Photo by Mia Farinelli
Bryan Lin is a Taiwanese-American conductor, composer, instrumentalist, vocalist, and arts administrator.
As a conductor, he is known for his versatility across genres and finds himself equally at home with choral and instrumental music while being a champion for new works. In the fall of 2022, he joined the faculty at Mannes Prep at The New School where he directs the Senior Chorus for high school age students. Since January 2022, he has served as Assistant Conductor for the Dessoff Choirs under the direction of Malcolm Merriweather. He is also the founder of Stolen Time Ensemble, a new contemporary instrumental group based in San Francisco that explores the crossover space of concert music with other genres and advancing music by living composers.
Bryan is a composer who uses humor and social commentary to smear the boundaries of genres and traditions. Subject matters for past works have ranged from climate change denial to the vanity of self-promotion on social media. His harmonic and rhythmic sensibilities draw from minimalism and postmodern styles, a product of his earlier training as a jazz saxophonist. Past collaborations and commissions include Musaics of the Bay, International Orange Chorale of San Francisco, Guerrilla Composers Guild, Choral Chameleon, San Francisco Choral Artists, soprano Naomi Columna, Lehigh University Philharmonic Orchestra, and Monocacy Chamber Orchestra.
In addition to performing and composing, Bryan enjoys an active career in arts administration and currently works at Miller Theatre at Columbia University, New York City’s leading new music presenter. He was previously the Manager of Ensemble Operations at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), overseeing all artistic operations for collegiate ensembles and working closely with prolific conductors such as Edwin Outwater and Nicole Paiement. In 2017, he was the Director of Hot Air Music Festival's eighth season, an annual day-long new music marathon held at SFCM.
Bryan received his M.M. in Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in the studio of David Garner and holds two degrees from Lehigh University — a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.A. in Music; he studied composition at Lehigh with Paul Salerni and Steven Sametz and was music director of the co-ed a cappella group Off The Record. He has taken additional composition lessons with David Conte and Bill Warfield. His conducting mentors include Malcolm Merriweather, Mark Shapiro, Vince Peterson, Matthew Oltman, and Steven Sametz. In his spare time, Bryan rock climbs, pitches for his intramural softball team, and claims he does stand-up comedy but is too shy to perform.
As a conductor, he is known for his versatility across genres and finds himself equally at home with choral and instrumental music while being a champion for new works. In the fall of 2022, he joined the faculty at Mannes Prep at The New School where he directs the Senior Chorus for high school age students. Since January 2022, he has served as Assistant Conductor for the Dessoff Choirs under the direction of Malcolm Merriweather. He is also the founder of Stolen Time Ensemble, a new contemporary instrumental group based in San Francisco that explores the crossover space of concert music with other genres and advancing music by living composers.
Bryan is a composer who uses humor and social commentary to smear the boundaries of genres and traditions. Subject matters for past works have ranged from climate change denial to the vanity of self-promotion on social media. His harmonic and rhythmic sensibilities draw from minimalism and postmodern styles, a product of his earlier training as a jazz saxophonist. Past collaborations and commissions include Musaics of the Bay, International Orange Chorale of San Francisco, Guerrilla Composers Guild, Choral Chameleon, San Francisco Choral Artists, soprano Naomi Columna, Lehigh University Philharmonic Orchestra, and Monocacy Chamber Orchestra.
In addition to performing and composing, Bryan enjoys an active career in arts administration and currently works at Miller Theatre at Columbia University, New York City’s leading new music presenter. He was previously the Manager of Ensemble Operations at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), overseeing all artistic operations for collegiate ensembles and working closely with prolific conductors such as Edwin Outwater and Nicole Paiement. In 2017, he was the Director of Hot Air Music Festival's eighth season, an annual day-long new music marathon held at SFCM.
Bryan received his M.M. in Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in the studio of David Garner and holds two degrees from Lehigh University — a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.A. in Music; he studied composition at Lehigh with Paul Salerni and Steven Sametz and was music director of the co-ed a cappella group Off The Record. He has taken additional composition lessons with David Conte and Bill Warfield. His conducting mentors include Malcolm Merriweather, Mark Shapiro, Vince Peterson, Matthew Oltman, and Steven Sametz. In his spare time, Bryan rock climbs, pitches for his intramural softball team, and claims he does stand-up comedy but is too shy to perform.
