Jahja Ling

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Jahja Ling (Chinese 林望傑) is currently the principal conductor and musical director for the San Diego Symphony. Before coming to San Diego Symphony, he was the conductor for the Florida Orchestra. As a guest conductor he has performed with major symphonies around the world and is internationally acclaimed.

Ling was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, of Chinese descent and is now an American citizen. He began to play the piano at age 4 and studied at the Jakarta School of Music. At age 17, he won the Jakarta Piano Competition and, one year later, was awarded a Rockefeller grant to attend The Juilliard School. There he completed a master's degree and studied piano with Mieczyslaw Munz and conducting with John Nelson. He then studied orchestral conducting at the Yale School of Music under Otto-Werner Mueller and received a doctor of musical arts degree.

Additionally, Ling was instrumental in the founding of both the Cleveland primary Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony beginners Orchestra, and at both he has served as the music director.hiii