With more than 20 years of deep and varied directing experience, conductor and pianist Conrad Chu has worked with ensembles of all sizes, including college choruses, community orchestras, and small opera companies. Since 2024, Conrad is music director of the Brooklyn Conservatory Chorale, a 70-voice mixed choir that is one of the premier community ensembles of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, based in Park Slope. Before the pandemic, Conrad served as Lecturer in Choral and Orchestral Music and Director of Performance at Union College of Schenectady, New York. Conrad’s recent engagements have included guest conducting appearances with the Litha Symphony and Queer Urban Orchestra in Manhattan, and serving as guest chorusmaster for the New Jersey Symphony’s annual Chinese New Year gala concert. In 2023 Conrad joined the staff of the Bloomingdale School of Music on Manhattan’s Upper West Side as director of its orchestra and chamber music programs.

Conrad’s choral career began in academia, as the choral director for ten years at Eugene Lang College of The New School, where he also established a community orchestra called the New School Arts Ensemble. Since 2017 he has music directed the North River Sing Community Chorus, a Jersey City mixed choir dedicated to preserving the Great American Songbook and all the genres it encompasses — jazz and swing, Broadway, folk, R&B, and classic pop. He also directs Chinese American choruses that promote Chinese folk and popular song alongside western music – current groups include the New York Formosa Chorus and Huaxia Chorus of New Jersey. In the opera world, Conrad has held the post of assistant conductor with Gotham Chamber Opera and Bronx Opera, and made guest appearances with American Opera Projects, Rhymes With Opera, Opera America New Works Forum, Gilbert & Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island, and Victory Hall Opera. In fall 2019 he debuted with Santa Fe Opera as assistant music director for the premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’s children’s opera Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun.

A graduate of Yale University, Conrad earned his master’s degree in conducting from Mannes School of Music, studying with Michael Charry and Samuel Wong. He attended Bowling Green State University in Ohio for a doctoral program in contemporary music.

Critics have praised her as “rich in emotion, technically masterful, with interpretations that are precise and tasteful — graceful without exaggeration, and skillfully infused with a sincere and distinctive personal character.” Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Dr. Gloria Shih is a versatile and accomplished pianist and collaborative artist. She has performed with members of the Emerson String Quartet, the Meridian Arts Ensemble, and the Metropolitan Opera, appearing at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall in New York, and Oji Hall in Tokyo.

Her performance career spans Asia, Europe, and North America, receiving critical acclaim. She has performed in Philadelphia, North Carolina, Westchester, California, Maine, Maryland, Oregon, Minnesota, Southampton (England), Japan, and South Korea. An active chamber musician, she founded the Gracieux Trio in 2003, whose debut and second albums were well received. The trio regularly gives concerts and master classes in Taiwan and Japan. In recent years, she has also premiered and performed numerous works by contemporary composers, continuously expanding the depth and breadth of her repertoire and musical expression.

Dr. Shih received comprehensive musical training in Taiwan, studying with renowned teachers including Mei Fu Chen, Li-Hui Chen, Se-Se Chang, laying a solid foundation in classical music. She graduated from Soochow University’s Department of Music before pursuing advanced studies abroad.

She earned her Master’s degree from Mannes College of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University. Her principal teachers in the US included Lilian Kallir, Gilbert Kalish, Christina Dahl, Seymour Lipkin, as well as members of the Orion and Emerson String Quartets.

Dr. Shih has taught at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and served as a collaborative pianist at Montclair State University, working closely with vocal and instrumental students, demonstrating her strong teaching and accompaniment skills. In summer 2025, Dr. Shih was a soloist for Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto No. 2 during the Children’s Orchestra Society Asia tour. The performances were embraced with heartfelt applause and deep appreciation in both countries, leaving a lasting impression on audience and forging meaningful connections through music.

Currently, Dr. Shih serves as a collaborative pianist for the voice and string departments at Hofstra University and is the Director of the Majors Program at the Children’s Orchestra Society.

