Heng-Yi Pao Heng-Yi Pao
Highest performance diploma in orchestral conducting, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Master’s degrees in both orchestral conducting and choral conducting
Previously:
Assistant to the conductor, National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), 2022/23
Currently:
Conductor of the KSO Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Camerata Taiwan Youth String Orchestra;
conductor of the National Cheng Kung University Orchestra and String Orchestra and of the String Orchestra of the Department of Music, University of Taipei;
Guest Conductor of Taipei Chamber Singers and conductor of the Taichung Yin-Chi Choir.
In 2019 Heng-Yi Pao won prizes in three conducting competitions in a row: a Special Prize at the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra conducting competition in Romania, and First Prize at the Towards Polyphony International Choral Conducting Competition in Poland, becoming the only Asian winner in the competition’s 29-year history and the first Taiwanese conductor to win first prize at an international choral conducting competition. Earlier that same year, Pao also won Second Prize at the International Choral Conducting Competition in Slovenia, becoming the first young Taiwanese conductor to be recognized in both the choral and orchestral fields.
In recent years Pao has conducted the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO), the Webern Symphony Orchestra in Vienna, the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra in Romania, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra in Croatia, the Danubia Orchestra Óbuda in Hungary, Ensemble Ars Nova in France, the Pro Arte Orchestra in Hong Kong, Camerata Taiwan, the Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. As a choral conductor, Pao has worked with choirs in Taiwan and abroad, including the Webern Kammerchor and Chorus Viennensis in Vienna, the Ljubljana Academy of Music in Slovenia, the choir of the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music (JVLMA), the Ave Sol Choir in Latvia, the National Forum of Music Choir in Wrocław, Poland, the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus, Taipei Chamber Singers and the Planetesimal Male Choir.
In 2021, for the master’s graduation concert, Pao conducted the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein.
For many years Pao has served as assistant conductor to Peter Marschik, of the Klagenfurt Stadttheater and former music director of the Vienna Boys’ Choir, helping to rehearse opera productions including Eugene Onegin and The Barber of Seville. In 2020 Pao was assistant to Anja Bihlmaier at the Vienna Volksoper, rehearsing The Magic Flute and Carmen. In 2021 Pao was assistant conductor to Marie Jacquot for a production of The Nutcracker at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. In 2022/23 Pao was invited to serve on the jury of the international choral conducting competition in Poland and to give a conducting masterclass at the invitation of the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.
In 2023 Pao conducted the opening concert of the Taipei International Choral Music Festival and appeared as guest conductor with the Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra, performing with Daishin Kashimoto, concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2024 Pao was chorus master for the NSO’s opera production of Der Rosenkavalier and assistant conductor for the Taipei Symphony Orchestra’s annual opera, La bohème.
In 2024 Pao was named by PAR Performing Arts magazine as one of nine rising Taiwanese conductors under 40.
A native of Penghu County, Pao studied the oboe from an early age and won prizes several times in oboe and voice at the National Student Music Competition.