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
Cassandra Willock, soprano
Soprano Cassandra Willock is praised for her charm and versatility. Cassandra sings a diverse repertoire – equally comfortable on opera stages, concert halls, and in ensembles. This past season she joined Olympia Opera Theatre as Laeticia in The Old Maid and the Thief, she also sang Noémie in Vashon Opera’s Cendrillon. Cassandra has done two tours with Northwest Opera in Schools Etc. (NOISE), where she had the joy of engaging with the future generations of music-lovers. Her roles with NOISE include the Mother in Hansel and Gretel and Pamina/2nd Lady in their outreach production of The Magic Flute.
Cassandra regularly performs in concert and ensemble programs. Notable solo concert repertoire from this past season include JS Bach’s Cantata 51 and Handel’s Israel in Egypt. In June she performed as the soprano soloist in Einhorn’s Voices of Light. She looks forward to singing with Emerald City Chamber Orchestra this summer. In 2024, she joined Evergreen Ensemble, through which she has had the pleasure of performing with the Seattle Bach Festival. She is a staff soprano and featured soloist with Harmonia.
Cassandra received a Master’s of Music from McGill University, where she studied with Dominique Labelle. Her Bachelor’s of Music is from Pacific Lutheran University, where she studied with Cyndia Sieden.
In addition to conducting, Hsing-Hui is an active clarinetist. Last season, she performed the Copland clarinet concerto with the Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra, where she also serves as principal clarinet. She is the bass clarinetist and acting principal clarinetist for the upcoming season with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra, and has also played with the Seattle Philharmonic, Pacific Northwest Opera, Sustain Music Project, Tacoma Opera, and Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra.
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