Conducting

Yiran Zhao has a keen interest in conducting choral and orchestral music. She has frequently been praised for her great presence on the podium, and the expressiveness and power in her gestures. Her conducting has often been commented as a “natural gift,” and her rehearsals “efficient and fun.” She is passionate about exploring the details and intention behind the music, and her goal is to “do the composer justice.” For her, the joy of music-making is “to love and to give through music.”

Yiran was the assistant conductor of Civic Orchestra of New Haven, Greater New Haven Community Chorus, choir director at Educational Center for the Arts (ACES) and Yale All-City Chorale. She received her Master’s degree in choral conducting from the Yale School of Music/Institute of Sacred Music, where she studied with Jeffrey Douma, David Hill, and André Thomas. She was the recipient of the Robert Shaw Prize (given to a choral conducting major chosen for distinguished achievement) and the Margot Fassler Prize (in the performance of Sacred Music). She was the director of Yale Divinity School (Marquand) Chapel Choir, Yale Recital Chorus, and Yale Repertory Chorus. Yiran was the choir director and organist at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Kendall Park, NJ.

Yiran was a conducting scholar at the Eastern Music Festival, and she will be pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Eastmans School of Music in the fall.