Cheung Chau is Professor and Director of Orchestras at Utah Valley University. He is Music Director of the Utah Valley Youth Symphony in Orem, Utah, Music Director of Sinfonietta Polonia in Poznań, Poland, principal guest conductor of the Changsha Symphony in Hunan, China, conductor and faculty of the International Musician’s Academy with the Sinfonietta Vidin in Vidin, Bulgaria.  

    Cheung inspires audiences through his powerful performances and diverse programming, collaborations with community artistic institutions and engaging beloved and exciting artists. Conducting over 760 concerts in 16 countries world wide, Chau is a nationally and internationally recognized musician and conductor. He was bronze medalist of the internationally acclained American Prize as professional orchestra conductor. He is a USA National Arts Associate with Sigma Alpha Iota, amongst distinguished musicians including Semyon Bychkov, Sir Neville Marriner, Andre Watts and Pinchas Zuberman. Chau won the ASTA's Teacher of the Year Award in 2018. His 2017 world premiere recording of Snow Queen with leading Polish label, Acte Préalable, received a Global Music Awards Silver Medal. 

   As music director of Sinfonietta Polonia, Chau initated a New Year Concert  series which reached over two hundred thousand live audience  since its inception in 2007. In addition to winning a silver medal from Global Music Awards, Sinfonietta Polonia toured throughout Europe and China, including winning the World’s Best Gala-Event in 2017 performing at the Federico Fellini Gala at the Cinecittà studios in Rome, Italy. 

   As director of orchestras at UVU, Chau collaborated with artists and ensembles including Jason Alexander, Kathryn Eberle, Colin Carr, Hans Euler, Lucius Hemmer, eleven UVU music department faculty as soloists, UVU Opera, UVU Choirs, UVU Center for Constitutional Studies, UVU Office for Global Engagement, UVU College of Science, UVU Theatre, Dance and Visual Arts department, Wasatch Chorale, Mapleton Chorale, Southern Utah University Opus Chamber Choir, amongst others. The UVU premiere of Mahler’s Second Symphony at the Noorda Center in April, 2024, became one of the best selling concerts at UVU and the only sold out concert at the Noorda Center in the 2023 – 2024 season. In the coming 2024 – 2025 the UVU Symphony and Chamber Orchestra will present Massenet’s Werther with the UVU Opera, Cabaret—an evening of Gershwin’s music with the UVU Theatre Department and performances of Tango music with the UVU Contempory Dance Ensemble. The UVU Symphony will also feature violinist Aubree Oliverson with Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in a tribute to Sibelius at his 160^th birth anniversary. 

   As a conductor of professional orchestras, Chau served as asssitant conductor to Edo de Waart at the Hong Kong Philharmonic performing in 2007 for events including the 10^th anniversary of the Hong Kong Handover, amongst audience  including Chinese President Hu Jintao. He served as the Resident Conductor of the Changsha Philharmonic in Hunan, China, of which he is currently princpal guest conductor, with nationally televised concerts reaching millions of audience. Since 2004 Chau served as music director of Sinfonietta Polonia, performing over 300 concerts reaching over 300,000 audience members. He served as the principal guest conductor of the Lublin Philharmonic in Poland and is currently conductor of the Sinfonietta Vidin at the International Musicians Academy.

As conductor of youth ensembles, in addition to serving as the music director of the Utah Valley Youth Symphony since 2013, awarded Best Youth Organization of Provo in 2022, Chau was three times guest conductor of the International Association of Southeast Asian Schools in Jakarta, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. He was conductor of Utah All State Orchestra and Education Ambassador for the Hong Kong Philharmonic conducting the orchestra in over 70 educational concerts and visiting with hundreds of middle and high school students each year. Chau also conducted youth ensembles in Utah including the Sandy Youth Symphony, The Weber School District Honors Orchestra, and the Bridgerland Honors Orchestra in Logan.

