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.

PAUL HUANG 黃俊文

Paul Huang is the recipient of the 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists. His recent highlights have included the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Lucerne Festival, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, and Aspen Music Festival. In 2021 he became the first classical violinist to perform his own

arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner” to open an NFL game. An exclusive recording artist with France’s Naïve Records, his debut album, Kaleidoscope, was released last fall and his recording of Toshio Hosokawa’s Violin Concerto, Genesis, with the Residentie Orkest in the Hague will be released on Naxos this winter.

This season Mr. Huang returns to National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan and debuts with the Dallas Symphony, NHK Symphony, BBC Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony with this performance. In January he launched the second “Paul Huang & Friends” International Chamber Music Festival in Taipei, in association with the National Symphony of Taiwan. Other recent recital engagements included Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series and debuts at Wigmore Hall, Seoul Arts Center, and the Louvre.

Winner of the 2011 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Huang’s other honors include first prize at the 2009 Tibor Varga International Violin Competition Sion-Valais in Switzerland, the 2009 Chi-Mei Cultural Foundation Arts Award for Taiwan’s Most Promising Young Artists, the 2013 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and the 2014 Classical Recording Foundation Young Artist Award. Born in Taiwan, Mr. Huang began violin lessons at the age of seven. He was a recipient of an inaugural Kovner Fellowship at the Juilliard School, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He plays the 1742 “ex-Wie- niawski” Guarneri del Gesù violin on extended loan through the Stradivari Society of Chicago and is on the faculty of Taipei National University of the Arts.