Mei-Ann Chen will be leading the Springfield Symphony Orchestra at our debut concert, New England Reverie on October 19. Tickets are available online or through our box office.
Praised for her dynamic, passionate conducting style, Taiwanese American conductor Mei-Ann Chen is acclaimed for infusing orchestras with enthusiasm and high-level music-making, galvanizing audiences and communities alike. Newly named Artistic Advisor for Springfield Symphony Orchestra beginning fall 2024, since 2011 she has served as Music Director of the MacArthur Award-winning Chicago Sinfonietta; her contract has been extended through the end of the 2028-2029 season. Chen has been Chief Conductor of Austria’s Recreation – Grosses Orchester Graz at Styriarte since fall 2021 following 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. She has served as the first-ever Artistic Partner of Houston’s ROCO since 2019, and since 2022, as an Artistic Partner with Northwest Sinfonietta (WA). Highly regarded as a compelling communicator and an innovative leader both on and off the podium 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 150 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; 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.