MEI-ANN CHEN 陳美安

Mei-Ann Chen is music director of the MacArthur Award–winning Chicago Sinfonietta, chief conductor of the Recreation Orchestra at the Styriarte festival, artistic partner of Houston’s River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, artistic partner of the Northwest Sinfonietta, and conductor laureate of the Memphis Symphony, where she previ- ously served as music director.

This season, Ms. Chen appears with the Tucson Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Odense Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, and One Song Orchestra in Taiwan. She also tours to Atlanta with the Chicago Sinfonietta and to Taiwan with the National Symphony Youth Orchestra. In past seasons, she has appeared with the Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Houston Symphony, National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Toronto Symphony, BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Taiwan Philharmonic, and American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. She made her San Francisco Symphony debut in February 2013.

As music director of the Chicago Sinfonietta, Ms. Chen has made two recordings for Cedille Records: Delights and Dances and Project W: Works by Diverse Women Composers. In 2018, Innova Records released River Oaks Chamber Orchestra’s debut album, ROCO: Visions Take Flight, featuring commissioned con- temporary works led by Ms. Chen.

Ms. Chen’s honors include being named a Top 30 Influencer by Musical America, the Helen M. Thompson Award from the League of American Orchestras, the Taki Concordia Fellowship founded by Marin Alsop, and the 2005 first prize at the Malko Competition for conductors, where she has since served as a juror. Born in Taiwan, she earned degrees in violin and conducting from New England Conservatory and earned a doctorate in conducting from the University of Michigan.

Angelo Xiang Yu was born in Inner Mongolia, China, before moving to Shanghai at age eleven where he received his early training from violinist Qing Zheng at the Shanghai Conservatory. Mr. Yu earned his bachelor’s and master's degrees at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) in Boston. He was a student of Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, and Kim Kashkashian, and was awarded NEC’s Artist Diploma in 2014. He makes his San Francisco Symphony debut at this performance.

Winner of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition in 2010, Mr. Yu was also awarded second prize at the Wieniawski International Violin Competition and third prize at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. He was chosen to participate in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program, beginning with the 2018-19 season. Most recently he received a 2019 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists.

During the summer of 2018, Mr. Yu made his debuts at Music@Menlo and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, as well as at the Sarasota Music Festival. Additional highlights of his 2018-19 season include debuts with the orchestras of Rochester, Sacramento, Spokane, Baton Rouge, and South Florida, as well three separate appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Lincoln Center, in Chicago, and New Jersey.

Mr. Yu is an active recitalist and chamber musician, and he has appeared in recital in Berlin, Paris, Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai, Auckland, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Boston. He has participated as a chamber musician in several summer music festivals including the Verbier and Bergen Festival. He also attended the Kronberg Academy in Germany and the Perlman Music Program in New York. During the 2012-13 season, Mr. Yu toured with Miriam Fried and chamber musicians from the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute and performed concerts in New York, Chicago, Florida, and throughout New England. He was also recently featured as the artist-in-residence on American Public Media’s nationally broadcast radio program Performance Today. In March 2018, he played a recital in Boston’s Jordan Hall under the auspices of the Chinese Cultural Foundation.

Mr. Yu resides in Boston and performs on a 1729 Stradivarius violin generously on loan from an anonymous donor.

(February 2019)

Canada’s Red Chamber frequently tours across Europe and Asia taking inspiration from the rare traditional Chinese repertory for plucked string instruments. The ensemble performs music ranging from ancient Chinese Court music from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), through to contemporary Canadian compositions, and Balkan, gypsy jazz, American roots, and bluegrass music. Red Chamber makes its San Francisco Symphony debut at this performance.

Red Chamber is led by zither player Mei Han with pipa player Guilian Liu, ruan (bass lute) player Zhimin Yu, and multi-instrumentalist Geling Jiang, all born in China. Members of the ensemble have worked with Isaac Stern, Herbert von Karajan, and Seiji Ozawa, and performed for numerous heads of state.

Red Chamber’s first CD Redgrass fostered a viral YouTube video of the same name with Bluegrass mandolinist John Reischman. This was followed by Gathering and Classical and Contemporary Chinese Music, released on the ARC label and nominated for “Best World” release by Songlines Magazine.

(February 2019)

Founded in April 1994, Loong Mah Sing See Wui, Dragon Horse Lion Dance Association, is a not-for-profit San Francisco-based organization that specializes in the sharing, teaching, and performing of the dynamic and ancient art of Chinese lion and dragon dancing. Loong Mah is comprised of third, fourth, and fifth generation Asian-American children and adults who feel that it is imperative to maintain and share their rich cultural and ethnic heritage. The core group is made up of instructors with several decades of combined experience in traditional Chinese performing arts, including lion and dragon dance, music, several styles of Kung Fu and other martial arts, traditional Chinese opera, and folk dance. The group has performed in conjunction with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, San Francisco Symphony, Bay Area Discovery Museum, Bay Area Dragon Boat Festival, and at the Southwest Airlines Chinese New Year Parade held every Lunar New Year in San Francisco.

(February 2019)