest Aggregate Mark of the Junior Division, as well as the Student Performers’ Guild Junior Scholarship. In June 2018, she is the First-Place winner of the Canadian Music Competition in the piano 9-year-old category.
Cindy completed all her RCM exams with first class honor with distinction. In addition, she was the RCM Gold Medalist for British Columbia for the Grade 2 Piano Examination in 2015 with an outstanding score of 97 marks. In 2020 she was the recipient of Lucille Little Award for her outstanding score of 97 marks in her Grade 9 Piano Examination.
She is currently studying Grade 10 piano.
Hannah Chen
Piano & Theory Student of Evgenia Rabinovich
Hannah has been a piano and theory student of Evgenia Rabinovich for 3 years. She has since been a Gold and Silver Medalist at local and regional music competitions, including 2022 BCCM, 2021 VKMF, 2021 PYPF, and 2021 BCCM, among others. Hannah has completed all her RCM exams with first class honor with distinction. She received 93% on her Level 5 RCM piano exam in 2020, and 90% on her Level 7 RCM piano exam in 2022. In her theory studies, she has received 99% on her Level 5 2020 exam, and 99% on her Level 7 2022 exam. She has demonstrated exceptional work in both piano and theory, and continues to show an extremely high level of performance in all disciplines.
Nini Lu
Piano Student of Nicholas Rada and Theory Student of Evgenia Rabinovich
Nini is a 12-year-old student who has been studying at RR Academy since 2018. Most recently, she is the 2nd place winner of the 2020 Canadian Music Competition. In her piano studies, Nini has received 91% on her RCM Level 8 exam (2020). In her theory studies, she has received marks of 94% for Level 6 theory (2019) , 94% for Level 8 theory (2020), and 90% on her Level 9 Harmony and Counterpoint (2021).
Star Alumni
Sarah Yang
Student of Nicholas Rada
Sarah has been a student of Nicholas Rada since 2019. She is a winner of 2022 Canadian Music Competition (15-year-old category, (3rd place), overall winner of the 2022 Pacific International Youth Music Society Competition (diploma category), 2022 Vancouver Kiwanis Music Festival (overall winner – Impressionist Diploma category), and 2022 Seattle Young Artists Music Festival Association (senior concerto alternate). In 2021, she was the winner of 2021 Pacific International Youth Music Society Competition (runner-up), 2021 Vancouver Kiwanis Music Festival (2nd Place, romantic diploma category), and 2021 Vancouver International Music Competition (Finalist). She is also a regular performer at Music Fest Perugia, which she attended in 2019 and again in 2022, performing the Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2, mvt. 1 with orchestra. Since 2021, she has been taking additional lessons with Ilana Vered. She is also a Student Teacher at RR Academy since 2022, and is currently working on auditioning to universities and conservatories in pursuit of a Bachelors of Music degree.
Max Liu
Student of Nicholas Rada
Colin Zhou
Student of Nicholas Rada
Angela Hu
Student of Nicholas Rada
Amber Huang
Student of Nicholas Rada
Amber has been studying with Nicholas Rada for 6 years. She is a student at Handsworth Secondary School. When she was 12, she won first place at the Canadian Music Competition (2018) playing Beethoven’s Concerto No 3 (mvt 1). Besides piano, Amber loves to play competitive volleyball.Allen Ding
Allen Ding
Student from 2016-2022
Piano Student of Nicholas Rada and Theory Student of Evgenia Rabinovich
Allen is an 11-year-old student at St. George’s School. He has been studying at the RR Academy for 6 years. Allen is most recently a 3rd place winner at the 2020 Canadian Music Competition. When he was 7, Allen won 3rd place at the Canadian Music Competition (2018), performing Hayden’s Concerto in D major (mvt 3). In 2018, Allen performed with the Brunensis Virtuosi Orchestra under Maestro Uri Segal in Perugia. Most recently, Allen has been the recipient of the Lucille Little Award (2021) for the highest mark of 95% on his Grade 9 piano exam. Allen has completed all his RCM exams with first class honor with distinction, receiving 95% for both his Level 7 (2019) and Level 9 (2021) piano exams.
In his theory studies, he has shown an exceptional level of understanding, achieving 100% on his RCM Level 5 and 6 theory, both completed in 2019 as handwritten exams (prior to the RCM online system). Moving forward, Allen received 99% on his Level 8 Theory (2020), 97% on his Level 9 Harmony (2021), and 90% on his Level 10 Harmony and Counterpoint (2021).
Paul Wang
Student from 2013-2019
Piano Student of Nicholas Rada and Theory Student of Evgenia Rabinovich
Michelle Xu
Student from 2012-2016
Piano Student of Nicholas Rada
Emma Sha
Student from 2013-2019
Piano Student of Nicholas Rada
Bonnie Lee
Student of Nicholas Rada
Daniel Ko
Student of Nicholas Rada
Karin Chan
Student of Nicholas Rada
Spencer Tsai
Student of Nicholas Rada
Valery Lou
Student of Nicholas Rada
Rachel Wei
Student of Nicholas Rada
Julie Wu
Student of Nicholas Rada
ЯR Piano Academy 