Lü Shao-chia Lü Shao-chia

The Taiwan-born conductor Shao-Chia Lü studied music in Taipei, later at the Indiana University in Bloomington, USA , and also at the Hochschule for Music in Vienna. His training was topped off with three important first prizes at renowned international conductor competitions: The Concours International de Jeunesse Chef d'Orchestre in Besancon, France, the Concorso Internazionale per Diretori d'Orchestra Antonio Pedrotti in Trento, Italy, and the Kirill Kondrashin Competition in Amsterdam.

In 1995, he began his opera career as Erster Kapellmeister at the Komische Oper Berlin. Numerous guest performances followed, including the Australian Opera Sydney, the English National Opera, the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, den Norske Opera in Oslo, the Oper Frankfurt, Staatsoper Hamburg, Staatsoper Stuttgart as well as the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 1998, Shao-Chia Lü took over the position of General Music Director of both the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz and of the Koblenz Theatre.

Shao-Chia Lü, as General Music Director of the Staatsoper Hannover between 2001 and 2006, has established himself firmly as an excellent opera conductor through numerous outstanding performances during this period of such repertoire as: Aida, Ernani, Le nozze di Figaro, Jenufa, Vec Makropulos, Fidelio, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Tristan und Isolde, Fliegender Hollander, Wozzeck, Rosenkavalier, Elektra, Salome.... In summer 2004, Shao-Chia Lü and the Staatsoper Hannover earned international acknowledgement by performing Pelleas et Melisande at the renowned Vienna and Edinburgh Festivals.

Shao-Chia Lü’s recent opera engagements include: Parsifal, Katja Kabanova and Tosca in Gothenburg, Sweden, La fanciulla del west in Stuttgart, Eugene Onegin at the Komische Oper, Berlin, Madama Butterfly, Tosca and La Boheme in Sydney and Melbourne. 

Season 2014/2015 is his first Season as Chief Conductor of the South Denmark Philharmonic.

Alongside his opera activities, Shao-Chia Lü is equally at home on concert podiums. In 1994, he had his debut with the Munchner Philharmoniker by replacing Sergiu Celibidache at the last moment for 2 unchanged programmes (including Bruckner’s 8th Symphony). The triumph of these concerts brought him several further invitations from this orchestra. Apart from the Munchner Philharmoniker, Lü has worked repeatedly with many leading European orchestras, such as the Oslo Philharmonics, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Santa Cecilia Rome, the Norwegian and Swedish Radio Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Livepool Philharmonic, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphonics, the Orchestre National de France, the SWR Stuttgart, the Rundfunksinfonieorchster Berlin, the Staatskapelle Weimar and the Frankfurter Museumsorchester. In November 2011, Shao-Chia Lu made his much acclaimed debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. In the near future, he will appear in Japan conducting the New Japan Philharmonic, the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra and the NHK Orchestra. 

Shao-Chia Lu has been Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan since August 2010.