Johnnie Zhang

Johnnie Zhang is a cellist and pianist at East Meadow High School. Since September 2026, he has been a student at the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College, where he studies with Professor Wolfram Koessel. He performed with the New York Youth Symphony Quintet from October 2025 to June 2026, including a performance at Scandinavia House in New York City in April 2026, and appeared at the East Meadow All District Music Festival at the Tilles Center, LIU, in March 2026. In the summer of 2026, he attended Interlochen Arts Camp on a full scholarship and performed with the Interlochen Orchestra.

He has served as first cello with the Nassau All County Orchestra, the Plainedge School District String Festival Orchestra, and the Long Island String Festival, among other school and festival ensembles.

His recent competition results include Gold Prizes in the Classical, Junior Artist, and Concerto categories, a Silver Prize in Etude, and a Bronze Prize in Bach at the 9th Edition String Competition Online in February 2026, a Silver Prize at the Beethoven Award in January 2026, and Third Place at the 3rd New Asia International Music Competition in December 2025, where he gave a solo performance at the DiMenna Center in New York City. He previously earned Second Place at the 8th Edition String Competition Online in March 2025. In 2024, he received NYSSMA A+ ratings at Grade 6 on both cello and piano.