Chien Wen-pin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chien Wen-pin (Traditional Chinese: 簡文彬, born in Taipei) is a Taiwanese classical conductor. He is the current music director of National Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan, to which he was appointed since July, 2001.

Born in Taipei, Chien graduated from National Taiwan Academy of Arts summa cum laude with a major in piano. In 1994, he took the highest honors of a Master's degree in orchestra conducting at the Konservatorium Wien in Vienna. He won the first prize at the International La Bottega Conducting Competition in Treviso, Italy, 1992 and the second prize in Douai, France, 1994. Upon graduation he was soon invited to conduct the Vienna Chamber Opera and was awarded the only Special Mention in the first Leonard Bernstein Jerusalem Internationl Conducting Competition in Israel, 1995. Since the 1996-1997 season, Chien has been engaged by the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf/Duisburg. He has also been the Resident Conductor of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, 1998-2004.

Through his extensive involvement with operatic performances, Chien has been invited by the Amsterdam Royal Opera and State Opera of Hamburg, and was the guest conductor of the Moravian Philharmonic of Checoslovakia and Orchestre des Concerts du Lamoureux of France. In Japan, he has conducted the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. In June of 1998, he lead the Deutsche Oper am Rhein performed at the Wiener Festwochen and marked the first time that both parties have appeared in the world's renowned festival.

As NSO's Music Director, Chien has placed major emphasis on creating new possibilities for orchestra's programming and playing. Several projects as Discover Beethoven, NSO Opera Series etc. have elicited high praises by a wide range of audiences; further performance of Tristan und Isolde, La Damnation de Faust, War Requiem, Pied Piper Fantasy, and Turangalila Symphonie, these master pieces have never appeared on the stages of Taiwan.