Yiman Weng received her training from Capital University (BM) and The Ohio State University (MM). She is a DMA student in piano performance with a teaching assistantship at Texas Tech University.
Violinist Cassidy Forehand is currently performing and teaching in the Lubbock, Texas area while completing her graduate studies at Texas Tech University. She performs as section violin with the Lubbock Symphony, Lubbock Chamber Orchestra, and Big Spring Symphony as well as substituting in the Amarillo Symphony and Abilene Philharmonic. She also performs as first violin of the Texas Tech University Graduate String Quartet. Cassidy began her musical studies in Abilene, Texas under the instruction of Darcy Radcliffe. In 2017, Cassidy began studying with Elisabeth Small, Ryan Joseph Ogrodny, and Billy Contreras at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. In addition to her classical violin studies, she has studied other genres of violin music such as bluegrass, Celtic, and jazz, which has taken her around the world on European and North American tours. Cassidy has performed as the concertmaster of the Austin Chamber Music Festival Orchestra and has served as principal second violin and co-concertmaster in the Belmont Symphony Orchestra. She has also been an active member of the Belmont World Fiddle Ensemble, Belmont New Music Ensemble, and Texas Tech University Celtic Ensemble. She has taught private violin and viola lessons in Abilene and Lubbock and has worked as an assistant middle school orchestra teacher in the Abilene Independent School District. She is featured on the Revolution Strings album “Homegrown” and is in the process of recording for Harpeth Worship, a Christian worship band based out of Franklin, Tennessee. Cassidy graduated summa cum laude from Belmont University in 2021 with a Bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance and from Texas tech University in 2023 with a Master of Music degree in Violin Performance. She currently studies under Professor Annie Chalex Boyle at Texas Tech University where she is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Justin Barewell was born in Trinidad and Tobago. Not long after, he moved to the United States. From there, he was exposed to the orchestra and decided to start learning the cello at the age of nine. Since then, he has made all-region twice, participated in the Interlochen Summer Arts camp as a WYSO cellist, and subbed for a few professional symphonies. He currently study at Texas Tech under Jeffrey Lastrapes.
You can find the trio’s 2023 18th Century Music Competition performance here.