Yue Bao Named Houston Symphony Ting Tsung And Wei Fong Chao Foundation Assistant Conductor

The Houston Symphony has announced that Yue Bao has been promoted to the position of Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation Assistant Conductor.

The Shanghai-born conductor joined the Houston Symphony in Fall 2019 in the newly created position of conducting fellow. She made her Houston Symphony debut 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 played a key role in enabling the Symphony to lead the vanguard of American orchestras by performing its way through the pandemic: Bao conducted several concerts in the 2020-21 Season including the Summer Chamber Series which featured concerts available for livestream throughout the world, Opening Night, and two appearances on the subscription series, leading Kelley O'Conner and Houston Symphony musicians in Ethyl Smythe's Songs for Mezzo-Soprano with Instrumental Accompaniment, and conducting Scott Joplin's Overture to Treemonisha at the invitation of guest conductor David Robertson.

In the 2021-2022 Season she made her debut at the Symphony's summer home, Miller Outdoor Theatre leading programs of works for winds and strings, as well as education concerts at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Plans going forward include more education concerts at Jones Hall, a return to the podium at Miller Outdoor Theatre, and continued support conducting Classical Series concerts.

"Yue Bao is an exciting presence on the podium," said Houston Symphony Executive Director, CEO, and holder of the Margaret Alkek Williams Chair John Mangum. "We're grateful that she was here in Houston to help us make the 2020-2021 Season happen when few American orchestras were able to do so, and we're so happy and pleased to have an Assistant Conductor whose career is so clearly on the rise."

Having recently made her Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut at the Ravinia Festival in Summer 2021, Yue Bao maintains a busy guest conducting schedule. Her conducting calendar includes engagements leading the Detroit Symphony, her debut with the San Antonio Symphony, and an opera gala with Spain's Filarmonía Oviedo. She was recently featured in a New York Times profile where she discussed here role with the Houston Symphony during the 2020-21 season.