Cheung Chau
(Zou Xiang) is
Director of
Orchestral studies at Utah Valley University,
Music Director of Sinfonietta Polonia in Poznań, Poland and Music Director of
the Utah Valley Youth Symphony in Orem, Utah. He serves also as a
permanent conductor of Changsha Symphony Orchestra in China. He served as music
director of Bloomington Symphony in Minnesota, the Central Pennsylvania Symphony and
the Manchester Symphony in Connecticut and held director of orchestra
positions at Haverford College and University of Connecticut.
As guest conductor, Chau conducted the Moscow Symphony in Russia, the Nordhausen
Philharmonic and Pro Artibus Hannover in Germany, the Filarmonica Marchigiana in
Italy, the Gavle Symphony in Sweden, the Vaasa Symphony in Finland, the
Williamsport Symphony and the Utah Chamber Orchestra in the United States, the
Opera and Philharmonic in Bialystok the Swietokrzyska Philharmonic in
Kielce, the Lublin Philharmonic, the Sudecka Philharmonic and the Olsztyn
Philharmonic in Poland. In China he has led the China National Symphony, the
Tianjin Philharmonic, the Wuhan Philharmonic, the Xiamen Philharmonic and the
Inner Mongolia Opera Theater Orchestra. He is designated permanent guest
conductor of Hunan Symphony. Invited by Edo the Waart, Chau served as
assistant conductor to the Hong Kong Philharmonic, conducting the orchestra in
many projects, including the 2007 live world broadcast opening ceremony of the
10th anniversary celebration of Hong Kong's Handover, with Chinese President Hu
Jintao in attendance.
As
a ballet conductor Chau
conducted productions of Giselle and Nutcracker with the
Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and Ballet West at the Harrisburg Whitaker
Center and the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City. He is a regular guest
conductor at the Grand Opera and Ballet Theater in Poznań, Poland, where he
conducted the world premiere of Alice in Wonderland to music by Gabriel Kaczmarek
in 2014 and its subsequent 19 performances. Chau also led the world premiere
performance of Snow Queen in March of 2016 at the Grand Theater in
Poznań. In June 2016, he conducted Alice in Wonderland at the
prestigious Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz, Poland and with the Swiętokrzyska
Philharmonic in Kielce, Poland.
Chau conducted the Royal Swedish Academy Opera and Georgia Southern Opera in Marriage
of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Cosi fan tutte.
Chau
has conducted youth orchestras including the Sibelius Academy Orchestra in
Finland, the Utah All-State Orchestra and the International Association of
Southeast Asian Schools Festival Orchestras in Jakarta, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.
As conductor Chau collaborated
with soloists from the Berlin Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Minnesota
Orchestra, London Philharmonia, Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, Colin
Carr, Pierre-Ives Artaud, Adrian Levine, Maria Masycheva, Nathan Hughes, Barbara
Kubiak, Barnabas Kelleman, Patrycja Piekutowska and others. He guest conducted
over 20 choirs from Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, the USA and China,
including Cantate Carlisle and the China National Symphony Orchestra Chorus.
As music director of Sinfonietta Polonia Chau made the world premiere
recording of Palester’s String Serenade and Gabriel Kaczmarek's Mass 1050 for the leading Polish recording
label Acte Preable, and directed the International Szymanowski Festival in
Beijing in 2011 selected by the Polish Ministry of Culture as an official
cultural event of the Polish European Union Presidency in 2011, with
performances at the National Center for the Arts and the Beijing Concert Hall,
leading a combined orchestra comprised of musicians from Sinfonietta Polonia and
the China National Symphony Orchestra. Chau led Sinfonietta Polonia also on
tours in France, Germany, performing at the Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg under
auspices of the Polish Embassy in Berlin and the Stiftung fur Deutsch-Polnishe
Zusammenarbeit, and in Hannover (Grosser
Sendesaal des Landesfunkhauses), etc. Sinfonietta Polonia performances were
broadcast on China Central Television and SP was featured in a cover article for
the prestigious Polish classical music magazine, Muzyka 21. For
the past nine years, Sinfonietta Polonia’s New Year concerts in the
Greater Poland region attract thousands of audiences and have served a number of
Dickinson’s students as a unique study abroad-professional orchestra
experience.
Chau received the first double
doctorate degree in the history of the New England Conservatory in wind ensemble
conducting and cello studying with Frank Battisti and Colin Carr.
He studied orchestral and choral conducting at the Royal Swedish
Conservatory with Jorma Panula. His other main teachers include cellists Aldo Parisot and
Eleonore Schoenfeld. As cellist Chau performed as soloist with the Hong Kong
Philharmonic and the Macao Orchestra, among others, in chamber music and solo
recitals at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Beijing Concert Hall, Merkin
Hall and Jordan Hall, recorded for Acte Preable as member of Atma Trio, and
recorded for Hong Kong Radio and Television corporation, China Central
Television, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, and Irish Radio. He is a National Arts
Associate member in conducting with Sigma Alpha Iota.
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