Monica Chen - Conductor

Reflecting on the last two weeks, starting with assisting Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser on Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s first Saturday Classics as well as conducting a school tour with the amazing WSO musicians (who can perform a menacing Infernal Dance on 1 rehearsal!) and bringing the music Up and Orchestral right into the heart of their school gyms. Grateful for all the support from all sides to make this possible!

It’s been a whirlwind of eight weeks since arriving here at Winnipeg, and I am so grateful for this opportunity to work with the wonderful musicians of Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and to connect with amazing guest artists such as Zlatomir Fung and Vadim Gluzman (whose recordings I’ve listened to frequently growing up!). So thankful for the warm welcome by not just the staff and admin, but also the community of Winnipeg, and the expert guidance of Daniel Raiskin and Julian Pellicano. And a very special shout-out to the one and only Al Simmons who was my partner in crime for my very first concert with the WSO. Looking forward to many more adventures!

Wishing the full cast of Cosi an amazing show!! It was a short 1.5 weeks during the summer and I’m so sad to miss the final performance, but I know it’ll go amazing!! Toi toi toi and miss you all! 🥳

It’s been a whirlwind since arriving and hard to believe that the first concert is already coming up! Huge thanks to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for all the support and for warm welcome into the team.

Monica Chen - Conductor is the new RBC Assistant Conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. She is also the music director of the University of Manitoba Orchestra and Sistema Winnipeg. "Something's Fishy with Al Simmons," the first Kids Concert of the 2023/24 season, will mark Monica’s debut with your Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

You can’t miss Monica’s debut with the WSO on October 8 at 3 pm! Tickets for this Kids concert start at $15! Buy your tickets at https://buff.ly/3QZlZbm.

Thank you so much to Victoria Symphony and Tapestry Opera for inviting me to assist last week in Victoria, and to the Musicians of the Victoria Symphony for your skillful collaborations and warm welcome! An immense thank you to Maestros Joey Pietraroia and Timothy Vernon for your guidance and for trusting me with the chance to make music with such wonderful musicians in performance. Lots of learning and it was so much fun - I hope to be back in the future!

Two weeks that went too fast at HATCH! Thank you to Continuum Contemporary Music and Tapestry Opera for having me, as well as Ottawa Chamberfest and BigLake Arts for hosting HATCH as a part of their summer concert series. It’s been great working with the amazing composers Ethan Hill, Gabo Champagne, Nathan Friedman, and the extraordinary musicians Sara Constant, Audréanne Fillion, Alex Fraga, Megaria Hakim, Roan Ma, and Juliette Moreno. Congrats on a successful tour bracing the sweltering heat and hope to see you all again soon!

📷 Curtis Perry Photography

An amazing concert with all the wonderful musicians of Allegra Chamber Orchestra, conductor Janna Sailor , and Astrolabe Musik , with soloist Heather Pawsey, last weekend 🎉 Always lots of fun with the production crew - hats off to such intricately designed lighting and equisitely meticulous surtitles!! Always love running tech things for productions such as these, in this case, many tiny audio clips on QLab ~🎚️🎧💻

So grateful to be a part of such a powerful concert and looking forward to working with them again in the future!! ☺️

Can't believe it's already been a month since the powerful performance of Into the Little Hill! Always a joy to work with Ne. Sans Opera and Dance's Idan Cohen, conductor Leslie Dala, soloists Heather Pawsey and Emma Parkinson, as well as the rest of the small but mighty crew. I might have gone a little overboard in timing in creating 500+ slides for surtitles for a 35 minute piece....

Sharing an interview that I did with Radio Canada (and hoping perhaps one day, I'll have the opportunity to interview in English!) https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premiere/emissions/phare-ouest/episodes/705980/rattrapage-mercredi-17-mai-2023

Looking forward to working with Astrolabe Musik again for two concerts this week with Allegra Chamber Orchestra, assisting Janna Sailor this week!

