Conductor Apo Hsu Named the Taipei Chamber Singers’ First Resident Conductor

Internationally renowned conductor Apo Hsu will become an artist in residence with the Taipei Chamber Singers from November 2025, serving as Resident Conductor and opening a new chapter together with TCS. Hsu is celebrated for a commanding presence and masterful musical interpretation; The Oregonian wrote: “She can convey her power from the podium to the orchestra and the audience!” From the 2026 season, Hsu will lead the Taipei Chamber Singers in a series of concerts of both depth and breadth, exploring the limitless possibilities of the voice and of choral music.

Over more than twenty years in the United States, Hsu conducted around the world, serving as music director of the Women’s Philharmonic in San Francisco, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in Missouri, the Oregon Mozart Players in Eugene, and the Portland Symphony Orchestra in Oregon, among others, and taught at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, while appearing as a guest conductor in major concert halls across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Beyond the concert stage, Hsu has invested deeply in education, nurturing gifted young conductors, many of whom have gone on to win international conducting prizes and take up posts with professional orchestras in Taiwan and abroad. Hsu is currently Principal Guest Conductor of the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan, Principal Conductor of the Sinyi Symphony Orchestra and conductor of the Fu Jen Catholic University Symphony Orchestra, and teaches in the music departments and graduate institutes of Fu Jen Catholic University and National Taiwan Normal University.

Hsu says: “In the twenty-some years since I returned to Taiwan, I have attended many concerts by the Taipei Chamber Singers and its successive conductors. The choir’s performances have moved me deeply; every time I listen, my heart is full.” She speaks highly of the distinctive confidence the Taipei Chamber Singers radiates on its foundation in classical music, especially in commissioning and premiering new contemporary works. The Taipei Chamber Singers has built its Music Unlimited platform over nearly twenty years, and though the road has been hard, Hsu feels a kinship with it: “In the United States I led the Women’s Philharmonic in San Francisco, whose mission was to perform works by women composers. The historical repertoire by women composers is limited, so naturally there were many commissions. I truly enjoyed the process of working with composers, focusing on new sounds and exploring new musical languages.”

In contemporary music, voices and choirs face great challenges in performance and rehearsal, which demand exceptional precision and the expertise to grasp the musical context: “I have seen that the Taipei Chamber Singers is not afraid of hard challenges. The ensemble’s cohesion keeps its members focused on the goal, moving together toward an artistic ideal, and this makes the ensemble’s interpretive ability far greater than any individual’s technique.” This is precisely the quality Hsu values: a choir is made of people and depends on a unified sound, and however strong one’s individual technique, it must serve the teamwork of the whole—this is the true spirit of choral singing.

Hsu’s first collaboration with the Taipei Chamber Singers came as guest conductor of “A Thousand Clear Voices Become One – Song of Gongs and Drums” (清音千響化一聲——鑼鼓歌) at the 2024 David L. Wen Choral Music Festival. Even then, Hsu was struck by the choir’s passion for music and the singers’ wholehearted commitment: “These qualities allow a conductor and singers to spark almost unlimited possibilities of musical expression. This attention to every layer goes far beyond the polishing of technique, and it is something very hard to achieve.”

Founded more than thirty years ago, the Taipei Chamber Singers focuses on both ends of the choral spectrum: pouring its passion into early music and careful study of text and style, while staying ahead of the curve in developing the avant-garde language of new contemporary music. This new partnership will bring fresh energy to the Taipei Chamber Singers.