HOUSTON (Nov. 21, 2019) – Shanghai-born conductor Yue Bao joins the Houston Symphony’s artistic leadership in the newly-created position of Conducting Fellow. She begins her Houston Symphony tenure this month.
As Conducting Fellow, Bao serves as cover conductor for rehearsals and performances, as conductor for assigned concerts and special projects, and as a Houston Symphony representative and advocate throughout the greater Houston community. She assists Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada with the preparation and rehearsal of his concerts and receives training and mentorship from him as she continues her artistic growth and development.
This past May, Bao completed her tenure as the Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music, and prior to joining the Houston Symphony, she was the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Conducting Fellow at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2019. In 2018, she served as the David Effron Conducting Fellow at the Chautauqua Music Festival. While at Curtis, Bao worked extensively with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director of both the Metropolitan Opera and the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as with such eminent conductors as San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas. She was cover conductor for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra from 2015 to 2017 and the Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä in 2019, and as a guest conductor has led the New Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra, and the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra.
Bao began her studies as a pianist and earned a Bachelor of Music both in Orchestral Conducting and Opera Accompanying in 2014 from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She also holds a Master of Music and Professional Studies Diploma from the Mannes College of Music in 2016. Bao made her Houston Symphony debut as part of the Assistant Conductor audition in May 2019, conducting Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila and the offstage ensemble in the finale to Ives’ Symphony No. 4 as part of the Rachmaninoff’s “The Bells” program. She also conducted the annual Theater District Open House concert this August. In March of 2020, Bao conducts the Minnesota Orchestra in their Music Around the Globe program, part of their Young People’s Concerts series, and the Houston Symphony in four Upper Elementary concerts that help facilitate students’ active listening skills and inspire students begin or further their involvement with music.
About the Houston Symphony
During the 2019–20 season, the Houston Symphony celebrates its sixth season with Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada and continues its second century as one of America’s leading orchestras with a full complement of concert, community, education, touring, and recording activities. The Houston Symphony, one of the oldest performing arts organizations in Texas, held its inaugural performance at The Majestic Theater in downtown Houston June 21, 1913. Today, with an annual operating budget of $35.2 million, the full-time ensemble of 88 professional musicians presents nearly 170 concerts annually, making it the largest performing arts organization in Houston. Additionally, musicians of the orchestra and the Symphony’s four Community-Embedded Musicians offer over 1,000 community-based performances each year at various schools, community centers, hospitals, and churches reaching nearly 200,000 people in Greater Houston annually.
The Grammy Award-winning Houston Symphony has recorded under various prestigious labels, including Naxos, Koch International Classics, Telarc, RCA Red Seal, Virgin Classics and, most recently, Dutch recording label Pentatone. In 2017, the Houston Symphony was awarded an ECHO Klassik award for the live recording of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck under the direction of former Music Director Hans Graf. The orchestra earned its first Grammy nomination and Grammy Award at the 60th annual ceremony for the same recording in the Best Opera Recording category.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Eric Skelly: 713.337.8560, eric.skelly@houstonsymphony.org
Mireya Reyna: 713.337.8557, mireya.reyna@houstonsymphony.org
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