Percussionist Darrin Cheng is an 11th grader at Cupertino High School in Cupertino, California.
His musical journey started with piano under the instruction of pianist Yuyu Shao when he was six. At the age of eight, he began playing percussion. Since then, his journey has been guided by many San Francisco Bay area percussionists Chin-ping Tammy Chen and Anthony Cirone.
Darrin’s orchestral, symphonic band, and chamber experience includes two years with the California Youth Symphony from 2015 to 2017, one year with the California Percussion Ensemble from 2017 to 2018, and two years with the Cupertino Symphonic Band from 2016 to 2018. Darrin is has a member of UChannel Chamber Music since 2016. Darrin is currently a percussionist at San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Darrin’s music awards and honors:
2020:
International Young Artist Competition Gold Winner, National League of Performing Arts
Junior Bach Festival Solo and Ensemble
2019:
International Young Artists Competition Grand Winner and Scholarship winner, National League of Performing Arts.
Gold winner: National Young Artists Chamber Music and Ensemble Competition.
Second place: ensemble and chamber music in International Young Artist Competition.
United State International Music Competition.
Junior Bach Music Festival, Berkeley, was invited and awarded a performance at Palo Alto.
Finalist, Palo Alto Philharmonic Concerto Competition.
Finalist, Taipei Wind Orchestra and Symphonic Band, Concerto competition.
2018:
International Young Artists Competition Grand Winner, National League of Performing Arts.
California Percussive Arts Society High School Mallet Solo, First Place
California All-State Honor Band 2018.
2017:
Gold winner: International Young Artist Competition, National League of Performing Arts.
Honorable mention in the Young Artist Competition: United States International Music Competition.
Second place, Special Theme Award, United States International Music Competition.
Junior Bach Music Festival, Berkeley, solo and ensemble.
2016:
2016-17 Concerto Competition Winner, California Youth Symphony Associate Orchestra concerto competition.
Winner in solo and ensemble, Junior Bach Music Festival.
Third-place winner at Taiwan Music Competition
As a soloist, Darrin made his debut as a soloist at Carnegie Hall three times in April 2017, 2018 and 2019 (not counting 2020). He was the soloist at California Youth Symphony season finale in May 2017. Darrin was also the soloist at Children’s concert with Cupertino Symphonic Band in 2017. Darrin was invited as a soloist to perform on the National Day of Taiwan, as an outstanding overseas Taiwanese in 2017, 2018 and 2019 by Taipei Culture and Economic Center. He was invited to perform at the Taiwanese Culture and Sports Association (TCSA) convention in Milpitas, California in 2016.
In May 2019, Darrin was invited to perform with Gordon Stout, in Gorden Stout’s California debut concert.
For the past summers, Darrin participated in the summer camp held by Ju Percussion Group in Taiwan in 2016 and 2019. In 2016, he studied solo performance with Momoko Kamiya and percussion ensemble with Tomer Yariv. In 2019 he studied with Emmanuel Sejourne and Sylvie Reynaert in solo and percussion ensemble. In 2018, Darrin participated in Northwestern University Summer Percussion Symposium. There, he studied with She-e Wu and Chris Lamb. Darrin participated in the California Percussion ensemble summer camp in 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Besides school and rehearsals, Darrin participates in community service with the UChannel Chamber group to perform at senior centers, concert openers for local charity events, and cooking for cancer patients at Kaiser Permanente at Santa Clara, CA. Darrin also enjoys playing badminton, biking, and eating exotic foods.
Concerto for Marimba and Strings, Movement 3, by Emmanuel Sejourne, 7 minutes
https://youtu.be/9ePDVow-aAY
Prism marimba solo by Keiko Abe, 3 minutes and 22 seconds
https://youtu.be/gNMwN4GeNI8
Partita No. 3 in E major, Gavotte by J.S.Bach, 2 minutes and 41 seconds
https://youtu.be/tAyBzdQYfq8
Drum Corps on Parade -John S. Pratt, 1 minute and 45 seconds
https://youtu.be/qBfSAPUG0HM
