(The following press release is published as it was received by the Main Street Journal.)

NEWS RELEASE

Media Contact:
David Nischwitz
(901) 537-2516
marketing@memphissymphony.org

February 15, 2010

Mei-Ann Chen Appointed Fourth Music Director
of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra

Rising star begins tenure with the MSO in the 2010-2011 Season

Memphis, TN — The Memphis Orchestral Society announces the appointment of
Mei-Ann Chen as the fourth music director of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.
Selected by a twelve member search committee comprised of MSO musicians,
board members and community leaders, Ms. Chen’s appointment was also
unanimously approved by the orchestra’s Board of Directors.

Regarded as a rising star among young conductors, Ms. Chen will begin a
three-year contract with the MSO effective with the 2010-2011 season. During
her inaugural season, Chen will conduct ten weeks of concerts as a part of
all of the MSO series including the First Tennessee Masterworks Series, the
Memphis Symphony Pops, and the Paul & Linnea Bert Chamber Series. She will
conduct twelve weeks in each of the remaining two years of her initial
contract.

Ms. Chen will come to Memphis on February 22, 2010 to celebrate her
appointment with Memphis Symphony Orchestra family, community leaders, and
members of the media. The afternoon event at the Cannon Center for the
Performing Arts will feature details regarding the orchestra’s outstanding
2010-2011 season as well as remarks from Ms. Chen herself. More details on
this event are to be forthcoming.

Ms. Chen, currently Assistant Conductor and League of American Orchestras
Conducting Fellow with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, was one of four
candidates vying for the position left vacant when Maestro David Loebel
announced his departure in 2008 after serving for 10 years.

“We could not be more elated to have such a renowned conductor join our
great orchestra and community,” said Michael D. Uiberall, Chairman of the
Memphis Symphony Board of Directors. “We look forward to her leadership and
infectious enthusiasm toward music making.”

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead the Memphis Symphony
Orchestra as its next music director,” comments Mei-Ann Chen. “I see my
time in Memphis as a terrific opportunity to contribute to the cultural life
of the orchestra and to the greater community. Together, the orchestra and I
will introduce new ideas and exciting music that will inspire and engage all
who come in contact with this wonderful orchestra.”

“Mei-Ann Chen’s artistry, her relentless pursuit of excellence, and her
understanding of how an orchestra needs to be truly relevant on and off the
concert stage are all reasons she was the search committee’s selection,”
states Ryan Fleur, President and CEO of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.

“After two years in the search process and hearing four wonderful candidates
conduct this season, we are very pleased and excited that Mei-Ann Chen will
be joining us,” comments Paul Bert, head of the MSO Music Director Selection
Committee. “Mei-Ann has a great passion for music and the role it can play
on the concert stage, in community engagement programs, and especially in
our education system. She sees music as a celebration of life and something
that can bring people from all backgrounds and age groups together to share
great music. We feel very fortunate that we are able to have Mei-Ann, a true
rising star, lead our orchestra in the coming years.”

“The musicians of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra are thrilled with the
announcement of Mei-Ann Chen as our next music director,” said Susanna Perry
Gilmore, concertmaster of the MSO. “We look forward to working with Mei-Ann
as she brings an exciting combination of artistry, energy, leadership, and
vision to Memphis which will help the orchestra grow on many levels.”

About Mei-Ann Chen

The first woman to win the Malko International Conductors Competition
(2005), Mei-Ann Chen is one of America’s most exciting and promising young
conductors. Having recently concluded a highly successful tenure as
Assistant Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, she is currently
serving a one-year appointment as Assistant Conductor and League of American
Orchestras Conducting Fellow of the Baltimore Symphony.

Ms. Chen’s guest conducting engagements include all the principal Danish
orchestras, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Taiwan National Symphony, Chicago
Sinfonietta, Rochester Philharmonic, and the symphonies of Atlanta,
Bournemouth, Fort Worth, Honolulu, National, Oregon, Princeton, Seattle,
Toledo, Toronto and Trondheim. Awarded the 2007 Taki Concordia Fellowship,
she has appeared jointly with Marin Alsop and Stefan Sanderling in highly
acclaimed subscription concerts with the Baltimore Symphony, Colorado
Symphony and Florida Orchestra.

Among Ms. Chen’s upcoming debuts are the Alabama Symphony, BBC Scottish
Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Phoenix
Symphony and the Grand Teton, Houston and Wintergreen festivals.

In 2002, Ms. Chen was unanimously selected as music director of the Portland
Youth Philharmonic in Oregon, the oldest of its kind and the model for many
of the youth orchestras in the United States. During her five-year tenure
with the orchestra, she led its sold-out debut in Carnegie Hall, received an
ASCAP award for innovative programming, and developed new and unique
musicianship programs for the orchestra’s members. She was honored with a
Sunburst Award from Young Audiences for her contribution to music education.

Born in Taiwan, Mei-Ann Chen has lived in the United States since 1989. She
holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the University of
Michigan, where she was a student of Kenneth Kiesler. Prior to that, she was
the first student in New England Conservatory’s history to receive double
master’s degrees simultaneously in violin and conducting. Ms. Chen has also
participated in the National Conducting Institute in Washington, D.C. and
the American Academy of Conducting in Aspen.

About the Memphis Symphony Orchestra

Since 1952, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra has created meaningful
experiences through music in the Mid-South. Today more than 400 musicians,
staff and volunteers comprise the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Memphis
Symphony Chorus and the Memphis Symphony League operating educational
programs, organizing community engagement events and performing concerts.

Previous Memphis Symphony Orchestra Music Directors

Vincent de Frank - (1953 to 1983)
Alan Balter - (1984 to 1998)
David Loebel - (1999 to 2010)

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