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Maestro Wang will deliver her keynote speech on 7/6, and will participate in TAC/EC 2G programs.

Ya-Hui Wang has been widely praised for her focused, intelligent musicianship and her rare gift for communicating with both the orchestra and the public.  Wang has also earned plaudits for the flair, maturity, and quiet confidence she displays, proving herself to be a conductor worthy of respect in a field traditionally dominated by men.

Ya-Hui Wang signed an unprecedented five-year contract as Music Director of the Akron Symphony Orchestra (Ohio) beginning in the 2000-2001 season.  The Cleveland Plain Dealer praised her opening program in Akron as "vibrant, colorful performances of four demanding pieces." Previously she served as Assistant Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where she was also Music Director of the Detroit Symphony's Civic Orchestra, a pre-professional training orchestra.  Among her other impressive achievements was her appointment, in 1995, as Apprentice Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  In announcing the appointment, CSO Music Director Daniel Barenboim, who personally selected Wang for this prestigious conductor-mentoring program, cited her "immensely impressive background and conducting talents."  She has also previously served as Music Director of the Fort Smith Symphony (Arkansas), the Omaha Nebraska Youth Orchestras and the Principal Conductor of the Chicago Encore Chamber Orchestra.  In the summer of 2000, she joined the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan as their Associate Conductor. 

Ya-Hui Wang received international recognition by taking top prizes in three prestigious international conducting competitions: the 1998 Nicolai Malko Competition in Copenhagen, Denmark; the 1996 Dimitri Mitropoulos Competition in Athens, Greece; and the 1994 Tokyo Competition in Japan.  Following her prize at the Malko Competition, she was invited to conduct the Danish National Radio, ?rhus, ?lborg and Odense Symphony Orchestras in Denmark, and the Tampere Philharmonic in Finland.  She also made her debut appearance at the Royal Danish Theater in Copenhagen and led the Royal Danish Ballet on a national tour in January 2000.  In August of 1999, she was invited to assist and conduct her first opera, Strauss' Salome, with the Danish National Opera, where she returns in 2001-2002 with Puccini's Madame Butterfly.

Wang has appeared as a guest conductor with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic (Florida), the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Erie (Pennsylvania) Philharmonic and the Lexington (Kentucky) Philharmonic.  Wang has been re-engaged by virtually every orchestra she has conducted, a tribute to the consistently high level of her performances in a range of repertoire. 

Born in Taiwan and raised in Singapore, Ya-Hui Wang moved to the United States in 1986 to further her music education, which was fully funded by a scholarship from Dr. Yung-Fa Chang, chairman of the Evergreen Group.  Wang is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, where her teachers included Otto-Werner Mueller and Frederik Prausnitz.  She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in piano performance and conducting.