H+H Youth Choruses
Ambassador Ensemble
"The teachers are amazing and they balance fun with learning very well." — HHYC Singer
The HHYC Ambassador Ensemble (grades 7-12) is for singers who are passionate about building community through collaborative performance. The singers in this ensemble are members of the High School Soloist program and/or are HHYC leaders. The ensemble performs a diverse selection of music from the Baroque and Classical periods, along with spirituals, jazz, folk songs, a cappella, and contemporary choral repertoire. This year, the ensemble will perform at the Opening Our Doors festival (hosted by The Fenway Alliance), at the Dedham Museum & Archive, and at the Hebrew Senior Center.
Faculty
Andrew Milne, conductor and HHYC alumnus
Leona Cheung, collaborative pianist
Faculty
Conductor
Andrew Milne
An avid conductor, singer, and music educator based in Massachusetts, Andrew Milne is thrilled to be in his 5th year on the faculty of HHYC. In this time he has worked as Associate Conductor with the Youth Chorale and Concert Choir, and currently in the same role with the Chorus of Sopranos and Altos and Chamber Choir. He is also the Conductor of HHYC's Ambassador Ensemble. He has helped to prepare choruses for performances with Jonathan Cohen, Raphael Pichon, and others. Outside of HHYC, Andrew serves as Director of Choirs at Auburn High School in Auburn, MA. His students have been accepted to district, state, and national honor ensembles, and his choirs have received top honors in festival performances. As a singer Andrew has sung with choirs such as the internationally acclaimed choirs of Joyful Noise in Torrington, CT with Dr. Gabriel Lofvall, and the Worcester Chorus under Dr. Chris Shepard. His conducting teachers have included Dr. Vernon Huff, Dr. Edward Bolkovac, and Dr. Julie Hagen.
In 2014 Milne was honored as the recipient of the Evangelyna Etienne Scholarship Award given by H+H to a member of the HHYC community for commitment and passion for vocal music; he is a 2010 alum of HHYC. Mr. Milne is passionate about community music making, sparking a joy and love of singing in his students, and helping singers understand and navigate the voice change. Andrew is an active member of NAfME, ACDA, and Pi Kappa Lambda. He holds a Bachelor's in Music Education from SUNY Fredonia and a Master's in Music Education: Choral Conducting from The Hartt School, and he is currently pursuing a DMA in Music Education at Boston University.
Collaborative Pianist
Leona Cheung
Leona Cheung is a Boston-based collaborative pianist. An expert in the vocal repertoire from art songs to opera, she is especially known for her musical leadership and responsiveness while collaborating with singers and conductors. Her collaborators include GRAMMY® Award Winning Handel and Haydn Society, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Seraphic Fire. She has collaborated with Helmuth Rilling and Hong Kong SingFest in multiple choral-orchestral projects. Leona was a founding member and pianist with Cantoria Hong Kong, and can be heard on the Chinese choral music album entitled "Half Moon Rising", presented by the Edition Peters. Since 2023, she has served as a choral pianist for the Massachusetts All-State Choir, performing at Boston Symphony Hall. The choir consists of more than 200 talented singers selected from schools across the state each year.
Leona is the recipient of the Graham Johnson Art Song XXI Prize 2024, an award named after one of the most respected pianists and Art Song scholars of our time. Her deep devotion to vocal-piano repertoire has brought her to perform extensively in many international festivals, including Aspen Music Festival, Oxford Lieder Festival, Leeds Lieder Festival, Toronto Summer Music, Franz Schubert Institut and Songfest, where she worked with many esteemed artists and scholars across the United States and Europe. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Leona earned her Master of Music and Graduate Diploma in Collaborative Piano from New England Conservatory.