Madeleine Xiao is in her final year studying a Bachelor of Music Honours Degree at the University of Auckland. Currently under the tutelage of Rae de Lisle, Bryan Sayer and Katherine Austin, she has achieved numerous top awards and scholarships both nationally and internationally and has performed all around New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Germany and the U.K.

Madeleine has been a top prize winner in every major competition across New Zealand. In 2024, Madeleine won the National Young Performer of the Year Award, reached the semifinals of the international Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition and was awarded the best NZ Pianist Award. She was also a recipient of the 2024 Pettman Royal-Overseas-League Scholarship which enabled her for a career development tour around Europe. Madeleine has played with several orchestras and became the youngest ever winner of the University of Auckland Concerto Competition. She also won the Auckland Youth Orchestra Piano Concerto Competition and has worked with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, TIMM Orchestra, and Bach Musica. She looks forward to performing as soloist with the Auckland Philharmonia in 2025.

As a chamber musician, Madeleine has collaborated with highly acclaimed musicians from all across the world such as Ben Goldscheider, Julian Bliss, Zlatomir Fung, Ben Baker, Justine Cormack and several musicians from Auckland Philharmonia. She has been invited to perform in the At the World’s Edge (AWE) Festival twice, both as an emerging artist and AWE fellow, touring the Central Lakes Region. Madeleine is also a Haydn Staples Auckland Philharmonia Piano Scholar for 2023-2025 and her chamber group, Kaha Trio, is an Auckland Philharmonia Aspiring Musicians ensemble. Winning the 2024 University of Auckland Chamber Music Competition in association with Chamber Music New Zealand, they have been invited to perform across NZ, being regarded as one of the top up-and-coming young ensembles.

Dylan Tang is a 19-year-old second year Bachelor of Music student at the University of Auckland, studying piano under Rae de Lisle and Stephen de Pledge. He began playing piano at the age of six and has since won several piano competitions in New Zealand, including the North Shore Performing Arts Competitions (NSPACS), Lewis Eady, and Institute of Registered Music Teachers (IRMT) competitions.

Recently, Dylan advanced to the first round of the prestigious Vlassenko Competition. In addition to piano, Dylan is passionate about the violin, which he started learning at 11. He is an active member of the university’s symphony orchestra and chamber orchestra, and has participated in multiple chamber music competitions, showcasing his dual talent for both piano and violin.

Yixuan (William) Sun is a talented pianist who studies with Rae de Lisle and Justin Bird while majoring in Classical Performance on piano at the University of Auckland. Since he started learning with Rae de Lisle for a year, he achieved notable success, including winning twice at the 2021 North Shore Performing Arts Competitions and receiving prizes in the 2023 Margaret Doone Memorial Piano Sonata Scholarship. He was also a student under Stephen de Pledge and Richard Mapp, and experienced masterclasses with Benjamin Grosvenor, Inon Barnatan, Joyce Yang, Daniel Lebhardt, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, etc. He was a semifinalist both in the University of Auckland School of Music Concerto Competition and the Lewis Eady National Piano Competition in 2024. In 2025 he was selected as a young artist of the Whakatipu Music Festival in 2025.

Yixuan William will be going to Netherlands and Germany to participate IHMS (International Holland Music Sessions) Academy & Festival and Oberstdorfer Musiksommer and taking masterclasses with Julien Libeer and Prof. Konrad Elser in 2026.

In addition to his piano study, he is also a trumpet player, studying with Huw Dann, the section principal of Auckland Philharmonia. He has had experiences in many orchestras, such as the Auckland Philharmonia, Tian Guo Marching Band, Auckland Youth Orchestra, University of Auckland Symphony Orchestra, etc.