Christine Cornell is a soprano soloist whose work spans opera, concert, musical theatre and recording. She most recently appeared at Carnegie hall with The American Symphony Orchestra, performing George Bristow’s Niagara Symphony No. 5, and in the ensemble of Utopia Opera’s production of The Mikado.

Additional concert highlights include Bach’s Cantata No. 191, a multi-city tour of Italy with Ghostlight Chorus and an artist residency with the Sound Symphony on Long Island, performing works by Mozart, Lehar, Moore and others. Her recording credits include Erik Carlson’s Slowly Expanding Milton Babbitt (Three Theatrical Songs), several jazz singles with The Justin Rothberg Band, and her film music debut in Alex Weston’s score for What Breaks the Ice.

Onstage favorites include The Most Happy Fella (Goodspeed), The Sound of Music (Paper Mill Playhouse and Virginia Opera), Master Class (Gulf Shore Playhouse), Four Saints in Three Acts (BAM), and on tour with Tony Award Winning Actress, Joanna Gleason in her show, Out of the Eclipse. www.christinecornellmusic.com

Tshombe Selby, from Manteo, N.C., is a rising operatic tenor and performing artist. Mr. Selby holds degrees from Elizabeth State University (B.M) and Binghamton University (M.M). For the last decade Tshombe has worked and studied in NewYork City, where he began working as an usher at the Metropolitan Opera; it is here, that his love for Opera and his musical ear was refined, and to what eventually lead him to singing on that very stage.

In 2015, Mr. Selby made his Carnegie Hall debut singing as the tenor soloist for the world premiere of “Exodus” written by Earnestine Rodgers Robinson. In 2018, Tshombe became an Emerging Artist at Opera Nuova’s festival in Canada. While with Opera Nuova, he performed as Anthony in the stage play, Master Class and also performed the role of the First Armored Man in The Magic Flute. Later in 2018, while in Ukraine Tshombe participated in the inaugural season of the U Artist festival in Kiev along side their presidential Orchestra. In 2019, one of his dreams was realized with his first opportunity to perform at the Metropolitan Opera as a part of the chorus for Wagner’s Gotterdammerung. Since then at the Met Opera Selby has been apart of several of the companies Award winning ensembles Porgy and Bess Fire shut up in my Bones and Champion. During the Mets 2023-2024 season Tshombe was very excited to sing One hundred and thirteen shows as apart of the Met Chorus.

As a soloist, Mr. Selby has performed the roles of Mano, Champion, and Muezzin Malcom X, with the Metropolitan Opera; the Duke of Mantua, Rigoletto, Alfred, Die Fledermaus, Count Almaviva, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and King Kaspar, Amahl and the Night Visitors, with Delaware Valley Opera. Nemorino, L’Elisir d’amore, with Tri-Cities Opera; Podesta, La Finta Giardiniera, with Binghamton University Opera Studio; Lensky, Eugene Onegin, with New York Opera Studio. Selby is excited to be back at the Met this season performing in several productions.

Acclaimed by the Washington Post for his “sterling performances”, baritone Brian Chu has established himself onstage as a dynamic interpreter of music from the Baroque to the Great American Songbook. An oratorio specialist, he has been a featured soloist with the Bach Choir
of Bethlehem, the Bach Society of Winter Park, Brandywine Baroque, the Dryden Ensemble, Piffaro, Portland Baroque, Kansas City’s Spire Ensemble, the choir of Trinity Church Wall Street, as well as the Caramoor and Carmel Bach Festivals. Hailed for his “range, agility, and expressive storytelling ability” (Monterey Herald), he has given repeat appearances of the title role of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, the Bach Passions, Haydn’s Creation, the Brahms, Mozart, and Verdi Requiems, and Handel’s Messiah on three continents. Solo credits from the past season include Orff’s Carmina Burana in PA, Bach’s Mass in B minor and the Mozart Requiem in Orlando, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Kansas City, and the premiere of the staged oratorio Angel Island, by Chinese composer Huang Ruo at BAM’s Next Wave Festival.

