New Haven Symphony Orchestra Hires New Music Director

Hong Kongese conductor Perry So will assume the position as of orchestra’s 2024/25 concert season

Connecticut’s New Haven Symphony Orchestra (NHSO) board of directors has appointed 41-year-old conductor Perry So as its next music director as of July 2024. He will succeed current music director Alasdair Neale.

The search to fill the role began in 2021 — So was selected out of three other final candidates for the role: Donato Cabrera, Tania Miller, and James Blachly. Each candidate prepared and performed a concert with the NHSO in spring 2023.

“I had such a wonderful week with the symphony in March…The level of musicianship is incredibly high,” So told the New Haven Independent. “What was really moving for me…[was] the openness of the musicians and their willingness to put aside inherited ideas about the piece was really wonderful. I felt over the course of the week we were able to grow together.” 

Born and raised in Hong Kong, So took lessons in piano, organ, violin, viola, and composition from a young age. The NHSO was incidentally the first professional orchestra he heard in the U.S. 

He is a graduate of the Peabody Institute and of Yale University, where he studied literature, founded an orchestra, and conducted the undergraduate opera company. His mentors included James Sinclair, Gustav Meier

In 2008, he received first prize at the Prokofiev Conducting Competition, and has since been associate conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, conducting fellow of Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias artistic collaborator, and served on the conducting faculty at the Manhattan School of Music.

In his new role with the NHSO, So will be varying the formats and venues of concerts alongside diversifying the concert programs — presenting works by Black, Latino, and Native American composers. ​

“I’d like to be able to draw connections and tell a different story than what other orchestras are telling,” he explained. He will also be involved with NHSO’s classical series, pops series, and outreach concerts. 

​“[I am beginning this role in a] pretty unique moment…a lot of our audiences have certain expectations…a large part of the audience are ready for a different kind of dialogue,” So expressed. “It’s a moment to seize, and to see what we can do with it without leaving people behind. My conviction and my intention is to do as much as we can to move things forward for the whole New Haven community.”

“We are truly excited that Maestro So has agreed to join the NHSO as its music director,” stated NHSO Board of Directors President Keith B. Churchwell. “His ties to the New Haven area coupled with his expert musicianship and his great desire to invest in the New Haven community along multiple avenues will continue the work that has matured under Maestro Neale’s leadership over the past four years despite extremely challenging circumstances. We thank Alasdair for his wonderful work and residency with the Symphony and look forward, in the coming years, to Perry’s tenure with the NHSO!”