Jiannan Cheng, conductor, is the 2016 recipient of The Miami Symphony Orchestra Conducting Fellowship, finalist of The 4X4 Prizes for Composers and Conductors, and has recently been invited to the 2016 Aurora Music Festival in Sweden to study with Kurt Masur and Johannes Gustavsson.
A candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral conducting, she is currently in the studio of Mark Gibson at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music where she will lead performances of Lehar’s The Merry Widow with the Department of Opera this academic year. She will also conduct several concerts with the CCM Philharmonia and Concert Orchestra.
As a recipient of The Miami Symphony Orchestra Conducting Fellowship 2016, Ms. Cheng will spend several weeks working with Venezuelan conductor and composer Eduardo Marturet. And, as a finalist of The 4X4 Prizes for Composers and Conductors sponsored by University of Oklahoma School of Music, she will compete in the final round of the competition in February 2016.
Cheng has studied orchestral, choral and wind ensemble conducting and is equally at home on the stage and in the pit. She continues to build her operatic repertoire, a new area of focus, and has conducted selections from Rossini La Cenerentola, Verdi Don Carlos, Bizet Carmen, and Puccini La bohème. Her training in choral and orchestral conducting facilitates her collaboration with singers.
A native of China, Cheng was instrumental in the planning of the University of Washington Wind Ensemble’s 2013 tour to China. Acting as translator and liaison, she helped forge a new relationship between her alma maters, the University of Washington and the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Cheng received her Master’s degree in conducting from the University of Washington in Seattle and her Bachelor of Music degree from the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing.