MEI-ANN CHEN has been appointed principal guest conductor of recreation-Grosses Orchester Graz, an ensemble formed in 2002 by musicians of Austria’s Graz Symphony Orchestra. Chen’s appointment begins September 2019 and runs through the 2021-22 season. Chen is currently music director of the Chicago Sinfonietta, a post she has held since 2011, and, since 2016, artistic director and conductor for the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Summer Festival. Recent guest conducting engagements include the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Asheville Symphony, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony, as well as orchestras throughout Europe and Canada. She led the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra’s debut U.S. tour. She was previously music director of Portland Youth Philharmonic in Oregon, and is conductor laureate of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. She won a 2012 Helen M. Thompson Award from the League of American Orchestras. Born in Taiwan, Chen came to the U.S. to study violin, earning master’s degrees in violin and conducting at the New England Conservatory of Music and a doctor of musical arts degree in conducting from the University of Michigan. Chen participated in the League of American Orchestra’s Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview, National Conducting Institute, Aspen American Academy of Conducting, and Pierre Monteux School.
Posted March 6, 2019
