Conductor and cellist Cheung Chau joins the IMA faculty

Cheung Chau is Music Director of Sinfonietta Polonia in Poznań, Poland, and principal guest conductor of the Changsha Symphony in Hunan, China.  He is Director of Orchestral studies at Utah Valley University and Music Director of the Utah Valley Youth Symphony in Orem, Utah.  He served as Music Director of the Bloomington Symphony in Minnesota, the Central Pennsylvania Symphony and the Manchester Symphony in Connecticut, as principal guest conductor of the Lublin Philharmonic Orchestra in Lublin, Poland, and held director of orchestra positions at the Haverford College and the University of Connecticut.

As guest conductor, Chau conducted the Moscow Symphony in Russia, the Nordhausen Philharmonic and the Pro Artibus Hannover in Germany, the Filharmonica Marchigiana in Italy, the Gavle Symphony in Sweden, the Vassa Symphony in Finland, the Williamsport Symphony, the Charlottesville Symphony, the Ballet West Orchestra, the Utah Valley Symphony,  and the Utah Chamber Orchestra in the United States, the Białystok Philharmonic, the Kielce Philharmonic, the Lublin Philharmonic, the Sudecka Philharmonic, and the Olsztyn Philharmonic in Poland.

In China, he led the China National Symphony, the Tianjin Philharmonic, the Wuhan Philharmonic, the Xiamen Philharmonic and the Hunan Symphony in Changsha.  He was named permanent guest conductor of the Inner Mongolia Orchestra in 2007.  Invited by Edo de Waart, Chau served as assistant conductor to the Hong Kong Philharmonic, conducting the orchestra in projects including the 2007 live world broadcast opening ceremony of the 10th anniversary celebration of Hong Kong’s Handover, with Chinese President Hu Jintao in attendance.

As ballet conductor Chau conducted productions of Giselle and Nutcracker with the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and the Ballet West at the Harrisburg Whitaker Center and the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City.  He is a regular guest conductor at the Grand Opera and Ballet Theater in Poznań, Poland, where he conducted the world premiere of Alice in Wonderland in 2014.  Chau also led the world premiere performance of Snow Queen in March of 2016 at the Grand Theater in Poznań. Since then, Chau led Alice in Wonderland and Snow Queen regularly in Poznań and at the prestigious Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz, Poland.  In 2017, the world premiere recording of Snow Queen with leading Polish label Acte Prealable was awarded a Global Music Awards Silver Medal.—Marek Zaradniak, Glos Wielkopolski, Poznań, Poland

With Youth Orchestras Chau conducted, among others, the Sibelius Academy Orchestra, the Utah All-State Orchestra, the Changsha Symphony Youth Orchestra, as well as the Interscholarstic Association of Southeast Asian Schools Orchestras in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Jarkata.

An American Prize finalist in Conducting in 2016 and 2017 and a conducting fellow at the American Academy of Conducing in Aspen, Chau conducted concerts in venues including at the Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg, Grosser Sendesaal des Landesfunkhauses in Hannover, Beijing Concert Hall, Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, and the Adam Mickiewicz University Concert Hall in Poznań, Poland.

Please visit his page on IMA site for more details. Cheung Chau

Cellist Lily Eckman

Our new Executive Assistant is cellist Lily Eckman​ who returns to IMA after performing Boccherini Concerto in D Major last year. Besides coordinating many of the logistics this summer she will perform the Elgar Concerto.  This fall she will start her senior year as a performance and music education double major at West Chester University as a student of Ovidiu Marinescu.

Meet our piano participant Kaiyan Qian

Kaiyan Qian who comes from Shanghai China, is now taking her master degree on California State University Northridge, her major is piano performance. She started learning piano at age 9 and have taken part in several piano competitions and summer programs in China. Working with Vidin sinfonietta at the IMA is her first time to play a concerto with orchestra and she’s looking forward to extending more performance experience with orchestra!