Monica Chen

An emerging Canadian conductor, Monica Chen is the RBC Associate Conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra as well as Music Director of the University of Manitoba Symphony Orchestra and Sistema Winnipeg program. A frequent presence onstage, Monica regularly conducts performances with the WSO spanning genres of masterworks, pops, movies, community, education and ballet. She is also a regular guest conductor working with orchestras and opera companies across the country.

Recent and upcoming symphonic conducting engagements include working with National Arts Centre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Regina Symphony, Kamloops Symphony, Okanagan Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Saskatoon Symphony and National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Also equally versed in opera, recent opera productions include conducting Britten’s Albert Herring, Mozart’s Magic Flute, and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. This season, she returned to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet as guest conductor, conducting a third run of shows of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker with the Victoria Symphony and Winnipeg Symphony.

She currently works closely with Maestro Daniel Raiskin, and had previously worked closely with Yannick Nézet-Séguin as conducting fellow in the inaugural year of Orchestre Métropolitain’s Conducting Academy, Stefan Asbury as participant in Tanglewood Music Centre’s 2024 Conducting Seminar, and has had the honour to work with acclaimed conductors such as maestros Neil Varon, Thomas Rösner, and the late Bramwell Tovey. She is currently a Tapestry Opera conducting fellow in their WML program.

Monica completed two Masters, one in Orchestral Conducting from UBC studying with Dr. Jonathan Girard and the other in violin performance from Indiana University studying with Mimi Zweig.