Ayano Ninomiya replaces Frank Huang as Ying Quartet first violinist

Ayano Ninomiya is the new first violinist of the Ying Quartet, which is based at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. She replaces Frank Huang, who left the group after just one year to become concertmaster of the Houston Symphony.

Japanese-born Ninomiya, who has lived in the US since the age of one, studied at Harvard, the Juilliard School and the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. She was a prizewinner at the 2003 Walter M. Naumburg competition, coming second to Huang.