Yan Hui Chang is an award-winning Chinese orchestral music conductor and composer. An established figure in the Chinese music circle, he served as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the China Chinese National Orchestra, and is the current Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. He has also worked with acclaimed film directors Zhang Yimou and Teng Wenji to record the movie soundtracks of Raise the Red Lantern, Ballad of the Yellow River and Five Women and a Rope. Yan received the Cultural Medallion (Music) by the National Arts Council of Singapore in 2001 and the Bronze Bauhinia Star awarded by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2004 for his significant contributions to the Chinese music scene.

Yan Hui Chang was born in 1954 in Shaanxi Province, China. From a young age, he was encouraged to pursue his interest in music. His elder brother introduced him to traditional Chinese instruments and his father showed him that a future in music was possible. While he was in senior high, he taught elementary music at a junior high school. At 18, he was admitted to the Xi’an Conservatory of Music. He subsequently served as an ensemble director and conductor at the Department of Chinese Opera of the Shaanxi Province College of Arts.

Despite acquiring a position at the college, Yan strove to advance his musical pursuit. In 1978, he enrolled at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he studied professional training in Chinese music conducting for five years under the renowned conductor Xia Feiyun. It was also at the institution that he honed his music skills under celebrated composers He Dengtiao and He Zhanhao. Upon graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree with distinction in 1983, Yan was appointed Principal Conductor cum Artistic Director of the China Chinese National Orchestra.

Four years later, Yan became the youngest National Class One Conductor accredited by the First Professional Appraisal of China, considered the highest rank for Chinese music conducting. He worked with professional Chinese orchestras in Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan and Singapore, gaining recognition from music circles in the region. In 1992, he was appointed Music Director of the classical music production department of Naxos Pte Ltd in Singapore, a classical music distributor.

By the late 1990s Yan had become a respected musical conductor. His standing was elevated when the Hong Kong Urban Council appointed him as Music Director of the prestigious Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in 1997. Under his baton, the Orchestra performed at famous venues around the world and at international festivals, including the Carnegie Hall in New York City in 2009 and the Klara Festival in Belgium that same year. He grew the Orchestra into a performing body of world-class Chinese music that not only staged new works but actively developed talents and reached out to the community as well. In 2008, the group was the first Chinese ensemble to perform at the new National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing.

In a career that has spanned over three decades, Yan has become an authority in Chinese orchestral music both on and off the stage. He was selected member of the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation and an Examiner and Arts Advisor of the Hong Kong Development Council for Grants in 2000. At the same time, he has been appointed guest or visiting professor by several music institutions around the world. He continues to travel overseas to conduct symposiums and workshops on Chinese music, currently holding the titles of Honorary Fellow at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and Professor at the China Conservatory, supervising its Master’s programme. In 2012, he became the first Chinese conductor to hold masterclasses at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.

In his youth, Yan chose to specialise in Chinese music because he believed that the discipline had great potential and that many aspects of the discipline were unexplored. As the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor at the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, he was intent on promoting music conducting as a legitimate career. He formed the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra Orchestral Academy to enhance the quality of musical conducting and promote Chinese music amongst young talents. He also worked with members of the Orchestra to organise symposia and competitions to boost awareness of Chinese orchestra and conducting. One of the Academy’s milestones was staging the inaugural International Conducting Competition for Chinese Music in 2011, a competition the world’s first such competition that focused on Chinese music conducting.

Yan's position as an important figure in Chinese orchestral music led him to work with other prominent Chinese artists. The maestro collaborated with film directors Zhang Yimou and Teng Wenji, and composer Zhao Jiping to record the soundtracks for award-wining films Raise the Red Lantern, Ballad of Yellow River, and Five Girls and a Rope. In addition, the Buddhist music works Buddha’s Story and The Collection of Modern Erhu Music conducted by Yan won the 1991 and 1992 Taiwan Golden Tripod Awards respectively.

Apart from conducting, Yan is an accomplished composer. His works include the symphonic poem The Sound of Water, which won a Class One Prize in the Composition Contest of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and a Class Two Prize in the Third National Music Composition Competition. His pipa solo work, Nostalgia, won a Class One Award at the First National Pipa Contest of Contributing Works. Between 1992 and 1993, he composed and produced audio recordings of Clouds and The Moon, as well as computer music albums A Music Journey on the Yellow River and Song of the General.

Yan once said that his experience in composition has served as an advantage in becoming a good conductor. “Being a composer, I know very well about every aspect of the work I create and it enables me to clearly present the idea to others,” he said. He is also one to subscribe to the mantra that practice makes perfect. “Art requires practice and a good foundation,” he explained, “One needs to continuously put in effort in order to have an achievement.”

In 2001, Yan received the Culture Medallion (Music) from the National Arts Council in Singapore for his significant contribution to the Chinese music scene. He was also awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong government in 2004. The award was created in 1997 to replace the Order of the British Empire honours system when Hong Kong was transferred to the sovereignty of China.

On top of his long-standing position as the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor at the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Yan is currently the Specially Invited Conductor of Chinese Music with the Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra of China and Principal Guest Conductor at the Taiwan National Chinese Orchestra. He continues to compose Chinese orchestral scores and share his passion for Chinese music through concerts and masterclasses.