Feedback from our audience, musicians, and board will all factor into which conductor becomes JCSO’s next music director. Attend all of our concerts this season and fill out our audience surveys to make your voice heard!
Paul Bhasin
American conductor Paul Bhasin serves as Director of Orchestral studies at Emory University, where he holds the Donna and Marvin Schwartz Professorship in Music. In this capacity, he conducts the Emory University Symphony Orchestra and the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, oversees music research programs, and teaches conducting.
Praised for his “crisp, clear” conducting and “highly expressive” interpretations, Bhasin’s career began when he won the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition. Bhasin serves as music director and conductor of the Atlanta Chamber Music Festival and has recently led performances with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, “President’s Own” United States Marine Band, at Interlochen, the Kennedy Center, and throughout the People’s Republic of China.
Bhasin’s compositions, transcriptions, and arrangements have been praised by The New York Times and Chicago Tribune, with recent performances by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Opera Theater, and others, which can be heard on Amazon Prime Video, Apple Music, and Spotify.
Bhasin has recorded as trumpeter and conductor for the Centaur and Interscope record labels. He received his musical training from Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Wisconsin.
Henry Cheng
Winner of the Antal Dorati and European Union conducting competitions, Henry Cheng has established himself as an internationally acclaimed conductor, composer, and producer. He was appointed Music Director of Ballet Indiana in 2023 and he served as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Klangkraft Orchester in Dusiburg Germany from 2017-2023.
Equally comfortable in symphonic, contemporary music, opera, and ballet, Henry is a regular guest conductor throughout Asia, Europe and America, including recently at LA Philharmonic, La Scala Chamber Orchestra, Yeosu Music Festival, and Tonyeong International Music Festival.
As a composer, his works have been commissioned and performed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Museum of Modern Contemporary Arts Seoul, Berliner Festspiele, Singapore Art Museum, BEING Museum Shanghai, Ballet Indiana, The Hamptons Festival of Music, and Kaosiung Performing Arts Center.
His musical education includes masterclasses with Riccardo Muti, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur, and Tugan Sokhiev, in addition to studies at Eastman School of Music, Georgia State University, Indiana University, and University of Arts, Berlin (UdK).
Henry Cheng currently resides in Seoul with his wife and daughter.
Howard Hsu
Howard Hsu is Music Director of the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra and serves as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Orchestra Studies at Valdosta State University. Under his leadership, the Valdosta Symphony was selected as the 2014 winner of the American Prize in Orchestral Performance (community division).
Hsu conducted the world premiere of James Oliverio’s Trumpet Concerto No. 1: World House; the U.S. premiere of Ned McGowan’s Concerto for iPad and Orchestra (Rotterdam Concerto 2); and the Georgia premieres of Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds. He has appeared as guest conductor with the Hartford, Fox Valley, Wyoming, Mankato, Macon, and New Britain Symphonies, and served on the faculty of the University of Connecticut and Connecticut College.
Through Valdosta Symphony’s Youth Concert Series, he has introduced live classical music to thousands of children. Hsu has also worked with Music Educators Association All State Orchestras in Pennsylvania and Georgia, and Georgia Governor’s Honors Program Orchestra and String Ensemble.
Hsu received his D.M.A. from the University of Connecticut, his M.M. from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and his B.S. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.