An advocate for contemporary song, Mr. Chu has been hailed for “vocal and interpretive confidence” (Philadelphia Inquirer) in repeat appearances with the contemporary ensemble, Network for New Music, premiering commissions of composers such as Aaron Jay Kernis, Lori Laitman, Daniel Asia, and Steven Stucky. He has given recitals at Carnegie’s Weill and Merkin Halls in New York, Washington’s Phillips Collection, and as a US Embassy Cultural Artist in West Africa and Austria. He serves on the voice faculty of Muhlenberg College (PA) and holds degrees in architecture from Cornell University and in voice and opera from the Peabody Institute of Music.

German composer and educator Carl Orff is best known for his bold, rhythmically driven musical language and for creating works that bridge ancient tradition and modern expression. Born in Munich, Orff developed a distinctive compositional style that emphasizes elemental musical forces—rhythm, repetition, and direct emotional impact—often drawing inspiration from medieval and early Renaissance sources.

Beyond his achievements as a composer, Orff exerted a profound influence on music education through the Orff Schulwerk, an innovative approach to teaching music that integrates movement, speech, and percussion. This philosophy, now used worldwide, reflects Orff’s belief that music-making is a natural, communal human activity. Though his catalog includes operas and choral works, Orff’s reputation rests most firmly on Carmina Burana, a piece that remains one of the most widely performed choral works of the twentieth century.

Xian Xinghai was a pivotal Chinese composer and pianist, celebrated as the “People’s Musician” who was among the first in China to combine Western compositional techniques with Chinese folk melodies. Born in Macau to a poor family, he studied music in Beijing, Shanghai, and Paris, becoming the first Chinese student admitted to the Paris Conservatory in 1934.

Returning to China in 1935, Xian composed patriotic works to rally China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. His most famous work, the Yellow River Cantata (1939), remains one of China’s most iconic musical works, combining Western compositional techniques with Chinese folk melodies and revolutionary spirit.

Despite his brief life—he died in Moscow at age 40—Xian left an enduring legacy of over 300 works, including two symphonies, concertos, an opera, and four large scale choral pieces. His music continues to inspire audiences worldwide with its powerful blend of artistic excellence and deep humanity.

The Yellow River Piano Concerto is one of the most recognizable works in modern Chinese classical music, combining Western symphonic traditions with melodies and rhythms drawn from Chinese folk music. Based on the Yellow River Cantata (1939) by composer Xian Xinghai, the concerto was arranged in 1969 by a group of composers including Yin Chengzong, Sheng Lihong, Chu Wanghua, and Liu Zhuang, transforming the original choral work into a virtuosic concerto for piano and orchestra.

Xian composed the eight-movement Yellow River Cantata in 1939 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, setting music to poems written by Guang Weiran depicting Chinese resistance against Japanese invasion. These poems incorporated the Yellow River—China’s second longest river often called “the cradle of Chinese civilization”—as a symbol of endurance, struggle, and national identity. 

Western classical music and native works influenced by the Western tradition, including the Yellow River Cantata, were prohibited in China during the early years of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). However, Jiang Qing, wife of paramount leader Mao Zedong, took charge of a Communist-style planning campaign to create a body of cultural works celebrating the glorious achievements of the socialist revolution and the victory over brutal Japanese oppression in World War II.  She authorized the Central Philharmonic Society of China to invite a collective of musicians in 1969 to adapt the Yellow River Cantata, resulting in the Yellow River Piano Concerto. 

