June 1, 2026
Debuting conductor Tianyi Lu on what conducting means to her
by Steve Holt
Conductor Tianyi Lu was still in her teens when she first felt the pull of the podium. While studying composition at New Zealand’s University of Auckland, an opportunity arose for her to conduct a piece she’d written the year before. The experience was life changing.
“As a composer, I was never very original,” the Chinese-born musician recalled in a recent phone interview. “But when I conducted, I realized I was more interested in bringing other people’s musical ideas to life than creating my own. The thrill of being able to create something greater than the sum of its parts, and to inspire and empower others to fulfill their own potential as a group was what made me catch the conducting bug.”
Lu credits several mentors who helped her make the leap from a distant island nation “down under” to leading orchestras at concert halls all over the world. “I guess I just followed my heart. I got quite lucky along the way and had a lot of help from many people.” Her first teacher, John Hopkins at the University of Melbourne, taught her that “humility is the most important quality for a conductor, and that we are servants of the music and the musicians.” Other mentors and inspirations include Andrew Davis, Sian Edwards, Bernard Haitink, and Carlos Kleiber. “[Kleiber’s] metaphorical use of language, and his mix of sheer joy and detailed precision; that’s probably the most inspiring for me.”
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“As a composer, I was never very original,” the Chinese-born musician recalled in a recent phone interview. “But when I conducted, I realized I was more interested in bringing other people’s musical ideas to life than creating my own. The thrill of being able to create something greater than the sum of its parts, and to inspire and empower others to fulfill their own potential as a group was what made me catch the conducting bug.”
Lu credits several mentors who helped her make the leap from a distant island nation “down under” to leading orchestras at concert halls all over the world. “I guess I just followed my heart. I got quite lucky along the way and had a lot of help from many people.” Her first teacher, John Hopkins at the University of Melbourne, taught her that “humility is the most important quality for a conductor, and that we are servants of the music and the musicians.” Other mentors and inspirations include Andrew Davis, Sian Edwards, Bernard Haitink, and Carlos Kleiber. “[Kleiber’s] metaphorical use of language, and his mix of sheer joy and detailed precision; that’s probably the most inspiring for me.”
Story continues below...
At the moment, Lu’s career is primarily focused on guest conducting.
“I’m sort of yielding to what the universe is giving me right now and just enjoying meeting new people and seeing new places. One day I would love to have a place to build and to develop together with a group of people in a community. When that time comes, I will bring all of myself to it. Right now, I have a not-quite four-year-old, and that’s taken up a big chunk of my energy over the last few years!”
This is not Lu’s first trip to San Francisco… or her first experience with the Symphony.
As a teenager, she toured the United States with her high school orchestra from New Zealand and saw the San Francisco Symphony in an outdoor concert. “I just remember being completely inspired and blown away. So it’s really special to come back to conduct; 16-year-old me would have had no idea that I would one day work with these great musicians in Davies Symphony Hall. I love the city, and it’s really special to make my debut this year.”
In her Symphony debut, Lu will be conducting a San Francisco Symphony premiere, Zhiân, by Iman Habibi, the Iranian Canadian composer and pianist.
Lu noted that the piece was inspired by the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement that started in Iran in 2022. (“Zhiân” means “life” in Kurdish and “formidable” in Persian.) “This is Iman standing in solidarity with those brave people. I find that quite inspiring... I think this work is a very personal take from an individual human being, speaking to the soul of what we all want as humans, which is to be seen for who we are and to be accepted for who we are, without shame or judgment.” She is also drawn to the work’s theme of storytelling, a trait it shares with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, also on the program. “[Scheherazade] needed to use her voice to tell her story and save her own life,” Lu observed.
Rounding out the program is “an absolute masterpiece,” Korngold’s Violin Concerto, with María Dueñas as soloist. Lu noted, “When it was written, some critics claimed Korngold was being too traditional, because he strove for melodic beauty when atonalism and experimentation were highly valued. But he stuck to his voice.” She also looks forward to working again with Dueñas. “It requires extreme teamwork from everybody, but the soloist and the conductor have to be dancing together. Everything is fluid and yet very precisely written so it requires a lot of trust, and a very confident and sensitive approach. I really love the piece.”
