Xiao Chao

Xiao Chao is a young conductor who holds two Master’s degrees - one in conducting from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and another, in erhu from the Sichuan Conservatory of Music. He is currently the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of the Kunming Nie Er Symphony Orchestra; Resident Conductor of the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, Gansu Opera Theatre, Ningxia Symphony Orchestra and the Shaanxi Radio Chinese Orchestra; conductor of the Beauty & Melody Orchestra of the Sichuan Song and Dance Troupe; and Principal Conductor of the Chengdu Modern Chamber Orchestra.

Xiao received his first conducting training under the National Class One Conductor Tang Qingshi before he furthered his studies under Maestro Yan Huichang. He came second and won the Audience Award for Best Performance in the first Hong Kong International Conducting Competition for Chinese Music in 2011. He was twice selected for internship schemes organized by the China National Arts Fund, including the one for young conductors in 2015 and the one for Chinese music conductors in 2017.

Xiao’s wide-range conducting repertoire covers Western, Chinese and choral music, as well as opera. He has given hundreds of concerts in China and other parts of the world in recent years, all varied in genre, type and size. Xiao is also a composer and arranger, with a sizable oeuvre to his credit. Many of them have been performed in concert halls at home and abroad.