Houston Symphony Assistant Conductor Yue Bao “calls herself a ‘go with the flow’ kind of person,” writes Chris Gray in last Monday’s (7/4) Houston Chronicle. “Conductors are take-charge, bossy types—or so she thought. ‘The more I learned, the more I realized I had the wrong perspective,’ Bao says. ‘It’s really about collaboration. And then I found I really enjoyed collaborating with musicians to make music together.’ [The Shanghai native earned] degrees … from Shanghai Conservatory of Music … the New School’s Mannes School of Music [and] the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she spent a two-year fellowship studying under …Yannick Nézet-Séguin…. ‘He makes the whole rehearsal very positive and very inspiring,’ she reflects. ‘He’s patient. He knows how to work with people, how to fix problems.’ … As she was getting ready to graduate from Curtis, Bao [auditioned for] an opening in Houston…. She felt an instant kinship with the orchestra…. ‘It’s just very positive, welcoming, warm—a big family,’ [she said].… Already she’s twice met with incoming music director Juraj Valcuha…. Offstage, Bao is a gifted visual artist…. She’s also … preparing for a true Houston rite of passage next month: taking her driver’s test.”
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