Helen Z. Altenbach
- Music Department
Active as a freelance musician for the TV and Motion Pictures industry in Los Angeles, Helen Z. Altenbach is a member of the Grammy-winning Los Angeles Opera (LA Opera) Orchestra and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. She is also the former Principal Cellist of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra between 2009-2012. Her classical album* "Grieg & Prokofiev" released by Albany Records won the 2014 Global Music Awards Silver Medal.
Born as Xiaodan Zheng to a musical family in China, she studied cello and piano in Russia between the ages of 9-14 at the Tchaikovsky Pre-Conservatory program. Her family immigrated to New York City in 1998. As Xiaodan Zheng, she graduated from the Juilliard School Pre-College Division and the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Xiaodan holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance from University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. She attended the Itzhak Perlman Music Program and was a scholarship recipient of the Richard and Mika Hadar Foundation. During her school years, she was a recipient of a fine cello on loan from the Richard Colburn Foundation.
Her awards include the Juilliard Honor Strings competition, Juiliard Concerto competition, the ASCAP Foundation Ira Gershwin Award, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Young Artists Award, first prize at Great Neck Young Artist Award (in both Solo and Chamber Music categories), and second prize at Corpus Christi Young Artists Competition.
*credited as: Xiao-Dan Zheng, with pianist Clara Yang
Born as Xiaodan Zheng to a musical family in China, she studied cello and piano in Russia between the ages of 9-14 at the Tchaikovsky Pre-Conservatory program. Her family immigrated to New York City in 1998. As Xiaodan Zheng, she graduated from the Juilliard School Pre-College Division and the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Xiaodan holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance from University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. She attended the Itzhak Perlman Music Program and was a scholarship recipient of the Richard and Mika Hadar Foundation. During her school years, she was a recipient of a fine cello on loan from the Richard Colburn Foundation.
Her awards include the Juilliard Honor Strings competition, Juiliard Concerto competition, the ASCAP Foundation Ira Gershwin Award, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Young Artists Award, first prize at Great Neck Young Artist Award (in both Solo and Chamber Music categories), and second prize at Corpus Christi Young Artists Competition.
*credited as: Xiao-Dan Zheng, with pianist Clara Yang