Always an adventure to assist an opera and to watch it come to life, especially one as complex and multilayered as this one! Come out to see this powerful work this weekend, a modern retelling of the Pied Piper with exceptional choreography by director Idan Cohen Ne. Sans Opera and Dance, conducted by Leslie Dala, with singers Heather Pawsey Astrolabe Musik and Emma Parkinson and dancers Juolin Lin, Hana Rutka, Daria Mikhaylyuk 🪈🐀

May 19&20 at 7:30pm - Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre At Sfu Woodward

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/into-the-little-hill-tickets-609025460547

Into the Little Hill

Astrolabe Musik Theatre is proud to present the Canadian premiere of UK composer George Benjamin’s chamber opera Into the Little Hill. May 19 & 20, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC)
Tickets: https://www.astrolabemusiktheatre.com
A modern re-telling of the classic Pied Piper tale, Into the Little Hill tells of a mysterious stranger who rids a town of its rats, only to make its children disappear when his promised payment is withheld. Timeless and contemporary, it asks: Who do we deem as “rats” in our society? What are we willing to do to get rid of them? And what are the consequences when we refuse to “pay the piper — refuse to accept responsibility for the consequences of our actions?
This contemporary, multi-disciplinary Canadian premiere fuses the “ravishing, shimmering beauty” of UK composer George Benjamin’s chamber opera with Idan Cohen’s direction and choreography. Leslie Dala conducts a 15-piece chamber ensemble, with Emma Parkinson and Heather Pawsey singing all six characters in this lyrical tale.
Co-Presented with SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs
Ne. Sans Opera and Dance Fei and Milton Wong Theatre, SFU Woodward's, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts

Very excited to share this upcoming collaboration with Tapestry opera! So grateful to have the opportunity to work in the opera sector and take part in the magic of story-telling that I fell in love with last summer in Kelowna. Looking forward to learn with all of the incredible mentors in their programs and work with all the stellar partner organizations associated with Tapestry - Thank you to Tapestry for welcoming me as a fellow!

Monica Chen & Kelly Lin | Women in Musical Leadership Monica Chen and Kelly Lin announced as conductors in Tapestry Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, & the TSO’s conducting program Year 3 Cohort

Toujours une grande plaisir les expériences avec l'OM!

VIDÉO | Diriger un orchestre avec Yannick Nézet-Séguin, la chance unique de jeunes musiciens «-Est-ce que tu étais stressée ? -Oui, c’est sûr !» répond Marie-Claire Cardinal en riant.

Excited to start Chapter 2 soon of my conducting journey! Thank you to WSO for the warm welcome into this role. I greatly look forward to working with all three groups very soon: WSO, University of Manitoba Symphony Orchestra and Sistema Winnipeg!

After a careful and complex audition process, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, in collaboration with the University of Manitoba Orchestra, has appointed Monica Chen - Conductor as Assistant Conductor of the WSO and music director of both the University of Manitoba Orchestra and Sistema Winnipeg.

Chen revealed her potential to the WSO at the 2021 RBC Canadian Conductors Showcase. Her journey confirms that the mentoring opportunities and guidance offered by the showcase are significant stepping stones to professional engagement for young conductors.

Chen will begin working with the WSO and preparing for the 2023/2024 season later this year.

Une semaine pleine! Tellement honorée d‘avoir l’occasion de participer dans une classe de maître avec et , avec les membres de l’académie! De plus, d‘assister Yannick avec la dernière concert de cycle des Cantates de Bach! It’s always an amazing learning experience to witness the behind-the-scenes in how the music comes to life. Toujours en train d’apprendre les méthodes de l’écureuil, et tellement reconnaissante d’être partie de ! 🐿️☺️

Une semaine pleine! Tellement honorée d‘avoir l’occasion de participer dans une classe de maître avec Yannick Nezet-Seguin et Orchestre Métropolitain, avec les membres de l’académie. De plus, d‘assister Yannick avec la dernière concert de cycle des Cantates de Bach! It’s always an amazing learning experience to witness the behind-the-scenes in how the music comes to life. Toujours en train d’apprendre les méthodes de l’écureuil, et tellement reconnaissante d’être partie de ! 🐿️☺️

Lots of fun two weeks ago with the Orchestre Métropolitain! Probably the one and only time all six of us will be together with everyone’s flourishing schedules 🥳 So grateful for the OM team for putting together such in-depth workshops for us!

