Taiwanese-American conductor Mei-Ann Chen makes her BPO debut with an epic musical journey of ages past. Masquerade draws inspiration from 19th-century promenade concerts held in London’s pleasure gardens, and Pétrouchka tells the tragic tale of a magical street performer and his puppets, and his journey from life to afterlife. Finally, young pianist Tony Siqi Yun tackles Tchaikovsky’s majestic First Piano Concerto in his own BPO debut.

Program

Mei-Ann Chen, conductor
Tony Siqi Yun, piano

ANNA CLYNE  Masquerade
STRAVINSKY  Pétrouchka
TCHAIKOVSKY  Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor

About Mei-Ann Chen

Praised for her dynamic, passionate conducting style, Taiwanese American conductor Mei-Ann Chen is acclaimed for infusing orchestras with energy, enthusiasm and high-level music-making, galvanizing audiences and communities alike. Music Director of the MacArthur Award-winning Chicago Sinfonietta since 2011, Ms. Chen has been named Chief Conductor of Austria’s Recreation Grosses Orchester Graz at Styriarte beginning fall 2021 after two seasons as the orchestra’s first-ever Principal Guest Conductor, making her the first female Asian conductor to hold this position with an Austrian orchestra. Since September 2019, she also serves as the first-ever Artistic Partner of Houston’s ROCO (River Oaks Chamber Orchestra). Ms. Chen also has served as Artistic Director & Conductor for the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Summer Festival since 2016. Highly regarded as a compelling communicator and an innovative leader both on and off the podium, and a sought-after guest conductor, she has appeared with distinguished orchestras throughout the Americas, Europe, Taiwan, The United Kingdom, and Scandinavia, and continues to expand her relationships with orchestras worldwide (over 110 orchestras to date).Honors include being named one of the 2015 Top 30 Influencers by Musical America; the 2012 Helen M. Thompson Award from the League of American Orchestras; Winner, the 2007 Taki Concordia Fellowship founded by Marin Alsop; and 2005 First Prize Winner of the Malko Competition (she remains as the only woman in the competition history since 1965 to have won First Prize), and ASCAP awards for innovative programming.

Born in Taiwan, Ms. Chen came to the United States to study violin in 1989 and became the first student in New England Conservatory’s history to receive master’s degrees simultaneously in both violin and conducting, and she earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting at the University of Michigan.

About Tony Siqi Yun

“Tony is a true poet of the keyboard. Expressive, and with his own distinct voice, yet elegant and poised.” — Pianist Magazine

Born in Toronto, Canada, Tony Siqi Yun was the First Prize winner and Gold Medalist at the First China International Music Competition. He is currently studying piano and composition at the Juilliard School Pre-College Division.

In 2019, Tony collaborated with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin in the final round of the First China International Music Competition, and in 2021, he was invited to make his debut with Orchestre Métropolitain again under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. His outstanding debut with the China Philharmonic Orchestra at the Third Polish Culture Festival led to an invitation to tour with the orchestra in 2015. Yun appeared with the China Philharmonic Orchestra again in the 2018-19 season including the 2019 CCTV New Year’s Concert, and made his debut with the Shanghai Symphony and Ion Marin the same year. In 2018, Yun successfully collaborated with the Cleveland Orchestra at the final round of the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition and won First Prize and the Audience Prize.

Recent highlights include recital debuts at Luxembourg Philharmonie, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, NDR Hannover and Leipzig Gewandhaus. In North America he recently made his concerto debut with the Toronto Symphony, and recital debuts at Stanford and Pepperdine universities.

The 2022-23 season will see him make recital debuts at BASF Ludwigshafen, Musik und Kongresshalle Lübeck, and he will return to both the Leighton Center in Hong Kong, and Stanford Live. He will make his concerto debut with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano concerto No. 1 under the baton of Mei-Ann Chen, and later in the season he will rejoin Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra to make his subscription debut, performing Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto.

He is a recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship at the Juilliard School where he studies with Professors Yoheved Kaplinsky and Matti Raekallio. Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin is Yun’s active mentor.