Milen Nachev
Conductor
Milen Nachev is a conductor well known for his strong musicality, stylistic faithfulness, and extensive repertoire of symphonic works, operas, and ballets. Born in Bulgaria, he is a graduate of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, where he earned his master’s degree in symphony and opera conducting. He served as principal conductor and music director of several major Eastern European orchestras, and his recordings have been regularly broadcast by the BBC and Radio France. He is now in his eleventh season with Shen Yun Performing Arts and has also conducted nine seasons with Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra, performing at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Tokyo Opera City, and many other celebrated concert halls worldwide.
Chia-Chi Lin
Conductor
Chia-Chi Lin studied at Rice University and the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University. She is a former principal second violinist of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and former first violinist in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1992–2008). In 2006, she joined Shen Yun Performing Arts, serving first as concertmaster and then as conductor. This is her seventeenth season with Shen Yun Performing Arts.
Gao Yuan
Composer & Conductor
A composer, conductor, and pianist, Gao Yuan has written and arranged many notable Shen Yun Performing Arts pieces. He is steeped in both the classical Western and Chinese music traditions, giving him a rare sensibility very suitable for Shen Yun. Gao Yuan attended the Tianjin Conservatory of Music and was later a piano soloist with the Central (National) Ballet of China before relocating to Australia and then the United States.
Li Xuan
Conductor
Li Xuan brings a wealth of orchestral experience to the podium. A former ten-year violinist with the China Broadcasting Film Symphony Orchestra, she has performed in numerous recordings for film, television, radio, and CD, as well as in ballet and opera productions. She holds degrees from Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (a master’s and a postgraduate in performance), Schola Cantorum Brabantiae in the Netherlands (master’s in Middle Ages and Renaissance Music), and Xi’an Conservatory of Music (bachelor’s in performance). An active participant in music festivals worldwide, she has additionally performed with several European orchestras, including the celebrated German Baroque orchestra La Stagione Frankfurt. She joined Shen Yun in 2017, first as concertmaster and then as conductor.
Yun Chu
Conductor
Yun Chu is a multitalented musician with a background not only in conducting, but additionally in composition, piano, and viola. He earned his Bachelor of Music from Fei Tian College in New York. Previously a violist with the Shen Yun orchestra, he played in over 700 performances worldwide. Yun Chu now conducts and composes for Shen Yun, and has to his credit a number of original works for orchestra.
Ying Chen
Conductor
Since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006, Ying Chen has served as conductor, principal flutist, piccoloist, orchestra manager, and stage manager. She was born into a family of elite musicians in Beijing, and studied flute at the Music Middle School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory. After graduating with the highest honors, she relocated to the United States, where she attended Esther Boyer College of Music at Temple University on scholarship and studied with the principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She composed pieces for New Tang Dynasty Television’s Global Chinese New Year Gala and Holiday Wonders performances in 2004 and 2005.
David Gao
Conductor
Conductor David Gao received his training in both China and Australia, where he studied piano and conducting, respectively. He made his Shen Yun debut in 2022 and is currently in his second full season as Shen Yun conductor. He holds a Bachelor of Music in piano from Harbin Normal University in China and a Master of Music in orchestral conducting from Excelsia College in Sydney.
