Our Story
Founded in 2024, the Emerald City Chamber Orchestra (ECCO) brings together musicians from across the greater Puget Sound area to showcase music written for strings. Seasoned professionals as well as musicians active in civic orchestras share their love of the string orchestra repertoire in this exciting new ensemble, bringing fresh energy to beloved classics and contemporary compositions alike.
Hsing-Hui Hsu, Music Director
Hsing-Hui Hsu is a founding member of the Emerald City Chamber Orchestra. She received her Bachelors of Music in clarinet performance from Rice University, where she also served as Music Director of the Rice Light Opera Society. While working as a software engineer at Amazon, she became a founding member of the Amazon Symphony Orchestra and served as Music Director, collaborating with other arts organizations in the Seattle area as well as charitable organizations such as Mary’s Place. She has guest conducted the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra, Saratoga Orchestra, and Seattle Festival Orchestra, and is currently in her second season as assistant conductor of Harmonia Orchestra and Chorus.
In addition to conducting, Hsing-Hui is an active clarinetist. Last season, she served as acting principal clarinetist with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra, where she also serves as bass clarinetist. She has played with the Pacific Northwest Opera, Sustain Music Project, Tacoma Opera, Seattle Philharmonic, Philharmonia Northwest, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, and Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra.
Photo by Carlin Ma
Luke Fitzpatrick, violin
Luke Fitzpatrick is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and artistic director of Inverted Space, a Seattle-based new music collective. He has performed with the Harry Partch Ensemble as well as with Deltron 3030, Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective and has appeared on recordings released by Ablaze and Centaur records. Luke is currently concertmaster of Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, Seattle Festival Orchestra, Federal Way Symphony and Emerald City Chamber Orchestra. He is a founding member of the String Quartet Pure Flavor and performs with Temple Mozaic, an improvisational music and dance collective alongside Smerk, Orb and Free. Besides music related things, Luke is an avid dancer and enjoys biking, eating sushi and collecting shoes. He plays on a bow generously on loan from the Kevin Tao Foundation.
Photo by Jessica Lin