A budding Hong-Kong-born saxophonist, Sam Au-Yeung is a second-year master’s student at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he majors in Saxophone Performance and Literature under the tutelage of Prof. Chien-Kwan Lin. Before this, Sam graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with First Class honors, where he majored in Saxophone under the tutelage of Dr. Wong Tak Chiu and Jacky Leung. He also studied Conducting with Victor Tam. In 2021/22, Sam completed a half-year exchange at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, studying Music Performance under Dr. Steven Stusek. He also attended masterclasses by renowned artists, including Dr. Kenneth Tse, Dr. Clifford Leaman, Dr. Joseph Lallo, Dr. Susan Fancher, Joshua Hyde, and Andy Tweed.

Sam frequently won accolades during his studies in Hong Kong and the United States. 2018, he won the Parsons Music Scholarship for Wind, Brass, and Percussion Instruments at the 70th Hong Kong Schools Music Festival. He was subsequently offered a full scholarship to participate in the European Youth Summer Music Camp in Surrey, United Kingdom. Sam was also the only Music student awarded The D.H. Chen Foundation Scholarship. In 2023, Sam was also awarded the Hong Kong Scholarship for Excellence Scheme (HKSES) and the Peter Curzon Oram Charitable Trust Scholarship. Besides, Sam has won over ten prizes in various international music competitions held in North America, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, the U.K., and Hong Kong. His quartet at Eastman recently won the Second Prize in the 2024 North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) Collegiate Quartet Competition.

Recognized for his unique performance styles, Sam is an experienced ensemble player and has played at numerous events, including the Carolina Band Festival, the Midday Oasis, and the Hong Kong International Saxophone Symposium concert. Sam also performs actively as a soloist. In 2019, he performed Glazunov’s Saxophone Concerto with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Gerard Salonga at the orchestra’s fundraising concert.

Volunteering is an essential part of Sam’s growth as a musician. His volunteering journey started at the Music Children Foundation in 2019, where he provided free music training to underprivileged children in Hong Kong. Sam recently volunteered as a teacher at Myanmarese NGO Build A Music School (BAMS), which partners with the local Burmese community to build the first music school in Keng Tung. As a Christian, Sam serves as a saxophonist and chorister at the Tai Po Baptist Church and Rochester Chinese Christian Church.

Sam is an Eastman Saxophone Project (ESP) member and an Eastman Conducting and Ensemble Department assistant. He is also a co-founder of the Cypher Quartet. During his undergraduate studies, he was the conductor of the CUHK Student Orchestra and principal saxophonist of the Chung Chi Wind Orchestra and Hong Kong Chamber Wind Philharmonia.