Mei-Ann Chen

The first woman to win the Malko International Conductors Competition (2005), Mei-Ann Chen is one of America’s most exciting and promising young conductors. Having recently concluded a highly successful tenure as Assistant Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, she is currently serving a one-year appointment as Assistant Conductor and League of American Orchestras Conducting Fellow of the Baltimore Symphony.

Ms. Chen’s guest conducting engagements include all the principal Danish orchestras, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Taiwan National Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, Rochester Philharmonic, and the symphonies of Atlanta, Bournemouth, Fort Worth, Honolulu, National,  Oregon, Princeton, Seattle, Toledo, Toronto and Trondheim.  Awarded the 2007 Taki Concordia Fellowship, she has appeared jointly with Marin Alsop and Stefan Sanderling in highly acclaimed subscription concerts with the Baltimore Symphony, Colorado Symphony and Florida Orchestra.

Among Ms. Chen’s upcoming debuts are the Alabama Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Phoenix Symphony and the Grand Teton, Houston and Wintergreen festivals.

In 2002, Ms. Chen was unanimously selected as music director of the Portland Youth Philharmonic in Oregon, the oldest of its kind and the model for many of the youth orchestras in the United States. During her five-year tenure with the orchestra, she led its sold-out debut in Carnegie Hall, received an ASCAP award for innovative programming, and developed new and unique musicianship programs for the orchestra’s members. She was honored with a Sunburst Award from Young Audiences for her contribution to music education.

Born in Taiwan, Mei-Ann Chen has lived in the United States since 1989. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the University of Michigan, where she was a student of Kenneth Kiesler. Prior to that, she was the first student in New England Conservatory’s history to receive double master’s degrees simultaneously in violin and conducting.  Ms. Chen has also participated in the National Conducting Institute in Washington, D.C. and the American Academy of Conducting in Aspen.