 Chau was music director of community orchestras including the Central Pennsylvania Symphony, the Bloomington Symphony and the Manchester Symphony, performing music ranging from Broadway, film and popular music, including music of the Beatles, to ballet, to classical standards including music of Copland, Sibelius, Bruckner, Bernstein, Holst, Brahms, amongst many others. In Pensylvania he initiated a performance of “Dancing with the PA Stars”, a project in collaboration with the Pennsylvania legislature which raised thousand of dollars for the Pennsylvania Alzheimers’ Association.

As conductor of collegiate orchestras, Chau was director of orchestras at Haverford College and University of Connecticut. He recently received full professor status from UVU and took the UVU Symphony to the semi-finals at the American Prize with works of Shostakovich and Szymanowski.

As guest conductor Chau conducted the Moscow Symphony in Russia, the Nordhausen Philharmonic and the Nuremburg Symphony in Germany, the Filarmonica Marchigiana in Italy, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic in Sweden, the Vaasa Symphony in Finland, the Williamsport Symphony, the Charlottesville Symphony, and the Ballet West 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 conducted the China National Symphony, the Tianjin Philharmonic, the Wuhan Philharmonic, the Xiamen Philharmonic, and became the permanent guest conductor of the Inner Mongolia Orchestra in 2007. 

Cheung Chau conducted ballet 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 was 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 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. 

As opera conductor Chau collaborated with the UVU Opera, the Royal Stockholm Academy Opera and the Georgia Southern Opera, conducting Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Massenet’s Werther, Mozart’s  Cosi Fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, and others.

Artists Chau collaborated as conductor include Stephanie Chase, Monte Belknap, Kathryn Eberle, Barnabás Kelemen, Stefan Tarara, Colin Carr, Jeffrey Solow, Matt Holland, Rebecca Corruccini, Jason Alexander, Leticia Oaks Strong, Ning An, Ulrich Knörzer, Bob Evans, Maria Masycheva, Nathan Hughes, Barbara Kubiak, Anna Maria Staskiewicz, amongst many other nationally and internationally renowned soloists and personalities in the USA, Germany, Poland and China. Chau also collaborates regularly in concert with non-traditional concert artists including gypsy folk artists, Bulgarian folk dancer masters, Romani folk artists, dancers (ballet, modern, ballroom), narrators, visual artists, amongst other.

As cellist Chau performed as soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Macao Symphony, Changsha Symphony, Gettysurg Chamber Orchestra, Timpanogos Symphony, UVU Symphony, Sinfonietta Polonia, and Vidin Sinfonietta, and will perform the UVU premiere of Gulda’s Cello Concerto in collaboration with the UVU Wind Symphony in March of 2025.

Chau received the first double doctorate from the New England Conservatory in wind ensemble conducting and cello performance, studying conducting with Frank Battisti and cello with Colin Carr.  He was a conducting fellow at the Aspen Conducting Academy studying with David Zinman and Alan Gilbert. He studied orchestral conducting with Jorma Panula at the Royal Conservatory of Sweden and was mentored by Edo de Waart and Charles Dutoit.  

“Cheung Chau led an impressive symphony concert in Sondershausen…and showed a powerful rendition of his skill…A musical firework unfolded before the audience, between the sinking softness and the euphoric feeling of youth. This interpretation made the greatness of the work (Schubert “Great” Symphony) understood instantly.”  

          —Ronald Urlig, Thueringer Allgemeine, Erfurt, German

“The tableaux (in Lithuanian Rhapsody by Karlowicz) are doubtlessly difficult to interpret, as they are emotionally dense, complex. However, the orchestra under Chau’s baton painted them in dark hues so very desirable in the first tableau, brightening the color spectrum accordingly in the subsequent episodes—in the subtle Andante tranquillo, dance-like Allegretto giocoso, all until the return of the initial nostalgia.  One found great satisfaction and pleasure in listening to the “Lithuanian Rhapsody” precisely thanks to Chau’s consistent construction and progression of moods, apt graduation of emotions and logical narration.”

          —Dorota Gonet, Gazeta.Wyborcza, Lublin, Poland