Apo Hsu

Conductor-in-Residence

Biography:  “She generates electricity from the podium in two directions: into the orchestra and into the audience.” —The Oregonian Apo Ching-Hsin Hsu began her tenure as orchestra director at National Taiwan Normal University in the fall of 2003. In the summers since 2000, she has served as a guest faculty member of the Conductor’s Institute at Bard College in New York. Hsu previously served as music director and conductor of the Springfield Symphony in Missouri; artistic director of the Women’s Philharmonic in San Francisco; and music director and conductor of the Oregon Mozart Players in Eugene, Oregon, after completing a three-year tenure as Affiliate Artist/NEA Assistant Conductor of the Oregon Symphony. In September 2001, Avon Women in Concert presented Ms. Hsu on tour in Brazil with the Women’s Philharmonic, performing an all-bossa nova program featuring works of the Brazilian poet Vinícius de Moraes. In spring 2000, producer Debbie Allen included Hsu and the Women’s Philharmonic in a series titled “Cool Women,” which was broadcast on U.S. cable television through the 2000–2001 season. Ms. Hsu and the Women’s Philharmonic recorded a CD featuring the symphonic music of African American composer Florence Price, which was released on the Koch International Classics label. Guest appearances have taken Ms. Hsu all over the United States as well as to Russia, Asia, and Australia. In a performance with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., she captivated students in an interactive Youth Education Series. She has collaborated with various symphony orchestras in Taiwan. Other guest appearances have included several performances for youth with the Saint Louis Symphony, a summer concert with the Minnesota Orchestra, and two appearances with the San Francisco Symphony. She has also appeared at the Interlochen Music Festival, Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, and Colorado Music Festival; with the symphonies of Hartford, Southwest Florida, Kalamazoo, Detroit, Eugene, Elgin, Mobile, Harrisburg, Wheeling, West Shore, Lubbock, Wichita, Green Bay, Stockton, and Oregon; with the Missouri and Reno Chamber Orchestras; and held a two-week residency in Irkutsk, Russia. During the 2003 season, Ms. Hsu collaborated with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. The fall of 2004 marked her debut with the Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan as well as the Sung Nam and Prime Philharmonic Orchestras in Seoul, Korea. She returned to guest conduct the NTSO in spring 2005 and returned to guest conduct the KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) Symphony Orchestra in November 2005. Hsu has also guest conducted and led the Taiwan Wind Ensemble and Tao Yuan Symphonic Band, both esteemed professional symphonic bands in Taiwan, in diverse and interactive programs. Ms. Hsu led the National Taiwan Normal University Symphony Orchestra in the university’s 60th anniversary celebration, a weeklong, three-city, Australian cultural exchange tour in May 2006. With the National Taiwan Normal University Symphony Orchestra and the Festival Chorus, they embarked on a California tour titled “Formosa Dreaming” in September 2007. Ms. Hsu was invited to guest conduct the Sydney Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra in 2007 and August 2009. She returned to the Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra in 2007, and guest conducted the China National Symphony Orchestra in the opening concert of the 2008 Beijing International Congress on Women in Music at the new China National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, presented by the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM) and the China Conservatory of Music (CCM). In 2009, she appeared with the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra on its Masterworks Series and returned to lead the Springfield Symphony Orchestra for its 75th anniversary season celebratory opening concert. In October 2010, Ms. Hsu guest conducted the Lamont Symphony Orchestra in Denver in a program that included the U.S. premieres of Taiwanese composer Hsu Tsang-Houei’s Deux Mouvements pour orchestre a cordes, op. 26; and Nu-guan-zi (after the poetic-tune of Wei Zhuang), op. 14. Ms. Hsu has served on the faculties of the American Symphony Orchestra League Conducting Workshops, National Youth Orchestra Festival 2000, Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute 2002 and 2004, 2007 All State Orchestra in New Mexico, and 2009 All State Orchestra in Colorado. She has been a music review panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and Meet the Composer, and serves as a member of the Evaluation Committee at the CKS Center in Taipei.

Contact:

Phone: 845-758-7425
Website: https://www.geocities.com/apo_hsu/
Department: Conductors Institute