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The Taiwanese conductor, pianist, and educator, Yunn-Shan Ma (Chinese: (馬韻珊)), studied conducting, piano, and violin performance education at the National Taiwan Normal University and the pre-college division of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria. She obtained her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester (2011-2017), studying choral conducting with William Weinert and orchestral conducting with Neil Varon. During her studies there, she was an instructor of basic conducting and guest conductor of the Eastman Chorale. For summer 2012, she was invited to conduct a summer sing at Eastman and selected as one of the conductors to attend the European Music Academy in Teplice, Czech Republic, held by Johannes Schlaefli and Norbert Baxa. Also conducted a concert with the North Bohemia Philharmonic orchestra. In fall 2012, she conducted the Eastman-Rochester Chorus with Eastman Philharmonic Orchestra.
Yunn-Shan Ma is active as a conductor, pianist, and educator in both America and Asia. Praised as being “extremely musical” and “having the gift of keeping the orchestra tight with her hands,” Ma’s range of conducting experience bridges the gap between professional, semi-professional, collegiate, and youth ensembles. With a passion for orchestral, operatic, choral, and contemporary repertoire, she has guest conducted select performances across Europe, Asia, and North America, including the Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok in Hungary; Cadaques Orchestra in Spain; North Czech Orchestra in the Czech Republic; Taipei Civic Orchestra; Evergreen Symphony Orchestra; and the Chin-Yun Choir in Taiwan. USA engagements include the New York State Ballet; Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra; Genesee Symphony Orchestra; Greater Rochester Women’s Philharmonic; Geneva Light Opera; Syracuse Vocal Ensemble; Eastman School Symphony Orchestra; Eastman-Rochester Chorus; Eastman Chorale; and Eastman’s new music ensemble OSSIA. As co-founder and music director of the chamber vocal ensemble F-Sharp in Taipei, she led the ensemble to win the Gold Medal First Prize in the Sacred Music category, and the Gold Medal Third Prize for Mixed Choir category at the Taipei International Choral Competition in 2018.
Both on and off stage, Yunn-Shan Ma is committed to bringing new light to existing musical works. She is equally eager to present orchestral live performances in an interdisciplinary manner, incorporating new media, visual content, and special themes to interact with musicians and audiences. At the Rochester Institution of Technology, she has collaborated with specialists from the fields of AR/VR, Audio Engineering, Film and Animation, Illustration, Game Design, Modern Languages, and Museum Studies.
Yunn-Shan was music director of the Zong-Zheng Junior High School Girls’ Choir, National Defense Medical Center Choir, Shih Hsin University Choir, Sacred Heart of Jesus Church Choir, Voices of Love, and Langeracq Cantus Chamber Choir.
Yunn-Shan Ma taught Applied Piano and Music Theory at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York (2014-2018); and was Director of the Concert Choir at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York (2014-2018). She has worked at Saint Kateri Parish in Irondequoit, New York since July 2015; and as Assistant Professor in Music Studies at Rochester Institute of Technology / Director of RIT Philharmonic Orchestra since August 2018. A devoted educator, she has served as a frequent guest clinician and adjudicator at competitions and festivals. She has been on the faculty of the Taipei International Choral Festival since 2015, led the Monroe All-County Senior High School Orchestra in 2018, and directed the Monroe All-County Junior High School Orchestra in March, 2022. Under her astute leadership, the RIT Philharmonic Orchestra was awarded an Honorable Mention in Orchestra Performance at the American Prize 2021, while Ma herself has been a finalist in the Conducting Competition and a semifinalist for the Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award for Conductors' Orchestral Programming.
Yunn-Shan Ma's current conducting positions include Music Director of the RIT Philharmonic Orchestra; Music Director of the St. Kateri Parish in Irondequoit New York; and Music and Artistic Director of the Taiwanese Choral Society of Rochester. She currently lives in Lives in Rochester, New York. |
