People behind the Scene / Member of UYO

The Orchestra is indebted to the many years of support from Sponsors, private donors and Friends.

The purpose and the objective of UYO: to bring young musicians who share a love for orchestra music to play together and to train them through weekly rehearsals; ; to help them develop musically through workshops, encourage them to perform with other orchestra and play in ensembles an solo in the public concerts ; to provide a friendly environment for young people to get together for social activities. ; we aim to hold 3 to 4 public concerts in a year to promote classical music.

Yoshiki Tatsumi: Music Director

Yoshiki Tatsumi is the foundation music director of UYO. Originally from Kobe, Japan, Yoshi studied brass performance, especially French horn and spent 10 years with a Tokyo civic wind orchestra as a training conductor. Arriving in New Zealand in 1990, Yoshi was the music director of the Waikato Schools Orchestra and then Waikato Youth Orchestra from 1995 to 2002. He completed conductors’ master classes under Nicholas Braithwaite and Miguel Harth-Bedoya in 1999 and 2000. He was given a Civic Award (Hamilton) in 2003 in recognition for his contributions to youth music. More recently he participated conductors' master class under Prof. Simeon Pironkoff (Professor of Conducting at The University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna) in May 2024.

Tony Hong-Che Wu: Associate Conductor

MFA (Music / Orchestral Conducting) of National Taiwan Normal University, Tony was the conductor of several orchestras in Taipei. Taipei Municipal DaAn Junior High School String Orchestra he conducted won the 1st prize (outstanding grade) for 10 times in Taiwan National Music Competition from 2010 to 2019. It also won the prize of Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival and was invited to perform in the Goldener Saal of Vienna Austria in 2011. Tony is also a professional violinist. He was the concertmaster of Taipei County Symphony Orchestra and Taipei Century Symphony Orchestra. Tony settled in Hamilton from 2019. He is the teacher of string program and orchestra in Hillcrest Normal School. He is also the conductor and violin player of Formosa Chamber Orchestra.

William Zhang: Orchestra Leader / Concert Master

William Zhang learnt Chinese music instrument Erhu in Beijing at primary school. Came to NZ late 2016 with his parents and began to learn violin in 2019 in Queenstown. After moving to Hamilton and enrolled at HBHS in early 2021, he continued to learn violin and joined UYO in July 2021. He is currently attending HBHS in year12. He is not very experienced but likes music very much and has been enjoying his time with UYO.