The Artistic Team

Comprised of Vancouver’s leading musicians, the VMO has developed into a fine ensemble that has taken the specialized and demanding art of orchestral performance to a very high level.

Ken Hsieh, Music Director/Principal Conductor

A Charming, Passionate and Compelling presence on the podium, Award Winning Conductor Kenneth Hsieh, has gained widespread attention for his vibrant performances, making him one of the most exciting and versatile young conductors on the international stage today. The 2020-2021 season marks his 18th year as Music Director of the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra in addition to his many international guest conducting engagements.
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Kemuel Wong, Assistant Conductor

Kemuel Wong holds a B. Mus and M. Mus in Choral Conducting from the University of British Columbia. He has studied conducting with Bruce Dunn, John van Deursen, Wayne Toews, the late professor Morihiro Okabe, Ken Hsieh, Bruce Pullan C.M., Dr. Graeme Langager, and Vance George. Kemuel is currently the Assistant Conductor of the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, Conductor of Vancouver Oratorio Society, Music Director of Folsom Singers and Quest University Choir, and Artist-in-Residence at St. Patrick’s Regional Secondary School. He was the Assistant Conductor of the Vancouver Bach Choir from 2011-2015.
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Mark Ferris, Concertmaster

A graduate of Yale University, Mark is the Concertmaster of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and spent 17 years with the acclaimed CBC Radio Orchestra. He was Concertmaster of the Lions Gate Sinfonia for 7 years and is currently Concertmaster and mentor for the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra.
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Akira Nagai, Concertmaster

A 35-years veteran, Associate Concertmaster Emeritus of Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Akira Nagai left Japan in 1967 for advanced studies with the famed Josef Gingold at Indiana University School of Music under a Fulbright scholarship. He earned a Master degree of Music in 1971 and immediately joined the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and McGill Chamber Orchestra.
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Kaoru Kondo, Principal Guest Concertmaster

Kaoru Kondo received Acanthus Music Award (the award given to the top grade students) when he graduated from Tokyo University of Arts, and he continue to study and graduated from the Graduate school of Tokyo University of Arts to receive master’s degree. He performed with various orchestra as a concertmaster as he was still in the school, while he also participated in the summer camp of the Vienna Music Academy to receive master class lessons from Alban Berg Quartet, Amadeus Quartet, Hagen Quartet in order to acquire the higher level of skills and methods for chamber music.
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Trevor Hoffmann, Creative Director / Composer Laureate

Trevor is an award-winning pianist, composer, and music producer who excels at creating syntheses across classical and contemporary genres. Having studied piano performance at the Royal Conservatory of Music and composition at the University of British Columbia, he feels equally at home in both the classical and pop world. He has worked extensively with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra (where he is currently composer in residence), as a specialist for hybrid pop concerts
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Aidan Mulldoon Wong, Composer-in-residence

A native of Vancouver, BC, Aidan Mulldoon Wong is an active freelance performer and emerging composer. He appears frequently with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra where he has played acting principal, second, and auxiliary clarinets, and held the position of section/bass clarinet for the VSO’s 2018/19 season. In the Summer of 2020, Aidan will be performing with the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra in Boulder, CO. He has performed with numerous ensembles including the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, the Vancouver Island Symphony, and is on substitute lists from coast-to- coast including the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the New World Symphony.
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Rosa Hong, Piano Soloist

Korean born Canadian Pianist Rosa Hongholds a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the University of British Columbia under the tutelage of Dr. Sara Davis Buechner, a Künstlerische Ausbildung degree (Masters of Music) with a perfect score at her entrance audition and a Solistische Ausbildung degree (Doctorate of Music in piano performance) from the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen, where she studied with Prof. Tomislav Nedelkovic-Baynov and graduated with high honours. Her previous teachers include Hyekyung Ham, Edward J.Parker and Winfried Rompf. read more

Santa Ono, Cello Soloist

Santa Ono is the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia, a global centre for research and teaching with 64,000 students, 16,500 faculty and staff, and a $2.5 billion operating budget. Prior to his appointment in 2016, he served as president of the University of Cincinnati. Inside Higher Education named him America’s most notable university president in 2015. In 2016, the American Council on Education awarded him the Reginald Wilson Diversity Leadership Award. read more

Ikuyo Nakamichi, Piano Soloist

Nakamichi is active as a solo recital performer, and also appears frequently in chamber music and concerto concerts, earning high acclaim for her musicality. As a chamber music performer, she has toured in Japan with clarinetist Richard Stoltsman, violinist Josef Suk, the Brandis String Quartet, the Hagen Quartet, the Gewandhaus String Quartet, and the Philharmonic Octet Berlin. read more

Joseph Elworthy, Cello Soloist

Resident & CEO of the Vancouver Academy of Music, Joseph Elworthy has been a featured soloist, recitalist, and chamber music performer on such stages as Alice Tully Hall, Suntory Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, and Sejong Hall. Mr. Elworthy has been named a Fellow of The Royal Conservatory of Music for his extraordinary contribution to Canadian Arts and Culture, an honor he shares with such cultural icons as Oscar Peterson, Robertson Davies, Adrienne Clarkson and Leon Fleisher. His recordings can be heard on EMI, Sony, Archtype, Naxos and Bose record labels. read more