Xiao Chao

National Class One Conductor Xiao Chao is a Ph.D candidate in Conducting at the China Conservatoryof Music. He holds two Master’s degrees, one in the Conducting specialism of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and another, in Erhu Specialism of the Sichuan Conservatory of Music. He is currently the Resident Conductor of the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the ensemble ‘Beauty & Melody’ of the Sichuan Song and Dance Troupe and the Chengdu Modern Chamber Orchestra, the Music Director of the Chengdu University Choir, and a contracted artist of the Chengdu City Concert Hall. Xiao also works closely on a wide range of projects with numerous professional orchestras and folk ensembles,conservatories, and art institute orchestras.

Xiao received his first conducting training under conductor Tang Qingshi before he received a Master in Conducting at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music under the supervision of Yan Huichang. He came secondin the first International Conducting Competition for Chinese Music in 2011. He was twice selected forinternship schemes organised by the China National Arts Fund, including the one for young conductors in2015 and the one for Chinese music conductors in 2017. He was admitted to the doctoral programme for Conducting of the China Conservatory of Music, where he was supervised by Prof. Shao En.

Xiao has conducted an expansive repertoire of works in a variety of genres ranging from Western symphoniesto traditional Chinese orchestras, choral music, and opera, and he has also put on numerous genres ofconcerts both in China and abroad. Many of Xiao’s musical compositions and arrangements have also been performed in concert halls around the globe. Xiao was the Music Director of the Chinese Music Conceptual Theatre, The Beauty of Music 24, which was picked as an outstanding production at the 20th China Shanghai International Arts Festival. In 2019, a work with instrumentation by him won the Best Instrumentation at the Chinese Instrumental Music Television Competition of the China Central Radio and Television.