Biography

Conductor Perry So recently made his European operatic debut at Royal Danish Opera leading Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, his North American operatic debut at Yale Opera with Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and he returned to the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias as the orchestra’s Artistic Collaborator. He recently made his debut with the Szezecin Philharmonic in Poland, the Nuremberg Symphony in Germany and on tour to Italy, and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra in Spain. Recent highlights include return visits to the Sinfónica de Tenerife and a seven-week tour of South Africa with three orchestras. In future seasons he will make debuts with the Tucson Symphony and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga. He makes his San Francisco Symphony debut at this performance.
 
In previous seasons, Mr. So has made debuts with the Cleveland and Minnesota orchestras; Houston, Detroit, New Jersey, Israel, and Shanghai symphonies; China Philharmonic; and Residentie Orkest in the Hague. A former Dudamel Conducting Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he has been a frequent guest at Walt Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. He led the Hong Kong Philharmonic with Lang Lang in an internationally televised celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China and he toured the Balkan Peninsula with the Zagreb Philharmonic in the first series of cultural exchanges established after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
 
Mr. So received first and special prizes at the Fifth International Prokofiev Conducting Competition in Saint Petersburg. His recording of Barber’s and Korngold’s violin concertos with violinist Alexander Gilman and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra was awarded the Diapason d’Or in January 2012. He has also recorded extensively with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Concert Orchestra.
 
From leading numerous world premieres to works from the Renaissance and the Baroque repertory, Mr. So is known for his eclectic programming. He has conducted productions of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Britten’s Turn of the Screw, Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and Johann Strauss, Jr.’s Die Fledermaus. His commitment to working with young musicians has taken him to the Australian Youth Orchestra, Round Top Festival, Manhattan School of Music, Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, and Yale School of Music. He has assisted Edo de Waart, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Lorin Maazel, and John Adams. Born in Hong Kong, Mr. So holds a degree in Comparative Literature from Yale University.