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Jiannan Cheng (Glassboro, NJ) is the Director of Orchestral Activities at Rowan University and the Music Director of Orchestra Concordia. Before joining Rowan’s music faculty, she held the position of Director of Orchestral Ensembles at Fordham University and served as an Adjunct Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Cheng’s conducting career spans both opera and symphonic repertoire, having worked with prestigious orchestras such as the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Sofia Philharmonic, Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt, and Munich Chamber Orchestra. In 2024, Cheng won 1st Prize at the Hugo Alfvén International Conducting Competition in Sweden and 2nd Prize at the Orchestra’s Conductor Competition in Romania. She was also a finalist at the Arthur Nikisch Conducting Competition and won 2nd Prize in the 4×4 Competition for Composers and Conductors in 2016.
Since 2023, she has served as a cover conductor for the Philadelphia Orchestra, with prior appointments as the Conducting Fellow for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Miami Symphony Orchestra. In the 2024-25 season, she will undertake a two-week residency with the Dallas Opera through the Hart Institute for Women Conductors.
Cheng completed her undergraduate studies at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Washington in Seattle and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Additionally, she has been mentored by world-renowned conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Kurt Masur, Johannes Schlaefli, and Nicolás Pasquet.