Structured in four movements, the concerto moves from dramatic intensity to lyric reflection and triumphant affirmation: 

1. Prelude: The Song of the Yellow River Boatmen: Evokes the arduous labor and rhythm of boatmen on the river, featuring strong, paddling rhythms and powerful piano octaves.
2. Ode to the Yellow River: A lyrical, slower movement, expressing deep reverence and love for the river as a symbol of China.
3. The Yellow River in Anger: A dramatic and tumultuous movement, reflecting the river’s destructive floods and the struggle against them.
4. Defend the Yellow River: A climactic, patriotic finale that transforms the river’s power into a symbol of national resistance and triumph, combining musical material from Xian’s Cantata with the Chinese Communist Party revolutionary tune “The East is Red”. 

Audiences will hear sweeping orchestral gestures, thunderous piano passages, and moments of quiet introspection, all woven together with unmistakable melodic character. The piano part is both percussive and expressive, at times evoking the sound of traditional Chinese instruments while remaining firmly rooted in the Western concerto tradition.

After the upheavals of the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, the Yellow River Piano Concerto was banned in China due to its association with the Gang of Four (which included Jiang Qing), who were publicly tried for treason against the nation. However, the piece gradually returned in China by the late 1980s. Today, the Yellow River Piano Concerto continues to resonate far beyond its original context. Its blend of cultural influences and its message of perseverance make it a compelling choice for a diverse, globally minded community. Presented alongside choral repertoire, the concerto offers a broader perspective on how music can carry history, identity, and shared emotion—reminding us that rivers, like music, connect people across generations and borders.

Carmina Burana, translated from Latin as ‘Songs from Benediktbeuern’, a Benedictine monastery located in Bavaria, is a thirteenth-century collection of over 250 uncredited poems attributed to Goliards, an itinerant group of young clergy, scholars, or students. These poems express a satirical view of conventional lifestyles in favor of a more robust exploration of pleasure including drinking, gambling, and romance.

In 1803, this collection was discovered in the monastery library by librarian Johann Christoph von Aretin and transferred to what is now the Bavarian State Library, where it currently remains.

“Fortune smiled on me when she put into my hands a Wurzburg secondhand-books catalogue, in which I found a title that exercised on me an attraction of magical force:

Carmina Burana, Latin and German songs and poems of a thirteenth-century manuscript from Benediktbeuern, edited by J.A. Schmeller.

I obtained the book on Maundy Thursday (Commandment Thursday before Easter) 1934, a memorable day for me. On opening it I immediately found, on the front page, the long-famous picture of ‘Fortune with her wheel’, and under it the lines:

“O Fortuna velut luna statu variabilis“

Picture and words seized hold of me. Although for the moment I was acquainted only along general lines with the contents of the collection of poems, a new work, a stage work with singing and dancing choruses, simply following the illustrations and texts, at once came into my mind. On the very same day I had outlined a sketch in short score of the first chorus ‘O Fortuna.’ After a sleepless night in which I lost myself in the extensive volume of poems, a second chorus, ‘Fortune plango vulnera’ also came into being, and on Easter morning a third, ‘Ecce gratum’, was set down on paper.

It was not easy to find one’s way in the codex…There began a seeking and sighting, a finding and rejecting, until individual lines increasingly stood out from the profusion. Through repeated reading, single stanzas detached themselves from multi-strophic poems and then fell into new contexts. In this way the structure of the text of the ‘scenic cantata’ was soon established.” – Carl Orff

From this collection, Carl Orff selected 24 poems that highlighted these themes, all bound by the circular nature of fate, as referenced by beginning and ending with O Fortuna. Composed between 1934 and 1936, Orff’s dramatic cantata was written primarily in Latin, with occasional Middle High German and Old French texts. Eschewing traditional symphonic development, Orff relied on insistent rhythms, simple harmonies, and powerful repetition to create an overwhelming sense of ritual and inevitability. The work premiered in Frankfurt in 1937 and has since become a cornerstone of the choral-orchestral repertoire.

Orff quotations taken from Carl Orff und sein Werk, Documentation IV: Trionfi, Carmina Burana – Catulli Carmina – Trionfi di Afrodite, Tutzing 1979, pp. 38-42