YUE BAO

Yue Bao is a highly regarded conductor recognized for her clarity, musical integrity, and communicative leadership. Described by Classical MPR as having “delivered this evening,” Bao brings a focused yet elegant podium presence that consistently inspires orchestras to play with energy and precision. Bachtrack has praised her “graceful and elegant economy of movement,” noting the sense of lively cheerfulness she transmits to the ensemble.

Bao made her Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut at the Ravinia Festival in 2021 and has since appeared with major orchestras across North America and Europe. In the current season, she returns to Munich to conduct the Munich Symphony Orchestra, leads the Calgary Philharmonic, and makes her debut with the Nuremberg Symfoniker. Additional engagements include the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Oviedo Filarmonía.

Her recent and past collaborations include the San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. She has worked with distinguished soloists including Hélène Grimaud, Lang Lang, Jan Vogler, Vadim Gluzman, Bomsori Kim, Pablo Ferrández, Hera Hyesang Park, and Jeneba Kanneh-Mason.

Equally at home in symphonic and operatic repertoire, Bao has conducted works ranging from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Bizet’s Carmen to Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny: Ein Songspiel and Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium. Her operatic experience informs a collaborative, narrative-driven approach to orchestral programming and rehearsal.

Bao served as the Ting Tsung and Wei Fung Chao Foundation Assistant Conductor at the Houston Symphony, where she made her subscription debut on the opening night of the 2020–21 season and led performances at Jones Hall and the orchestra’s summer concert series at Miller Outdoor Theatre. She has worked extensively throughout the United States and internationally and is recognized for her ability to build strong artistic relationships with musicians and institutions alike.

A former Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Conducting Fellow at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Bao was also the David Effron Conducting Fellow at the Chautauqua Music Festival, where she returned as a guest conductor in 2022 and 2025. She earned her Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music as the Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and holds dual Bachelor’s degrees in orchestral conducting and opera accompanying from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, as well as a Master’s in orchestral conducting from the Mannes School of Music.