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 Historical Society, 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 join the faculty of H+H. He serves as Director of Choirs and Theater at The Bromfield School in Harvard, MA, working with students in grades 6-12 in three curricular choirs, an extra curricular choir, classroom music courses, and theater. His students have been accepted to district, state, and national honor choirs as well as top college programs around the country. Andrew also serves as Music Director of the Westborough Community Chorus in Westborough, MA, working with 60 singers ages 18-85. In addition to his conducting, Andrew is a regular chorister and 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 Mr. 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. 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, University of Hartford.
Collaborative Pianist
Leona Cheung
Leona Cheung is thrilled to join the Handel and Haydn Society Youth Choruses Faculty in 2021-22 Season. As a Boston-based collaborative pianist, she serves as staff pianist at the New England Conservatory and has worked with the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Children’s Chorus, and MIT Women's Chorale.
Leona is respected for her musical leadership from the piano and her responsiveness to conductors' instructions. She joined as Collaborative Piano Fellow in the Professional Choral Institute at the Aspen Music Festival, where she worked closely with the Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire and Artistic Director Patrick Dupré Quigley. Leona served as rehearsal pianist in J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor, Christmas Oratorio, Haydn’s Creation and Mozart’s Mass in C minor, all under the baton of Maestro Helmuth Rilling and collaborated with Hong Kong SingFest. Leona was a founding member and pianist with Cantoría Hong Kong for 7 years, she has performed concert tours in the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, China and Taiwan. Her piano recording with Cantoría Hong Kong can be heard on the Chinese choral music album entitled "Half Moon Rising", presented by Edition Peters.
Leona’s deep devotion to Art Song repertoire has brought her to perform extensively in many international festivals. She was the Art of Song Fellow of the Toronto Summer Music Festival, Young Artist of Leeds Lieder Festival, Masterclass Participant of the Oxford Lieder Festival, Franz Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien, and Songfest, where she worked with many esteemed artists and scholars across the United States and Europe.
Born and raised in Hong Kong. Leona is an alumna of the Hong Kong Children's Choir. She earned her Master of Music and Graduate Diploma in Collaborative Piano from New England Conservatory, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Hong Kong Baptist University.