Upcoming Concerts 21/22

Photo Credit: Nile Scott

A  B  O  U  T

Holly Hyun Choe is the Music Director of the Orchesterverein Wiedikon and the University of St. Gallen Alumni Symphony Orchestra (HSG ASO).

Her Assistant Conductor position of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich has been extended to Season 21/22 under the guidance of Maestro Paavo Järvi.

This summer, she made her debut at the Elbphilharmonie Großer Saal in Hamburg with the Ensemble Reflektor and rising cellist, Anastasia Kobekina through the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. Additionally, she was the Guest Conductor for the DAVOS Festival in Switzerland and reinvited for Summer 2022.

Highlights of this coming 21/22 Season includes engagements with Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich, Orchestre de Paris, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Wald Ensemble, Göttingen Symphony, Danubia Orchestra Óbuda, Picardie Orchestre, and Orchestre des amateurs des ateliers de la Philharmonie de Paris. 

As a guest conductor, she has worked with Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester, ensemble reflektor, and Collegium Musicum Basel. She has assisted notable conductors such as Paavo Järvi in Orchestre de Paris, Leonard Slatkin in Orchestre national de Lyon, Simone Young in Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne/Zürich Opernhaus, and Karina Canellakis in Gürzenich-Orchester Köln.

     
Holly has participated in masterclasses with conductors including Bernard Haitink, Jorma Panula, Neeme Järvi, Jaap van Zweden, Simone Young, Marin Alsop, Teodor Currentzis, Sian Edwards, Jessica Montgomery Cottis, and most recently with David Reiland.

While studying at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), she conducted several professional orchestras such as the Trondheim Symphony, Heidelberg Symphony, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Brandenburg Symphoniker, Hradec Kralove Filharmonie, Pilsen Opera House, Izmir State Symphony Orchestra, and Hofer Symphony. 

Going beyond the standard canon of classical music, she was involved in projects such as performing with a 3D printer as a part of the live performance in a piece written by Stefan Bachmann - "Black Wire Concertina #1-5."  

She has also given world-premieres of living composers from Switzerland, Greece, Mexico, Sweden, China, France, South Korea, and the USA. 

As part of her concern to promote women composers, she has presented award-winning composer Jennifer Higdon, Grazyna Bacewicz, and Jessie Montgomery (upcoming) with the Orchesterverein Wiedikon.

Her passion for music extends also to education and healthcare; she currently teaches beginning conducting courses at ZHdK as well as the PreCollege conducting students. She has also presented conducting seminars in elementary schools, elderly nursing homes, a center for adults with disabilities, Immigrant Family Services Institute for Haitian Immigrants, and as a guest artist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Arts Museum in Boston, MA (USA). With an interest in neuroscience, she envisions supporting research in the integration of music in healthcare.

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She holds a conducting fellowship in the German Music Council’s Dirigentenforum - recently advancing to the Maestros von Morgen list. She is also an Award Recipient of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship (2019-21), and a former Conducting Mentee of the Peter Eötvös Foundation Mentoring Program (2020-21).

​In 2020, Holly received a "Career Assistance Award" from the Solti Foundation in the United States.  

Holly was born in Seoul, South Korea, and grew up in California, USA. She began her musical journey as a self-taught clarinetist aged thirteen and received her first private music lesson at age nineteen. She received a full-tuition scholarship toward her Bachelor's Degree in Clarinet Performance and Music Education at the Bob Cole Conservatory in Long Beach, CA. Her first Master's Degree in Wind Conducting was completed at the New England Conservatory with Charles Peltz and her orchestral conducting Master's Degree at the Zurich University of the Arts with Johannes Schlaefli. 

Photo Credit: Jura Tros