Jahja Ling

Jahja Ling (Chinese 林望傑, born in Jakarta, Indonesia; Oct. 25, 1951) is an orchestra conductor. He is of Chinese descent and is now an American citizen. He began to play the piano at age 4 and studied at the Yayasan Pendidikan Musik School of Music. At age 17, he won the Jakarta Piano Competition and, one year later, was awarded a Rockefeller grant to attend The Juilliard School. There he completed a master's degree and studied piano with Mieczyslaw Munz and conducting with John Nelson. He then studied orchestral conducting at the Yale School of Music under Otto-Werner Mueller and received a doctor of musical arts degree. He was a conducting fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute.

Ling founded the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra in 1981, and served as its first Music Director from 1981-1984. Ling was on the conducting roster of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1984-2005, serving as Resident Conductor from 1985-2002. During that time, he also founded the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and was its first music director from 1986-1993. From 2000-2005, Ling was Music Director of the Blossom Music Festival, the last person to serve with that title. [

[http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050904/news_1a04scher.html Valerie Scher, "Ling bids farewell to fest: 'It is time for me to move on'". "San Diego Union-Tribune", 4 September 2005.] ]

From 1988-2002, Ling was Music Director of the Florida Orchestra, and is now its Music Director Laureate. Since 2004, he has been the Music Director of the San Diego Symphony, with an initial contract for 5 years [ [http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051002/news_1a02symph.html Valerie Scher, "Questions hover over new season". "San Diego Union-Tribune", 2 October 2005] ] . In October 2007, Ling extended his contract with the San Diego Symphony to 2012. [cite news | author=Valerie Scher | title=Ling's contract is renewed | url=http://cfx.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20071005-9999-1c05ling.html | work=San Diego Union-Tribune | date=5 October 2007 | accessdate=2007-11-04]

Memorable Performance

Ling is best remembered for conducting the Florida Orchestra's performance of the National Anthem during Super Bowl XXV while sung by Whitney Houston, considered one of the game's most memorable and emotional renditions. It occurred during the midst of the Persian Gulf War and became an enduring symbol of great patriotic sentiment. A recording was released commercially and became a major hit on the 1991 Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Family

Ling has been married twice. He and his late first wife, Jane, had two sons, Gabriel and Daniel [ [http://www.sptimes.com/2003/11/06/Weekend/Ling_returns_to_local.shtml John Fielding, "Ling returns to local podiums" "St. Petersburg Times", 6 November 2003.] ] . His second wife, since 2001 [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E5DB163AF934A35752C0A9679C8B63 Lois Smith Brady, "Weddings: Vows: Jessie Chang and Jahja Ling". "New York Times", 7 January 2001.] ] , is the pianist Jessie Chang, and they have two daughters [

[http://www.sptimes.com/2005/04/02/Floridian/Orchestrated_moves.shtml John Fielding, "Orchestrated moves". "St. Petersburg Times", 2 April 2005.] ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.sandiegosymphony.com/ The San Diego Symphony Website]