Mary Chun is an American conductor based in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. She is Music Director of the Cinnabar Theater and has been the conductor of

Earplay ''Earplay'' was the longest-running of the formal series of radio drama anthologies on National Public Radio, produced by WHA (AM), WHA in Madison, Wisconsin and heard from 1972 into the 1990s. It approached radio drama as an art form with scri ...

since 2000. Chun earned her master's degree from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

where she studied piano with Carlo Bussotti and conducting with Lászlo Varga. She served as Director of Musical Studies to

Kent Nagano Kent George Nagano (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been ''Generalmusikdirektor'' (GMD) of the Hamburg State Opera (until 2025). Early life and education Nagano was born in Berkeley, ...

at the

Opéra National de Lyon The Opéra National de Lyon (), marketed as Opéra de Lyon during the last decade, is an opera company in Lyon, based and performing mostly at the Opéra Nouvel, an 1831 theater that was modernized and architecturally transformed in 1993. Histo ...

, assisting on his recording of Francis Poulenc's ''

Dialogues of the Carmelites ' (, ''Dialogues of the Carmelites''), FP 159, is an opera in three acts, divided into twelve scenes with linking orchestral interludes, with music and libretto by Francis Poulenc, completed in 1956. Poulenc wrote the libretto for his second ...

'' in 1992. She served on the music staff at the

San Francisco Opera The San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 wh ...

, helping prepare productions of ''

Das Verratene Meer ''Das verratene Meer'' (''The Betrayed Sea'') is an opera in two parts and 14 scenes, with music by Hans Werner Henze to a German libretto by Hans-Ulrich Treichel, after Yukio Mishima's novel '' The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea'' (). C ...

'' (1991) and ''

The Death of Klinghoffer ''The Death of Klinghoffer'' is an American opera, with music by John Adams to an English-language libretto by Alice Goodman. First produced in Brussels and New York in 1991, the opera is based on the hijacking of the passenger liner ''Achille ...

'' (1992). She later assisted on the company's 2002 production of Messiaen's ''

Saint François d'Assise ''Saint François d'Assise : Scènes Franciscaines'' (English: Franciscan Scenes of Saint Francis of Assisi), or simply ''Saint François d'Assise'', is an opera in three acts and eight scenes by French composer Olivier Messiaen, who was also ...

'' for which she also played the

Ondes Martenot The ondes Martenot ( ; , ) or ondes musicales () is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a lateral-vibrato Keyboard instrument, keyboard or by moving a ring tied to a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. D ...

. She has also served on the music staff at the

Los Angeles Opera The Los Angeles Opera, originally called the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, is an American opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth-largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler P ...

and the

Opera Theater of Saint Louis Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) is an American summer opera festival held in St. Louis, Missouri. Typically four operas, all sung in English, are presented each season, which runs from late May to late June. Performances are accompanied by the ...

. Chun led the Canadian, French and German premieres of

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

’ chamber opera ''

I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky ''I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky'' is a 1995 "song play" with music composed by John Adams and a libretto by June Jordan. The work is scored for three mezzo sopranos, high tenor, tenor and two baritones, accompanied by an ens ...

'' with

Avanti! Chamber Orchestra The Avanti! Chamber Orchestra is a Finnish ensemble that focuses on contemporary music. The ensemble when it performs varies in size from a solo player to a symphony orchestra. Avanti! Chamber Orchestra won the Gramophone Prize with their first r ...

in Montreal, Paris and Hamburg in addition to leading the same work with Lyric Opera Cleveland. She also served as music director for the world premieres of Libby Larsen’s ''Every Man Jack'', Carla Lucero’sbr>''W U O R N O S''''Juana''
an
''t o u c h''
Mort ''Revoco'', and Guillermo Galindo ''Decreation: Fight Cherries''. She conducted the Kosice Opera (opera company of Slovakia's Bizet's ''Carmen">Bizet.html" ;"title="State Theatre Košice) in Bizet">Bizet's ''Carmen'' on tour in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. She has also been invited to conduct at Ballet San Joaquin, Hawaii Opera Theater, Lyric Opera of Cleveland, Mendocino Music Festival, Opera Idaho, Pacific Repertory Opera, Texas Shakespeare Festival, West Bay Opera, and West Edge Opera. Chun received the 2014 Award for Best Music Direction from the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award for her work conducting Mozart’s ''

Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...

'' and the nomination for Best Music Director of 2016 with Cinnabar's production of Frank Loesser's '' Most Happy Fella''. She is one of very few professional-level players of the Ondes Martenot living in the United States. Among her many performances on the instrument, she appeared with the

Los Angeles Master Chorale The Los Angeles Master Chorale is a professional Choir, chorus in Los Angeles, California, and one of the resident companies of both The Music Center and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1964 by Roger Wagner to be one ...

at the

Disney Concert Hall The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 23, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Ave ...

. Several of Chun's recordings with Earplay and the Empyrean Ensemble are available through

ArkivMusic ArkivMusic, Inc. is an American, Tennessee-based online classical music retailer, specializing in the distribution of CDs and DVDs. ArkivMusic opened its online store in February 2002. In addition to their inventory of readily available CDs, the ...

, featuring music of Cindy Cox,

Kurt Rohde Kurt is a male given name in Germanic languages. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Konrad/Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor. Like Conrad, it can also a surname an ...

, Jorge Liderman and

William Kraft William Kraft (September 6, 1923 – February 12, 2022) was an American composer, conductor, teacher, timpanist, and percussionist. Biography Early life and education (1923–1954) Kraft was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was awarded two Anton Seid ...

. Chun is listed in a historic database of important women in music maintained by the

Vítězslava Kaprálová Vítězslava Kaprálová (; 24 January 191516 June 1940) was a Czech composer and conductor of 20th-century classical music. Life and career Vítězslava Kaprálová was born in Brno, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Czech Republic), a daughter ...

Society.

External links

Earplay official websiteCinnabar Theater official website

References

Women in classical music Women are active in all aspects of classical music, such as instrumental performance, vocal performance, orchestral conducting, choral conducting, scholarly research, and contemporary composition. However, proportionately to men, their representati ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chun, Mary Living people American women conductors (music) Culture of San Francisco San Francisco State University alumni 21st-century American conductors (music) Year of birth missing (living people)