“Both Zhang Xian and Perry So are rare talents in recent years… his prospects have no limit.“

Perry So joined the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in October 2008 as Assistant Conductor. One of the inaugural Dudamel Conducting Fellows at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he was the First Prize laureate of the 5th International Prokofiev Conducting Competition, held in St Petersburg, Russia. He was the youngest ever First-Prize winner in the history of the Competition. He was also a prize winner at the 2008 Mitropoulous Competition held in Athens, Greece, and was commended by the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR government for his international musical accomplishments.

One of the brightest conductors of the younger generation, Perry has worked with international orchestras such as the St Petersburg Academic Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar, State Hermitage Orchestra of Russia and the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra. His engagements in the 2009/10 season include a month-long residency as a Dudamel Conductor Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, where he will be conducting two concerts and assisting Lorin Maazel and Vladimir Jurowski, his débuts with the State Symphony Orchestra of Russia and the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, and numerous concerts with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

Perry counts as his mentors such music illuminati as HKPO’s Music Director, Edo de Waart; Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Esa-Pekka Salonen; Gustav Meier at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and esteemed American Scholar James Sinclair.

Born in Hong Kong, Perry graduated from Yale University in Comparative Literature, studying with noted scholar Michael Holquist. As an undergraduate at Yale, he was Music Director of the Saybrook Orchestra and the Opera Theatre of Yale College. In 2007, Perry founded the Huangshan International Music Festival based in Huangshan, China, and serves as its Music Director.