STUDIO GHIBLI AT THE SYMPHONY
Back by popular demand! Our Music of Studio Ghibli program was an instant hit in 2022, with a sold-out weekend of performances at the Michigan Theater. Guest conductor Wilbur Lin returns to direct this family-friendly lineup of classics from the celebrated Tokyo-based animation group, including My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Spirited Away (2001), and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004).
The John Williams to Steven Spielberg of the animation world, Joe Hisaishi’s colorful and sprightly scores to Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-nominated films have woven themselves into the fabric of childhood for viewers around the world. From Totoro’s antics to the magical world of a traveling castle, this concert will capture the spirit of Studio Ghibli, perfect for fans young and young at heart!
Saturday, March 15, 2025 | 8 PM | Michigan Theater (603 E Liberty St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104)
Wilbur Lin, guest conductor
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Wilbur Lin, guest conductor
Known for his creative programming and inviting stage presence, Wilbur Lin’s career has taken him to symphony halls and opera theaters across the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Taiwan. Currently the Music Director of the Missouri Symphony, Lin was also recently promoted to associated conductor of the Colorado Symphony.
Lin’s 2022/23 season saw his debuts with the Rochester Philharmonic, Oak Ridge, Ann Arbor, and Elgin symphonies, 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, a new studio recording with pianist Eric Zuber and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and conducting and covering the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops where he recently finished his tenure as assistant conductor (2019-2022).
In addition to his positions with the Colorado, Cincinnati, and Missouri symphonies, in recent years, Lin has conducted the Chamber Philharmonic Taipei, Manchester Camerata, Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil (El Salvador), Taipei Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony, Liverpool Mozart, Academy Orchestra of Taiwan Symphony, Richmond Symphony (IN), and LaPorte Symphony orchestras. As a cover conductor, Lin has worked with, notably, the Taiwan Symphony, Cincinnati Ballet, and Minnesota orchestras. In his role as the assistant conductor of the Colorado Symphony, Lin also serves as the Music Director of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra.
A graduate of Riccardo Muti’s Italian Opera Academy, Lin’s operatic endeavors include conducting Verdi’s Macbeth at Teatro Alighieri (Ravenna, Italy), Le nozze di Figaro at the Missouri Theatre with the Missouri Symphony, Die Zauberflöte and Barber of Seville with the Winter Harbor Music Festival (Winter Harbor, Maine), Menotti’s The Medium and Amelia Goes to the Ball as the conductor of Northern Illinois University, and has coached and performed as a pianist with the Indianapolis Opera, Indiana University Opera Theater, Reimagining Opera for Kids, and the Cincinnati Ballet. In 2022, Lin led a new workshop of Robeson by Scott Davenport Richards at the Cincinnati Opera.
Lin held the position of Taiwan Symphony Orchestra International Talent Fellow (2019-2021), Weiwuyin Opera (Taiwan) Conducting Fellow (2019-2020), Lord Rhodes Scholar (2013-2014), was a two-time recipient of Mortimer Furber Prize for Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), and holds a doctoral degree in orchestral conducting from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Lin has studied with Arthur Fagen and David Effron at Jacobs, Clark Rundell and Mark Heron at the RNCM, and Apo Hsu at the National Taiwan Normal University. He has also received conducting coaching with, notably, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Riccardo Muti, Sir Mark Elder, Helmuth Rilling, and has assisted Louis Langrée, James Gaffigan, and John Morris Russell, among others.