From left: Tristan Rais-Sherman, Austin Chanu, and Naomi Woo join the Philadelphia Orchestra as assistant conductors.
The Philadelphia Orchestra has promoted current Conducting Fellows Austin Chanu and Tristan Rais-Sherman to assistant conductors, effective immediately. In addition, Naomi Woo has been named assistant conductor beginning in the 2024–25 season.
Austin Chanu is a conductor, composer, and woodwind performer originally from the San Francisco Bay area. He is a recipient of the 2023 Career Assistance Award from the Solti Foundation US. He made his Philadelphia Orchestra subscription debut in April 2023, and has guest-conducted the Omaha Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He conducted for the LA Chamber Orchestra’s New Music Salon, served as a teaching artist and conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Associate Composer Program, and was a woodwind performer in LA. Chanu received a bachelor’s degree in music composition from the USC Thornton School of Music and holds a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the Eastman School of Music.
American conductor Tristan Rais-Sherman recently competed in the 2023 Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition with the Bamberg Symphony. He has led the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Rais-Sherman received the Career Assistance Award from the Solti Foundation US in 2022 and 2023. His educational work includes leading the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at Interlochen, conducting guest master classes at the Philadelphia International Music Festival, and leading educational programs with the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and New England Conservatory Symphony. Rais-Sherman holds an artist diploma from the New England Conservatory, a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in cello performance from Ithaca College.
After four years as assistant conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Canadian conductor and pianist Naomi Woo joined the Orchestre Métropolitain Montréal as artistic partner in the 2023–24 season. Recent engagements include the Orchestre Métropolitain, Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, and Ottawa’s National Arts Center Orchestra; two appearances with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, where she is a music director finalist; and a tour of England leading English Touring Opera in Rossini’s Cinderella. As an assistant/cover conductor, Woo works with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Toronto Symphony, and conducts throughout Canada. Woo is a member of Tapestry Opera’s Women in Musical Leadership program and participated in Orchestre Métropolitain’s orchestral conducting academy. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, and studied at Yale College, the Yale School of Music, and the University of Montreal.
