Although this event is sold out, please email boxoffice@sfcm.edu to be added to the waitlist, and we shouldn't have a problem with getting you into the performance. 

Praised for her dynamic, passionate conducting style, SFCM welcomes Opus 3 Artist and Music Director of the Chicago Sinfonietta, Mei-Ann Chen, as guest conductor. The concert opens with Beethoven’s tribute to the Shakespearean story of a lonely man rebelling against the system. SFCM Piano Concerto Competition winner, Parker Van Ostrand, showcases his virtuosity in Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto. Chin’s short but explosive work is a tribute to Beethoven and even evokes his Coriolan Overture, and Schumann’s fourth symphony closes the concert with an  intense and radical approach to the romantic form.

Program

Ludwig van Beethoven: Overture to Coriolan, Op. 62
Chih-Yao Chang, conductor

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18
     I. Moderato
     II. Adagio sostenuto
     III. Allegro scherzando
Parker van Ostrand, piano
2022-23 SFCM Piano Concerto Competition Winner

- Intermission - 

Unsuk Chin: subito con forza (2020)

Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 120
     I. Ziemlich langsam – Lebhaft
     II. Romanze: Ziemlich langsam
     III. Scherzo: Lebhaft
     IV. Langsam – Lebhaft

Artists Profiles

Mei-Ann Chen, conductor
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. Music Director of the MacArthur Award-winning Chicago Sinfonietta since 2011, 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, and a sought-after guest conductor, she recently made her Chicago Symphony Orchestra @ Ravinia Festival debut and 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.

Chih-Yao Chang, assistant conductor
Chih-Yao Chang, a native of Taoyuan, Taiwan, graduated from the National Taiwan Normal University with a master's degree in conducting from the Department of Music. He studied orchestral conducting under Professor Apo Chin-Shin Hsu and received guidance from masters such as Jun Märkl, Neal Stulberg, Jahja Lin, Shao-Chia Lü, Wen-pin Chien, Huichang Yan, and Anni Chung. He obtained his master's degree in 2020 and wrote an academic work entitled "Interpretation of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5".
In 2017, he was selected as an official participant in the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Annual Conductor Training Program and the National Symphony Orchestra Conductor Camp. He also won the Best Popularity Award voted by the members at the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Conductor Workshop. In 2018, he became the youngest finalist in the Taiwan Chinese Orchestra Conductor Competition "Elite Conductor", and ultimately won the Best Popularity Award voted by the audience. In June 2019, he held his conducting master's degree concert titled "Drift" at the KHS Luzhou concert Hall. He also made it to the finals of the Taiwan Chinese Orchestra Conductor Competition "Elite Conductor" for the second time that year, and won the first prize and the Best Popularity Award voted by the audience. In 2019, he was also selected as a finalist in the "International Conducting Competition" in Hong Kong, with the final round scheduled for 2024. In recent years, he has actively participated in premieres and recordings of contemporary works, receiving critical acclaim at events such as the ISCM Taipei International Contemporary Music Festival.

Parker van Ostrand, piano