Conductor Mei-Ann Chen and Violinist Paul Huang perform in San Francisco Symphony’s Lunar New Year Concert on Feb. 17

(SAN FRANCISCO) The San Francisco Symphony's annual Lunar New Year Concert will be held on February 17 to celebrate the Year of the Dragon. Violinist Paul Huang joins Conductor Mei-Ann Chen and the Orchestra to perform works by famed and popular Asian composers at the upcoming concert.

This year marks the 24th anniversary of the Symphony’s signature Lunar New Year Concert event with an elegant celebration of the Year of the Dragon.

A banquet will take place with the Year of the Dragon concert on Saturday, February 17, at Davies Symphony Hall with live music and special performance to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Two outstanding Chinese American musicians, Conductor Mei-Ann Chen and Violinist Paul Huang, will come to San Francisco to perform at the Lunar New Year Concert. Both Chen and Huang are Taiwan-born and educated in the U.S.

Chen and the Orchestra will perform works by famous and popular Asian composers including Che Chang, Chen Ge Xin, Vivian Fung, Huang Ruo, Li Huan-Zhi, and Phoon Yew Tien.

Huang joins Chen and the Symphony to play music from Tan Dun’s Violin Concerto: Fire Ritual which was originally written for and premiered by violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing.

This year Chen returns to San Francisco Symphony where she made her debut in February 2013. Presently Chen is the music director of the MacArthur Award–winning Chicago Sinfonietta, chief conductor of the Recreation Orchestra at the Styriarte Festival, artistic partner of Houston’s River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, artistic partner of the Northwest Sinfonietta, and conductor laureate of the Memphis Symphony, where she previously served as music director.

Chen appears this season across the nation with a number of the symphonies and One Song Orchestra in Taiwan.

In this season, Chen also tours to Atlanta with the Chicago Sinfonietta and to Taiwan performing with the National Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Chen was named as a Top 30 Influencer by Musical America. She was born in Taiwan and earned her degrees in violin and conducting from New England Conservatory, a doctorate in conducting from the University of Michigan.

Violinist Huang is the recipient of the 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists. Also born in Taiwan, Huang began violin lessons at the age of seven.

Huang is a recipient of the inaugural Kovner Fellowship at the Juilliard School, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He is a resident of New York and on the faculty of Taipei National University of the Arts. His debut album Kaleidoscope was released worldwide in fall of 2023.

During the 2023-24 season, Huang returned to the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan. The Lunar New Year Concert marks his San Francisco Symphony debut.

More information of the concert can be found at sfsymphony.org.