Meet Helen

A native of Florida, Helen began her musical training as a pianist at the age of 5 and by the time she was 13 years old, she made her solo début with the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, performing the Haydn Piano Concerto in D Major.

Mrs. Ahn has won numerous competitions including; the Florida Flute Association Young Artist Competition, South Eastern Michigan Flute Association Young Artist Competition, Florida Music Teachers National Association Concerto Competition, the Brevard Young Artist Competition, 3rd prize winner of the 2001 Annual Bach Festival Young Artist Competition in Winter Park, Florida, and recently received a second prize at the 2006 Byron Hester Flute Competition in Houston, Texas. In 2007, Helen competed at the Myrna Brown Artist Competition in Denton, TX. Her distinguished talent in music has been highly acknowledged among many artists.

As an orchestral and chamber musician, she has received a full-scholarship to attend the Aspen Music School and Festival in 2005 and the Las Vegas Music Festival in 2006. She has been awarded as the ‘Best Soloist Award’ in the 2003 Annual Dixie Classic Festival in Virginia Beach, VA. She has recently performed with the Eastman Philharmonia, Eastman Wind Ensemble, Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, Bel Cantanti Opera and served as the principal flutist for the Michigan Youth Orchestra and the Brevard Symphony Youth Orchestra for many years. She has performed under some of the world’s leading conductors and musicians, including Mallory Thompson, David Zinman, James DePriest, George Manahan, Murray Sidlin, Mark Scatterday, and Neil Varon. As a chamber musician, her quintet,  A441 Wind Quintet were featured soloists with the Island Chamber Symphony, performing Mozart’s Symphony Concertante at New York Institute of Technology, and competed at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Coleman National Chamber Music Competition, and the Plowman National Chamber Music Competition. The Quintet’s live performances and conversation have been broadcasted live on Rochester Channel 13 & 10 News. 

Helen received the Howard Hanson Merit Scholarship to study at the #1-ranked music conservatory in the U.S., Eastman School of Music in New York (U.S. News and World Report) in the studio of Professor Bonita Boyd. In 2008, she was rewarded Ekstein Graduate Teaching Scholarship to study with the former Principal Flutist of the Chicago Symphony, Walfrid Kujala at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois where she received her Masters Degree. She is preK-12 certified music teacher in Maryland with education degree from the Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute. Her primary teachers include Walfrid Kujala, Bonita Boyd, Amy Porter, Penelope Fischer, Jeffrey Zook, and Nancy Clew. 

Teaching is her passion. Helen has a wonderful private music studio with a group of talented and gifted students. A devoted educator, Mrs. Ahn has previously served as global lecturer and taught abroad at Asia Pacific International School, Hanyang University, Chung Ang University in Seoul. Helen currently resides in Washington, DC area and teaches over 300 musicians at Baltimore Symphony’s Orchkids, Levine School (summer camp), and Montgomery County Public Schools. 

In her free time, she enjoys taking pictures, composing music, hiking, and traveling around the world. In her free time, she loves to arrange classical music and popular tunes for solo piano, and many of her performances are arranged by herself, often with an improvisatory effect.