By Raynald C Rivera
Renowned cellist Han-Na Chang, considered one of the brightest conductors of her generation, takes the helm as the new music director of Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, which she calls an ‘elite orchestra’ she looks forward to nurturing, supporting and growing with.
“The musicians are enormously talented. They all went through all these tough auditions and they have very high standards, which means they have much more potential to grow, and I am particularly interested in nurturing, supporting and growing together with this orchestra,” Chang told The Peninsula yesterday, on her decision to take the responsibility as the music director of Qatar Philharmonic starting September next year.
Chang will be the third music director of Qatar Philharmonic and the first woman to take on the role since its inception in 2007.
“It really does not matter whether a conductor is male or female, what matters is he or she is a good musician and has passion for music. I’m very much honoured for the confidence they showed in me for me to be the new music director, and I’ll do my utmost to support them.”
Chang’s rise to prominence started as a child prodigy, winning both the First Prize and the Contemporary Music Prize at the Fifth Rostropovich International Cello Competition in Paris in 1994 at age 11.
“It had been my dream to meet the greatest cellist of the last century, Russian Mstislav Rostropovich, so I joined the competition. I met him and played for him, and my bonus was winning the first prize, and that started my career,” she said.
Since then, Chang has performed regularly on the most prestigious concert stages of Europe, North America and Asia. She has performed with orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Münchner Philharmoniker, The Philadelphia, Cleveland and Philharmonia orchestras, the London, Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Sydney Symphony, l’Orchestre de Paris and Orchestre National de France. Her numerous recordings for EMI Classics have received many awards and remain world-wide bestsellers.
After an illustrious career as a cellist, she decided to turn to conducting, and in 2007 she made her conducting debut in Korea.
“For me, the orchestra and orchestral music are the foundations of classical music. As a soloist, it is lonely. You don’t have a music family, you are always travelling as a guest and you just play music. But when you’re conducting, the orchestra becomes your family, and at the same time you make a contribution to the community.”
As a conductor, her recent and future engagements include appearances with the Bamberger Symphoniker, Seattle Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, the Grosses Orchester Graz and the Singapore, Tokyo, Trondheim and Tivoli symphony orchestras.
She assumes the position of music director of Qatar Philharmonic at the age of 30 — the same age as the average of its 101 members when it was founded four years ago.
“We are in the same generation. We share the same generational goals, dreams and visions. A lot of orchestras in the world have members in their 60s and 20s and there’s a lot of generational discord, but we are here only for the music, pure musical ensemble, and for this I’m very happy to be here.”
