Yi-An Xu, an Israeli conductor, pianist, and composer, was born in Shanghai in 1979. Since 2005, he has been a faculty member at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University. He currently serves as a senior lecturer in Orchestra Conducting, coach of the Vocal Department, and pianist/conductor for the school’s annual opera productions. Starting with the 2019-2020 season, Xu was appointed resident conductor of the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music Symphony Orchestra with the approval of Maestro Zubin Mehta and the acknowledgment of Maestro Lahav Shani.

Yi-An Xu has been a guest conductor in subscription concerts for leading Israeli orchestras, including The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon Lezion, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, The Israel Chamber Orchestra, and Israel Sinfonietta Be’er Sheva. In 2021, he conducted the final stages of the Arthur Rubinstein Master Piano Competition, leading the Israel Philharmonic.

Xu has also conducted numerous international orchestras, such as the English Chamber Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Broadcast Symphony Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Macao Orchestra, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra, and Qingdao Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to his guest conducting, Yi-An Xu has served as a conductor and opera coach for various orchestras, opera companies, and institutions worldwide since his teenage years. His roles have included resident conductor at the Shanghai Youth Symphony Orchestra, assistant conductor at the Shanghai Broadcast Symphony Orchestra, assistant conductor at the Shanghai Opera House, coach at the Chiari International Opera Master Class in Italy, and guest répétiteur at the Elder School of Music, University of Adelaide, Australia.

He was a semi-finalist in the 2004 Cadaques International Conducting Competition in Spain and received the Dan Ben-Bassat Memorial Prize at the Israel Samuel Rubin Academy of Music. Xu has released ten CDs with the prestigious „China Record“ label with the Shanghai Youth Symphony Orchestra, and a new album featuring pianist Alon Kariv and the English Chamber Orchestra is forthcoming on the Hyperion label.

As a conductor and opera coach, Yi-An Xu has worked with internationally acclaimed musicians such as Maestro Kurt Mazur, Maestro Zubin Mehta, Charles Spencer, Hartmut Höll, Thomas Hampson, Hilde Zadek, Anna Lucia Richter, Gan-Ya Ben-Gur Axelrod, Hagar Sharvit, Flaka Goranci, and Zak N. Kariithi. He has been praised by Maestro Mstislav Rostropovich, and his conducting skills were lauded by Maestro Seiji Ozawa in Shanghai’s „XinMin Evening“ newspaper.