IRENE HUANG

Irene is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in piano performance at the Eastman School of Music. Growing up in Toronto, she began her piano studies at age three and earned her ARCT Performance Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music with First Class Honours with Distinction in 2018. She also studied violin from the age of four, receiving the Royal Conservatory of Music Gold Medal for the highest ARCT violin mark in Ontario in 2022.

Irene has extensive experience collaborating with instrumentalists and vocalists in a wide range of settings, including recitals, competitions, festivals, and examinations. She has served as pianist of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, collaborative pianist for the North Toronto Songbirds, and composer-in-residence for the Chinese Artists Society of Toronto Youth Orchestra, working closely with young artists in both solo and chamber contexts.

Irene’s diverse musical background has fueled her passion for composing. In 2022, her composition “Face the Music” won first place in the United Nations’ Pitching Peace Youth Music Challenge and was featured during their inaugural event for the International Day for Disarmament on March 1, 2023. In 2024, Irene’s composition “The Light of Yule” received the Promising High-School Composer Prize from Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra’s Young Composers Competition. Her work "Deaf Pillows" was selected by the Musical Life Foundation to premiere in Carnegie Hall on April 30, 2024. The following summer, Irene was appointed as the creative resident by Morningside Music Bridge, where her composition “Still Small Voice” received its world premiere in the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall. In February of 2025, Irene’s new song “BE HAPPY!” won first prize at Eastman's Sparks & Wiry Cries’ songSLAM competition.

Irene is strongly passionate about shedding light on works by emerging composers. Her favourite musical pastime is learning newly-composed pieces and discussing interpretational ideas with the composers themselves. Additionally, Irene loves collaborative projects and enjoys playing with instrumentalists and vocalists alike. In her spare time, she reads books, watches movies and sitcoms, listens to music, draws people she loves in her sketchbook, and sightreads chamber music with friends.