Grateful for a great year with great friends! Looking forward to a new year with many more music making opportunities!! 🥰🎉 À la prochaine! 🥳

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2023!!

Last week, I had the incredible opportunity to assist Yannick Nezet-Seguin and the Orchestre Métropolitain in their Christmas concert. A festive and life-changing experience in seeing how we can really do these pops style concerts in both engaging the community in popular tunes and styles, but also to deliver it at the absolute highest quality. So much fun hanging out with the audio and lights crews and helping the magic happen backstage. So grateful for this opportunity!!!

Félicitations à tous les musiciens et musiciennes pour 3 concerts spectaculaires! Et merci aux assistant(e)s de l'assistante cette fois- ci!😂 À la prochaine, demain! 🥳

A little late but better than never! An incredibly moving concert with the OM, hearing the encapsulating soundscapes in the worlds of Elisapie and Ravel~ so much fun to be une des assistantes de l'assistant à Yannick. Félicitations Félix!! 🥳 Et un gros merci à l' Orchestre Métropolitain et Yannick Nezet-Seguin de nous accueillir encore pour une autre saison!

It's a wrap! First time assisting an opera production ( Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict) and it was so much fun, with the amazing cast of principals, chorus, répétiteurs and orchestra. All the memories from this three week residency has left me singing the opera on repeat even long after leaving the beautiful (and very hot!) city of Kelowna. None of it would be possible without the support of Tapestry Opera for connecting me and Opera Kelowna for hosting me, but most of all for everything that my mentor Rosemary Thomson so generously shared with me. It has been an immense honour assisting her in this monumentous production, and learning from all her experiences. An immense thank you as well to all the strong women of Kelowna who came out for a beautiful Sunday brunch, sharing your insights and experiences in navigating the role of a leader.

Such an amazing feeling to be a part of an artistic village, bringing this whimsical production to life! Missing you all and toi toi toi in all your endeavors until the next time we meet! 🎈
Clarence Frazer, Baritone Lynne McMurtry .goddard .klassen.wiebe Sergio Augusto, Tenor Christopher Gaudreault Indra Egan, pianist Marie-Claire Drolet, Soprano

It's been a fantastically engaging and intense two weeks at Domaine Forget - Académie internationale de musique et de danse with Thomas Rösner and Yannick Nezet-Seguin . Such an honour to learn not only from the wisdom and experience of the teachers, but also of the pianists Olivier Hébert Bouchard and Jennifer Bourdages, the Quatuor Cobalt, the musicians of Orchestre symphonique de Quebec and Orchestre Métropolitain and from the 12 other conducting colleagues attending as well. Also honoured to have been chosen to perform with the amazing musicians of the OSQ with an exhilarating Ruslan and Ludmila overture (hopefully not too fast? 😅)

So grateful to be able to study so closely with both teachers, surrounded by such high level musicianship, friendships new and old, and a beautiful landscape! Cherishing all the fun memories and hoping that our paths will cross again soon in the future - until next time! ☺️

Just finished the first week at Domaine! Honoured to have had the opportunity to learn with Maestro Thomas Rösner, to share a programme with him and to share the stage with the wonderful musicians of Orchestre symphonique de Quebec at Domaine Forget de Charlevoix . Looking forward to week two with Yannick!

A great way to kick start this page is with a fantastic season finale with the amazing combo of Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Orchestre Métropolitain, and Seong-Jin Cho and the opportunity to rehearse for one piece during the first rehearsal! So grateful to be able to work with the incredible musicality and positive support of the musicians, and for the chance to witness some heartfelt music making by everyone in a riveting concert. Thanks for a great first year with talented colleagues and the spectacular OM team, and looking forward to the next!