Update browser for a secure Minnesota Orchestra experience

It looks like you may be using a web browser version that we don't support. Make sure you're using the most recent version of your browser, or try using of these supported browsers, to get the full Minnesota Orchestra experience: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.

Add to favorites

Select the heart to add an event to your list of favorites

  • {{performance.Date}}
Calendar Donate
0 0

Chia-Hsuan Lin

conductor

Hailed by the Virginia Gazette as “a rock solid” and “animated” conductor, Chia-Hsuan Lin delights audiences throughout the world with her trademark energy and command.

​Appointed Associate Conductor of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra in 2016, Lin begins her seventh season with the Richmond Symphony in 2022. Clark Bustard wrote of Lin’s Brahms Fourth Symphony with RSO, "I’ve never heard a more compelling live performance than this one” (Letter V). Other RSO highlights include Handel’s Messiah, the Metro Collection Series, Symphony Pops, family concerts, and a record crowd exceeding 19,000 for Henrico County’s “Red, White, and Lights” Independence Day celebration in 2018. Formerly the Assistant Conductor of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Lin punctuated the end of her tenure in 2016 “with the command and energy of a soccer star” before a record crowd for a FWP subscription concert.

Lin enjoys frequent guest appearances around the world. She made her Minnesota Orchestra debut in 2020, and has also led the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Virginia Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Williamsburg Symphony, Richmond Ballet, Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra, Virginia Commonwealth University Symphony Orchestra, Academy of Taiwan Strings and Taipei Philharmonic Chorus. Her recent performance of Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 with the Williamsburg Symphony was praised as “an exceptionally absorbing interpretation and rendering” (The Virginia Gazette).

​A champion of the next generation of music and musicians, her list of premieres continues to grow with new works by Chris Thille, Stephen Prutsman, Laura Schwendinger, PaviElle French and Jennifer Jolley. Lin has also been a featured guest in Classical Revolution RVA’s Mozart Festivals, sharing orchestral music in non-traditional venues, and she conducted the “Land Dive Project” in cooperation with the Institute for Contemporary Art at the Virginia Commonwealth University, a live art installation including a chamber ensemble and a scuba diving team.

Lin previously served as Music Director of Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra, Interim Music Director of Contemporary Youth Orchestra of Cleveland, University of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, South Loop Symphony Orchestra (Chicago) and Assistant Conductor of Opera at the CCM Spoleto Music Festival in Italy. Fueling her passion for vocal works, Lin conducted a lecture concert as part of the Taiwanese premiere of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and assisted and led opera performances at Northwestern University and the University of Cincinnati.

Lin began her musical training with piano lessons in Taiwan at age three. She studied percussion and conducting at National Taiwan Normal University while performing with Taipei Percussion Group. Lin earned her master degree at College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and completed her doctorate at Northwestern University. She studied with Apo Hsu, Mark Gibson and Victor Yampolsky and has further refined her craft in workshops with the RSO, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and the Romanian Royal Camerata, and masterclasses with Günther Herbig, Jorma Panula, Imre Palló, Gábor Hollerung, Helmuth Rilling, Steven Smith, Mei-Ann Chen, Harold Farberman, Markand Thakar, Israel Yinon and Douglas Bostock.

Lin is married to horn player James Ferree, and she enjoys traveling, gardening and cooking.