Darrin Cheng

Associate Orchestra Concerto Competition Winner

Fourteen-year-old percussionist Darrin Cheng is an 8th grader at Sam Lawson Middle School and a second-year percussionist with the California Youth Symphony Associate Orchestra.    

Darrin began his music journey in piano under Yuyu Shou when he was six.  His love of music was inspired by Bay Area concert pianist Sandra Wright Shen.  At eight, he found his passion in percussion with the help from Ja Hsieh. Since then, his percussion journey has been guided by many Bay Area professional percussionists, including Artie Storch, Galen Lemmon (mallets),  Tammy Chen (marimba), and Mark Veregge (drum and timpani).

Darrin’s music is also influenced by many renowned international percussionists including Momoko Kamiya (Japan), Tomer Yariv (Israel), Raphael Aggery (France), Emmanuelle Caplette (Canada), and Hen-Yen Kao (Taiwan).

Darrin’s music awards and honors include: A Gold winner of 2017 National Young Artist Showcase Competition; solo and duet performance in 2017 Junior Bach Festival; a winner of 2016 California Youth Symphony Associate Orchestra concerto competition; the Bronze medalist of Marimba group in 2016 Taiwan Music Competition in Taiwan; was the finalist in the International Music Competition in 2014 and 2015 held by the Chinese Music Teachers Association of Northern California (CMTANC).

Darrin debuted his solo marimba performance at the Children’s Concert by Cupertino Symphonic Band on March 5th, 2017.  He was invited to perform in many local events, such as 2016 Taiwanese Culture (TCSA) convention in Milpitas and Agape Christian church events.

In addition to playing percussion, he enjoys camping in the backcountry with his family, skiing, kayaking, hiking, fishing, and reading.  Darrin is currently committed to “The Back to Bach” project aimed at establishing a local chapter in the South Bay.

Updated April 2017