Winner of the 2014 Global Music Awards for her album Grieg & Prokofiev [TROY 1485], Helen Z. Altenbach (aka. Xiaodan Zheng) is a member of the LA Opera Orchestra. She  is a graduate of Juilliard Pre-College Division and Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Helen attended the Perlman Music Program, Tanglewood Music Festival, Verbier Music Festival, New York String Orchestra Seminar, and the Pacific Music Festival.Helen received a Bachelor of Music degree from USC’s Thornton School of Music and held positions with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Santa Barbara Symphony, Tucson Symphony (principal cello), Long Beach Symphony, and the New West Symphony. Helen is a co-founder of “Los AnCellos”, a cello ensemble based in Los Angeles.