August 31, 2022, Ann Arbor, MI (2 min. read) — The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra (A²SO) has announced its full lineup of guest conductors for the orchestra’s mainstage concerts over the course of the 2022-23 season. Conductors Wilbur Lin, Jayce Ogren, Tong Chen, and Timothy Muffitt will lead the orchestra in music by Mozart, Haydn, Debussy, Dvořák, and others, plus direct audience-favorite Pops concerts at the Michigan Theater and Hill Auditorium. As the A2SO embarks on a new chapter of artistic leadership with Music Director Earl Lee at the helm, the internationally acclaimed talents of this season’s guest conductors continue the orchestra’s reputation for musical excellence.
Recently appointed Music Director Designate of the Missouri Symphony (MOSY), Wilbur Lin’s 2022/23 season includes a number of engagements with the MOSY, a subscription debut with the Oak Ridge Symphony, and a return to Indiana’s Richmond Symphony. His other recent highlights include his debut with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, opening its 2021/22 season, and guest appearances with the Indianapolis Chamber, LaPorte Symphony, and Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Academy orchestras. A graduate of Riccardo Muti’s Italian Opera Academy, and founder of Chamber Philharmonic Taipei (CPT), Lin recently finished his tenure as assistant conductor with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (2019-2022). In addition to his position with the MOSY, Lin also assumes the assistant professorship as conductor of the Northern Illinois University Philharmonic and Opera Theatre in Fall, 2022. Read more about Lin here.
The former Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of the Cleveland Youth Orchestra, Jayce Ogren has conducted many of the world’s most prominent orchestras, including the BBC Symphony, Boston Symphony, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, the Dallas and San Francisco Symphonies, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, in programs ranging from Mozart to Beethoven through Sibelius and Bernstein, to presenting U.S. and world premieres of works by Steve Mackey and Nico Muhly. A devoted educator, Mr. Ogren has devised interdisciplinary studio classes at Princeton University, and worked with students at the Brevard Music Center, the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Music Academy of the West and Verbier Festival. In March 2022 the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance announced Jayce Ogren would join the faculty as Associate Director of Orchestras in fall 2022. Read more about Ogren here.
Currently the Assistant Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Tong Chen is a prizewinner of the prestigious International Malko Conducting Competition and a proud participant in the 2020 Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview. Recent highlights include her conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic, leading subscription concerts with the New Jersey Symphony orchestra, and working as a cover conductor with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, DC. An education advocate, Chen taught orchestral conducting and led the Copland School of Music orchestral program from 2012-2018. She is a regular guest conductor at the Manhattan School of Music, a guest lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and founder of the new music project, NOW!, that commissions and performs new compositions throughout different cultural backgrounds and genres. Read more about Chen here.
Music Director and Conductor of the Lansing Symphony Orchestra since 2006, Timothy Muffitt recently concluded a 21-year tenure as Music Director with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra. Muffitt continues to appear with other prominent orchestras around the country. Recent seasons have included concerts with the St. Louis, Flint, Tulsa, Atlanta, and Ann Arbor Symphonies. Prior years have included return engagements with the San Francisco, Houston, Long Beach, Phoenix and Virginia Symphonies as well as the Buffalo Philharmonic. Muffitt is also Artistic Director of the School of Music for the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York where he also conducts the Music School Festival Orchestra, one of the country’s premiere training ensembles for conservatory and university students aspiring for careers in music. Read more about Muffitt here.