Violinist Aloysius Leong is a graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston. He received his Master of Music degree from the Boston Conservatory and earned a doctorate of musical arts in violin performance from the University of Connecticut through a full scholarship and fellowship offered by the university. In 2007, he was recognized for “outstanding/exemplary” work in music education by the US State Dept. (Office of President George W. Bush), receiving the designation O1. He has been invited to MENC (Music educator’s National Conference) as a guest speaker/presenter and has conducted the festival’s orchestra (Connecticut chapter - CMEA music festival). In 2007, he was one of two finalists for the New Haven Chamber Orchestra music director search.
 

As violinist, he was concertmaster of the Manchester Symphony and Chorale, assistant concertmaster of the Hartford Festival orchestra, principal 2nd violinist of the New Britain Symphony. He was also the rehearsal/substitute soloist for Charles Pikler in Mozart’s 5th violin concerto in A major accompanied by the Norwich Free Academy Orchestra.
 

He has taught music in the public schools of Connecticut and has mentored student music teachers from the University of Hartford and the University of Connecticut. While a full-time middle school strings music teacher, he was appointed adjunct assistant Professor of violin at Central Connecticut State University. He was also lecturer of music at The University of Connecticut and strings music specialist for the Connecticut State Dept. of Higher Education’s Alternate Route to Teacher Certification programme. In California, he was the Director of music programmes for Yew Chung International School (Silicon Valley branch). In Singapore, he was Head of Strings at the Australian International School from 2010-2013. His private violin students have been accepted at The Julliard School and many have won regional and national competitions in the United States. Only recently, one of his students received her doctorate of musical arts from State University of New York. In Singapore, his violin students have attained professional diplomas from The Trinity College of Music. Many of whom are very young; one received her licentiate diploma with distinction at primary six (elementary 6).

 

Dr. Leong studied violin with Eric Rosenblith (pupil of Carl Flesch), Nancy Cirillo (recipient of the Naumburg award), Victor Romanul (pupil of Jascha Heifetz) and Theodore Arm (pupil of Josef Fuchs). He has also taken private lessons with Yuri Mazurkevich (pupil of David Oistrakh) and Louis Krasner (who premiered the violin concertos of Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg). For chamber music, his teachers include Benjamin Zander, Mary Lou Rylands, Walter Trampler, Bruce Coppock, Mitchell Stern (1st violinist American String Quartet) and others. He has attended masterclasses given by Dorothy Delay, Cho Liang Lin, The Julliard String Quartet, Amadeus String Quartet, Emerson String Quartet and Alban Berg String Quartet. He also studied conducting with Attilio Poto (clarinetist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra during Serge Koussevitzky’s tenure) and Frank Battisti.

 

His greatest desire in life is simply to impart the beauty and truth of western classical music to our youth. Western or eastern, rich or poor, educated or ignorant, all humanity shares a common bond. Music can help us realize, like no other medium known, that even though this bond is not visible to the naked eye – it is real in all our hearts. For this reason, the next generation of music learners must envisage this truth that all evil and injustice can be fought not by using weapons that kill but by using the instruments we hold dear in our hands and in our hearts, instruments that will neutralize tyranny and bring peace to a world besought by violence and evil of the worst kind.