Biography

“With the command and energy of a soccer star,” Chia-Hsuan Lin (“jah-shwen”) electrifies concert halls with performances that are as precise as they are passionate. Whether leading Brahms and Bartok, or fresh voices like Ke-Chia Chen and Texu Kim, her concerts are celebrated for their emotional depth, exquisite ensemble, and rhythmic fluidity.

Now in her second dynamic season as the new Music Director of the Rochester Symphony (MN), the orchestra is enjoying a surge in subscriptions after her inaugural year saw increased audience attendance. Also the Principal Guest Conductor of the Richmond Symphony, after previously serving as Associate Conductor, Lin opens the Richmond Symphony’s 2025–26 subscription series with Bizet’s Carmen and Schumann’s Konzertstück featuring the American Horn Quartet. This comes on the heels of thrilling debuts with the National Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony, Portland Symphony, and the Britt Festival Orchestra. In the fall of 2026, Lin makes her debut with the Orlando Philharmonic and returns to lead the Virginia Symphony, Portland Symphony, Charlotte Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra’s Lunar New Year concert.

Lin has also conducted the Saint Louis Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Williamsburg Symphony, Richmond Ballet, and Taipei Philharmonic Chorus. In January 2025, Lin was one of four conductors chosen by the National Symphony Orchestra to work with Music Director Gianandrea Noseda and take the spotlight in their Emerging Conductors Concert.  Lin was the New York Philharmonic’s Cover Conductor during their 2025 Bravo! Vail residency, and has worked in the same role with orchestras such as Opéra de Rouen Normandie, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, and others, with conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda, Thomas Søndergård, Osmo Vänskä, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Jahja Ling, Marin Alsop, Stéphane Denève, Valentina Peleggi, and many more.

Lin’s tenures as Associate Conductor of the Richmond Symphony and Assistant Conductor of Fort Wayne Philharmonic showcased her versatility across diverse musical styles, from Classics to live-with-film to cross-genre collaborations. Critic Clark Bustard wrote of Lin’s Brahms’ Fourth Symphony with Richmond Symphony, “I’ve never heard a more compelling live performance than this one.”

In 2019, Lin was praised as a last-minute replacement in Williamsburg Symphony’s performance of Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6. Assuming the podium the day of the concert, the Virginia Gazette reported Lin as “leading them through a thoroughly top-drawer performance” in “an exceptionally absorbing interpretation and rendering.” 

An advocate for the next generation of musical talent, Lin has collaborated with award-winning artists Blake Pouliot, Paul Huang, Sterling Elliot, Amaryn Olmeda, Kevin Zhu, Inna Faliks, and Eduardo Rojas. Showcasing new music that often transcends traditional classical boundaries, her list of premieres continues to grow with new works by Abel Selaocoe, Marius Neset, Texu Kim, Ke-Chia Chen, Stephen Prutsman, Zachary Wadsworth, PaviElle French, Laura Schwendinger, Steve Heitzeg, and Jennifer Jolley.

A passionate educator, Lin has worked with multiple university orchestras, and she previously served as Music Director of the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra, University of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and Assistant Conductor of Opera at the CCM Spoleto Music Festival in Italy. Innovative projects during her tenure as interim Music Director of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra of Cleveland include unique collaborations with American mandolinist Chris Thile and singer-songwriter Michael Stanley.

Beginning piano lessons in Taiwan at the age of three, Lin majored in percussion at the National Taiwan Normal University while playing with the Taipei Percussion Group, only to have a life-altering incident when she was struck by a car. After this she pursued conducting with Apo Hsu and Mark Gibson, and received her Doctorate of Orchestral Conducting at Northwestern University in Chicago with Victor Yampolsky. Lin is married to horn player James Ferree and lives in Baltimore.