As important as her mentors and training have been to Lu’s growth as a conductor, she also has a very non-musical source of inspiration, thanks in part to her roots in New Zealand, where rugby is a national passion.
“I was really struck by an interview with [English rugby legend] Jonny Wilkinson. He talked about his perfectionism and drive, but also his insecurities. At one point, he realized that he had to let go of all his ideas about being the best to find self-awareness.
“I’ve struggled with self-doubt my whole life, but now I accept it as part of what makes me an artist and a human, and I embrace it because it’s an opportunity for me to shed more layers and to become who I was meant to be. If you discover that you always have unlimited potential, if you’re truly in the moment, then you can be anything.”
Lu carries over this belief to her work. “For me, conducting has become a journey about life, and how to fulfill one’s calling, to expand and to be fully oneself. I find it challenging on so many levels, but it has empowered me to seek what it really means to be a human. For me, that’s the most interesting part.”
Steve Holt is an arts reporter and Contributing Writer to the San Francisco Symphony program book.
“I’m sort of yielding to what the universe is giving me right now and just enjoying meeting new people and seeing new places. One day I would love to have a place to build and to develop together with a group of people in a community. When that time comes, I will bring all of myself to it. Right now, I have a not-quite four-year-old, and that’s taken up a big chunk of my energy over the last few years!”
This is not Lu’s first trip to San Francisco… or her first experience with the Symphony.
As a teenager, she toured the United States with her high school orchestra from New Zealand and saw the San Francisco Symphony in an outdoor concert. “I just remember being completely inspired and blown away. So it’s really special to come back to conduct; 16-year-old me would have had no idea that I would one day work with these great musicians in Davies Symphony Hall. I love the city, and it’s really special to make my debut this year.”
In her Symphony debut, Lu will be conducting a San Francisco Symphony premiere, Zhiân, by Iman Habibi, the Iranian Canadian composer and pianist.
Lu noted that the piece was inspired by the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement that started in Iran in 2022. (“Zhiân” means “life” in Kurdish and “formidable” in Persian.) “This is Iman standing in solidarity with those brave people. I find that quite inspiring... I think this work is a very personal take from an individual human being, speaking to the soul of what we all want as humans, which is to be seen for who we are and to be accepted for who we are, without shame or judgment.” She is also drawn to the work’s theme of storytelling, a trait it shares with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, also on the program. “[Scheherazade] needed to use her voice to tell her story and save her own life,” Lu observed.
Rounding out the program is “an absolute masterpiece,” Korngold’s Violin Concerto, with María Dueñas as soloist. Lu noted, “When it was written, some critics claimed Korngold was being too traditional, because he strove for melodic beauty when atonalism and experimentation were highly valued. But he stuck to his voice.” She also looks forward to working again with Dueñas. “It requires extreme teamwork from everybody, but the soloist and the conductor have to be dancing together. Everything is fluid and yet very precisely written so it requires a lot of trust, and a very confident and sensitive approach. I really love the piece.”
As important as her mentors and training have been to Lu’s growth as a conductor, she also has a very non-musical source of inspiration, thanks in part to her roots in New Zealand, where rugby is a national passion.
“I was really struck by an interview with [English rugby legend] Jonny Wilkinson. He talked about his perfectionism and drive, but also his insecurities. At one point, he realized that he had to let go of all his ideas about being the best to find self-awareness.
“I’ve struggled with self-doubt my whole life, but now I accept it as part of what makes me an artist and a human, and I embrace it because it’s an opportunity for me to shed more layers and to become who I was meant to be. If you discover that you always have unlimited potential, if you’re truly in the moment, then you can be anything.”
Lu carries over this belief to her work. “For me, conducting has become a journey about life, and how to fulfill one’s calling, to expand and to be fully oneself. I find it challenging on so many levels, but it has empowered me to seek what it really means to be a human. For me, that’s the most interesting part.”
Steve Holt is an arts reporter and Contributing Writer to the San Francisco Symphony program book.
