The Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to welcome international conductor Elim Chan for this concert. The orchestra will perform Dvorak’s nostalgic Symphony No.9 From the New World, Tchaikovsky’s Vairations on a Rococo Theme featuring faculty cellist Meta Weiss and Strauss’ tone poem Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, which chronicles the misadventures and pranks of the German peasant folk hero Till Eulenspiegel. 

ELIM CHAN, CONDUCTOR
Born in Hong Kong, Elim Chan became the first female winner of the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in December 2014 as a result of which she held the position of Assistant Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2015/16 and was appointed to the Dudamel Fellowship programme with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2016/17.

From the current season onwards, Elim Chan holds the position as Principal Conductor of the Orchestra of NorrlandsOperan with a symphony season in Umeå and concert tours in Sweden including stops at Stockholm Konserthuset and Göteborg Konserthuset. In the 2018/19 season she has been named Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Highlights this season include debuts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Orchestra national de Lyon, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz amongst others. Elim Chan will return to the London Symphony Orchestra for concerts in London and at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and to the Orquesta Filarmónica de Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico where she is Principal Guest Conductor.

Recent notable highlights include her North American debuts with the Berkeley, Detroit and Chicago symphony orchestras, The Mariinsky Orchestra, the Lucerne Festival with the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, Orchestre National de Belgique, The Australian Youth Orchestra and Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria as well as a return visit to Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Previous engagements include her debuts with National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa and the Orchestre de la Francophonie as part of the NAC Summer Music Institute in 2012 where she worked with Pinchas Zukerman, her participation in the Musical Olympus Festival in St. Petersburg, workshops with the Cabrillo Festival and Baltimore Symphony orchestras (with Marin Alsop, Gerard Schwarz and Gustav Meier). She also took part in masterclasses with Bernard Haitink in Lucerne in Spring 2015.

Elim Chan holds degrees from Smith College and the University of Michigan. Whilst there, she served as Music Director of the University of Michigan Campus Symphony Orchestra and the Michigan Pops Orchestra. She also received the Bruno Walter Conducting Scholarship in 2013.

META WEISS, CELLIST
American cellist Meta Weiss (pronounced MAY-ta) made her international debut at the age of seven in Utrecht, Holland, and has established herself as one of the leading cellists of her generation. An acclaimed soloist and chamber musician, her performances have taken her to venues throughout the US and internationally, including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Boston Symphony Hall, The Kimmel Center, Royal Albert Hall, The Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre, QPAC, and Teatro Britanico (Peru).

She has garnered top prizes in numerous competitions, including the Irving M. Klein International String Competition, Washington International Competition, Schadt Cello Competition, and the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Award among others. As a member of the cello-rock group Break of Reality, she was selected by the US Department of State as a “musical ambassador,” touring across America, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Brazil for the American Music Abroad program.

Her album Entendre (Sono Luminus) is the winner of the Violoncello Foundation Listener’s Choice Award. Other albums include A Dué Celli, recorded with cellist David Requiro as the Weiss-Requiro Duo, and a forthcoming album of Czech Piano Trios with the Streeton Trio on the Decca Label.

Weiss received her Bachelor of Music degree from Rice University, and her Master’s of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees at The Juilliard School. She was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Cello and Head of Chamber Music at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University in 2015.

Weiss performs on a Gioffredo Cappa cello, c. 1690, generously provided for her by an anonymous supporter.