




Han-Na Chang
Sabine Frank
“…confident, astute, inspired. Ms Chang is the epitome of the incredible lightness of being: agile, nimble and bang on the beat.”
(The Liverpool Echo)
Chief Conductor & Artistic Leader: Trondheim Symfoniorkester
Artistic Leader and Chief Conductor of the Trondheim Symfoniorkester in Norway since 2017, Han-Na Chang has been praised by critics and public alike for her artistry which perfectly combines a fierce intellect, absolute technical precision, power, passion and deep insight. Having concluded a hugely successful third season together, in which she took the Orchestra on its first-ever tour to her native South Korea, they will embark on a complete Beethoven Symphony Cycle this season. Concurrently, the Orchestra and Chang are committed partners of Talent Trondheim and their new education project “The Chamber Music School” – a talent development and mentoring programme individually tailored to young musicians.
Elsewhere in the 2020/21 season, Han-Na Chang will make her debuts with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony orchestras, as well as a return to the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. As a guest conductor, Chang has worked with the likes of Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Bamberger Symphoniker, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, the Cincinnati, St Louis, Indianapolis, Seattle, Gothenburg, Singapore, Tokyo and Toronto Symphony orchestras, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli, amongst others.

Show more
Her professional career as a musician started at the age of 11, when she won the Grand Prix First Prize and the Contemporary Music Prize at the Fifth Rostropovich International Cello Competition in Paris in 1994. Chang then went on to perform with all the major orchestras, her cello recordings, exclusively for EMI Classics, have received countless awards and remain world-wide bestsellers.
Han-Na Chang counts Mischa Maisky, Mstislav Rostropovich and Giuseppe Sinopoli as the most influential mentors during her formative years and, alongside her music career, she also read Philosophy at Harvard University.
Gallery












“What a great musician! Han-Na Chang captivated us in concert. For her, Orchestre Métropolitain played as if they were on tour at the Carnegie Hall. In fact, they played Shostakovich in the manner Shostakovich should be played: as a matter of life and death. Han-Na Chang seemed to have a concept for the smallest detail.. It is the nature of the sounds, the harmonic saturation, sometimes the ugliness or the voluntary distortion which constituted the framework of this great and cultivated interpretation, an unforgettable Shostakovich.”
“Chang conducts with drive and perfect balance between the different, rapidly changing, moods. It is controlled, professional and incessantly engaging.”
“Chang, whose advance instructions are clear even to the average viewer, kept this work in high gear, giving it dramatic dynamics with close instructions to the musicians… she gave the pauses a wide horizon, upping their attention quotient. If it was a dream programme for the Masterworks series, it was also a dream performance of them.”
“A finale to match the rest, the electricity was still crackling almost an hour into the piece. Chang clearly has a very strong picture of the movement, bringing out the important thematic statements, while getting the massive contrapuntal passages in the strings uttered with wonderful clarity. The tension built gradually to a climax matching the dignity & gravitas of the opening, every bit as noble.”
“Chang had a masterful sound progression with the orchestra who played in a manner I did not know they were capable of. This applies especially to the subtle sounds that they produced, and which were unheard-of before. Or, what about the second half’s Landler (an Austrian dance), which she conducted with a playful elegance and lightness that could put her on the podium of Musikverein in Vienna for the New Year’s Concert. She allowed the musicians to take freely responsibility where appropriate; they appeared not only as competent members of the orchestra, but as independent soloists with their own musical will. At the same time, she held a tough grip among the musicians to involve them in the unfolding of Mahler’s drama.”
“Chang had a masterful sound progression with the orchestra who played in a manner I did not know they were capable of. This applies especially to the subtle sounds that they produced, and which were unheard-of before. Or, what about the second half’s Landler (an Austrian dance), which she conducted with a playful elegance and lightness that could put her on the podium of Musikverein in Vienna for the New Year’s Concert. She allowed the musicians to take freely responsibility where appropriate; they appeared not only as competent members of the orchestra, but as independent soloists with their own musical will. At the same time, she held a tough grip among the musicians to involve them in the unfolding of Mahler’s drama.”
‘’It demands great precision and skill of a conductor to make Mahler 2 sound uncomplicated and easy to tackle and it´s abundantly clear to all that Han-Na Chang possesses a body language which demonstrates what she is after. It is nevertheless Han-na Chang and the orchestra that glows strongly. For the entire performance, the conductor has exemplary eye contact with all of those who need it. She knows this music inside out and the musicians reciprocate her enthusiasm. Its obvious that she takes her job very seriously’’.
“Chang is graceful, strong, charismatic and deeply musical, and she seemed to have total rapport with the musicians of the orchestra….Chang, conducting without a score, showed an impressive command of the material from the opening phrases to the dynamic finale, with a thrilling reading…. she kept firm and inspired control of the orchestra, and of the music’s direction, throughout the symphony. The audience rewarded the performers with a thunderous and well-deserved ovation. Chang’s a conductor on the way up.”
“Chang conducted without a score and had clearly internalized the music so thoroughly that she was able to bring out nuances that I hadn’t heard before… Tchaikovsky concludes the movement by playing “can you top this” with himself multiple times, but she made each big moment feel both necessary and inexorable. The standing ovation that followed the final chords was immediate and entirely justified.”
“The quite sensational interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony proved that she’s not any ordinary conductor… Here Chang once more brought across the story through brave transitions and brisk tempi…Brava, maestra!”
“With the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, she found the spiritual depth of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. At 33-years-old, Han-Na Chang is simply one of this generation’s most exciting conductors. She shaped Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in a way that gave new insight into one of the most regularly performed orchestral works. She dared to make unexpected choices related to the form of the work, but everything still fitted in very clearly with the meticulously shaped whole.”
“Under guest conductor Han-Na Chang’s leadership on Friday morning, the orchestra’s performance was as fresh and exciting as one could wish for… it was intriguing to witness her gifts again… a rising star conductor…Chang has a clear and dynamic style on the podium. Leading ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ without a score, she vividly conveyed the mood and character of each painting, yet never lost the arc of the entire work… ‘The Great Gate of Kiev’ was a stunning summation. Here, Chang did not push ahead, but held back the tempo, taking full advantage of the splendor of the brass in Music Hall’s magnificent space. Best of all, her leadership allowed orchestral soloists to shine.”
“Chang, a diminutive, dynamic firebrand, struck everyone as a natural choice for such an ensemble… If ever a Prom could be described as thrill-a-minute stuff, this was it; the ferocious drive was still present in the hair-raising first movement allegro and the elated finale. But there was also a beautiful, honeyed introspection in the andante, and real finesse and detail in the waltz. It was a hugely enjoyable Prom.”
“Chang, a diminutive, dynamic firebrand, struck everyone as a natural choice for such an ensemble… If ever a Prom could be described as thrill-a-minute stuff, this was it; the ferocious drive was still present in the hair-raising first movement allegro and the elated finale. But there was also a beautiful, honeyed introspection in the andante, and real finesse and detail in the waltz. It was a hugely enjoyable Prom.”