Pang Ka-pang (Conductor)

A National First Class Conductor, Pang Ka-pang is now Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Macao Chinese Orchestra, the China Broadcast Traditional Orchestra and the China Oriental Symphony Orchestra. He is Guest Professor at the Wuhan Music Conservatory, permanent Guest Conductor with the National Ukrainian Symphony Orchestra and the Grazer Symphonischer Orchester of Austria, and Guest Conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg and the Pusan Philharmonic Orchestra, Korea. Furthermore, he is a member of the China Musicians' Association and sits on the Standing Committee of the Chinese Ethnic Orchestral Music Association.

In 1999, the National Broadcasting, Movie and Television Bureau of the State Department of China's Central Government awarded him one of the ten Outstanding Youth Awards. In 2003, he was awarded the Special Conductor Prize by China Golden Record. In the following year, he was again distinguished with the Outstanding Youth Award in the 15th year of the prize.

Born in 1965 in Anhui province, China, Pang Ka-pang enrolled in the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1985, where he studied in the Department of Conducting and Composition. In 1987 he transferred to the Conducting Department of the Central Conservatory of China to study under Professor Xu Xin. In 1990, Pang Ka-pang received the Most Outstanding Graduate certificate and was awarded the Shen Xingong Music Scholarship. While still in university he conducted the China Youth Symphony Orchestra and the China Broadcast Symphony Orchestra. In the same year, he was recommended to the studio of Professor Zheng Xiaoying, with whom he completed his graduate studies. He obtained his master's degree in 1992. In 1996, he participated in the 35th International Kirill Petrovich Kondrashin Master Class, receiving the master class award. In 1997, he participated in the Ukrainian International Conductors' Master Class in Kiev, where he ranked first.

In February 2003, he was hired as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Macao Chinese Orchestra. His talent and conducting proficiency were warmly welcome by the orchestra musicians and the Macao audience.

Pang Ka-pang is a very active and dedicated conductor. In addition to leading several orchestras in Mainland China, he has conducted many other orchestras and has been a juror and guest conductor in Asia, Europe and the USA. He collaborated with the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra in Japan, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Pusan National Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Vienna Mozart Orchestra, Vienna State Opera Orchestra (Wiener Volksoper), National Symphony of Austrian Musicians (Tonkünstler–Orchester Niederosterreich), Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg and the Grazer Symphonischer Orchester.

Since 2000, he has been invited each year to conduct the Chinese New Year Music Concert, a performance promoting Chinese music and displaying its charm, held in Vienna's Golden Hall (Wien Goldensaal Musikverein). Pang Ka-pang has a very particular view of Chinese and Western music and a profound understanding of different musical styles.

Pang Ka-pang's conducting has been praised by several prestigious critics, who have stated that his interpretation shows vivacity and enthusiasm, and that his hands' movements are very fast and produce an elegant line, possessing its own style. They have declared Pang a conductor full of potential with a very strong musical sensitivity. The Hong Kong press described Pang as a talented conductor of the new generation. The Austrian newspaper The Messenger wrote: "Pang has the style of both Seiji Ozawa and Ricardo Mutti."