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Muhai Tang Conductor

Artistic Director and Chief Conductor, Zurich Chamber Orchestra
Conductor Laureate and Artistic Advisor, The Queensland Orchestra
Conductor Laureate, China National Symphony Orchestra


Muhai Tang became Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in September 2006. In the 2009/2010 season he will become Artistic Director of the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Zhenjiang Symphony Orchestra in China. From September 2009 he will also take up the role of Principal Guest Conductor of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra.


Son of a famous film director in China, Muhai Tang has always been drawn to the musical stage, and has conducted opera on several continents. He previously held the position of Chief Conductor of the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki where he conducted highly successful new productions of Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Turandot, Der Rosenkavalier and Pique Dame, and also Madame Butterfly, Tosca, La Rondine, Boris Godunov, The Marriage of Figaro, La Traviata, The Barber of Seville and Othello. His ballet performances with the company included an acclaimed Sacre du Printemps and a new production of Swan Lake. In 2007 he conducted fully-staged performances of Tan Dun's opera "Tea" with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic.


Muhai Tang has recently worked with a list of orchestras that includes the NDR Hamburg, Oslo Philharmonic, Malaysian Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Other recent and future guest conducting engagements include performances with the Zurich Opera, Flemish Symphony, Vlaamse Opera, Orchestre National de Lille, the Verdi Orchestra in Milan, Tenerife Symphony, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Bilbao Symphony and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.


Muhai Tang’s international recognition began when Herbert von Karajan invited him to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in its 1983 subscription series. This success led to repeat appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic and invitations from many of the world's leading orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestras amongst many others.

Since then Muhai Tang has appeared as guest conductor on four continents and at music festivals in Prague, Berlin, Edinburgh, Verona, Bergen and Beijing. He is a favourite with audiences and musicians alike, with an engaging stage presence and graceful and natural technique. He has worked with numerous great artists such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Martha Argerich and Anne-Sophie Mutter to name just a few.

He has an extraordinarily wide repertoire, ranging from Bach to composers of today. His role as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra has been an opportunity for him to explore the chamber orchestra repertoire which has always been close to his heart. In particular Muhai Tang has received great acclaim for his performances of Joseph Haydn.


Muhai Tang has also held Principal Conductor positions with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, China National Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Orchestra in Australia, (he still holds the title of Conductor Laureate and Artistic Advisor there) and the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon. He was Principal Conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra for 12 years, from 1987 to 2000, enhancing the orchestra's reputation with international tours and recordings.


He maintains close links with China, returning regularly to conduct in Beijing and Shanghai. In 2005 and 2006 he conducted the Shanghai Conservatory Orchestra, where he studied himself, in Berlin as part of the Young Euro Classic Festival in which 17 youth orchestras performed in 17 days. In August 2007 he brought students from the Shanghai Conservatory to collaborate with the German Youth Orchestra, a project culminating in two performances at the Berlin Konzerthaus and then a tour through six major cities of China; this lead to a Chamber Orchestra Tour in 2009. Muhai Tang became Conducting Professor and Head of the Conducting Department at the Conservatory in 2007. He has also worked for Shanghai Concert Hall as Artistic Director since 2007. He also holds the title of Conductor Laureate of the National Symphony Orchestra of China.


Among Muhai Tang's many recordings, the Guitar Concertos by Tan Dun and Christopher Rouse with Sharon Isbin and the Gulbenkian Orchestra, for Teldec, was awarded a Grammy in 2002.

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