Yan Liangkun Yan Liangkun

YAN Liang-kun is the Vice-chairman of the Musicians' Association of China, Chairman of the Council of the Society of Chorus Conductors and Director of the Central Philharmonic Society. YAN was born in Wuchang, Hubei Province in 1923, and during his teens, took part in the national salvation singing campaign against the Japanese invasion. In 1938 YAN joined the Children's Theatrical Troupe and subsequently began his conducting career, which still continues to this day. Mr. YAN is a graduate of the National Conservatory of Music where he studied composition with JIANG Ding-xian and conducting with WU Bo-chao. Upon his graduation, YAN was a music theory theory/composition instructor at the Central Conservatory of Music and, in 1952, was appointed the choral conductor of the Central Song and Dance Troupe. YAN Liang-kun went to the Soviet Union in 1954 for post-graduate study at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music, majoring in symphonic and choral conducting under N. Anosov and V. Sokolov. Four years later, he was named the principal conductor of the Chorus of the Central Philharmonic Society, a position he still holds. He conducted Beethoven's Ninth Symphony to celebrate the tenth anniversary (1959) of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the chorus at the Choral Concert, which was the first of its kind in China. In 1979 YAN led the Chorus in the First International Choral Festival that was held in the Philippines and in 1982, he presented to critical acclaim, the European Operatic Choral Concert at the first Beijing Choral Festival. In 1983 The Kodaly Memorial Committee of Hungary conferred upon him a certificate and a memorial badge in recognition of his contribution in promoting both Kodaly's works and his teaching methods. Two years later, YAN took the Chorus to Hong Kong for the Yellow River Music Festival and again to the Festival of Asian Arts. In 1986 YAN became a permanent member of the Board of Conductors for the Second Beijing Choral Festival where the Chorus of the Central Philharmonic Society won the first prize in the performing arts section for professional groups. That same year, when the Society of Chorus Conductors was established, he was elected as the Chairman of the Society. In recent years, YAN Liang-kun has toured and lectured in North America, South East Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong with his Chorus as well as being a featured guest conductor.