Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship Announces 2026-28 Fellow, Associate Fellow, and Award Recipients

New partnerships launching with Reno Philharmonic, Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra

Mentees chosen for the 2026 and 2027 TACF Mentorship Program, supported by the Sherman Family Foundation

Click here to download headshots of 2026–28 Fellow, Associate Fellow, and Award Recipients

January 15, 2026

Today, the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship (TACF) proudly announces that Taiwanese conductor Chi-Yuan Lin has been chosen as the 2026–28 TACF Fellow. In a competitive cycle with nearly 150 applicants representing 41 nationalities, the TACF also names Michelle Di Russo as Associate Fellow, and Joséphine Korda, Polina Lebedieva, Ziwei Ma, and Molly Turner as Award Recipients. The Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship is a two-year award that includes intensive coaching and mentoring with Marin Alsop and other music industry professionals. The TACF honorarium for Fellows is $30,000 over two years; other awards are distributed on a merit basis. Since 2003, 42 women conductors have been chosen to participate in the program. The TACF Mentoring Program was established in 2022 and has added 50 additional women conductors to the TACF.

“Since launching the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship in 2002, I have been impressed and inspired by the talent, dedication, and creativity of the women who apply. Their level of expertise and accomplishment rises exponentially every application cycle.” said Marin Alsop, TACF Founder and one of the foremost conductors of our time. “In the nearly 25 years since its founding, I have watched the TACF blossom into a community of women who support each other professionally as well as personally. It’s especially gratifying to see that, among the 2026–28 cohort, three conductors — including the Fellow and Associate Fellow — are past participants in the TACF Mentoring Program, a testament to the important contribution TACF is making to conductors’ growth in multiple phases of their careers. I’m proud and thrilled to welcome this year’s class of Fellows, Award Recipients, and Mentees to the TACF family.”

Chi-Yuan Lin, the TACF 2026–28 Fellow

Born in Taoyuan, Taiwan, Chi-Yuan Lin is currently serving in the Conductor position with the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center Ensemble.  This season at Lyric she will work on Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci, Salome, and Madama Butterfly, and will also return for another season as Music Director and Conductor of the Avanti Orchestra in Washington, DC. Previous engagements include the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, and Peabody Opera Theatre. She received her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from National Taiwan Normal University and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral conducting at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. She was a 2023–24 Mentee in the TACF Mentoring Program.

“It’s an unbelievable honor to be selected as the 2026 Fellow of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship,” Lin said. “I have long cherished the TACF as a truly special organization. It offers generous, hands-on guidance while creating space, opportunity, and a strong support system as we navigate our future careers. I am especially excited for the opportunity to work with orchestras around the world, to learn through meaningful mentorship with Marin Alsop, and to grow alongside other inspiring female conductors. Music has carried me through difficult moments in life, and as a conductor, I feel deeply fortunate to share passion and joy and to bring people together. As a TACF Fellow, I hope to pass this light on and bring strength and belief wherever I go.”

Clockwise from top left: Polina Lebedieva, Michelle Di Russo, Ziwei Ma, Joséphine Korda, and Molly Turner

Argentinian-Italian conductor Michelle Di Russo is currently Music Director of the Delaware Symphony and Associate Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony. She was a conducting fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and a two-time recipient of The Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award. This season’s highlights include guest conducting debuts with Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, and Toledo Ballet. She was a TACF Mentee in 2023–24.

British conductor Joséphine Korda is the top prize winner of the Neeme Järvi Prize at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival 2025, receiving invitations to conduct in four Swiss-German orchestras in the 2026-27 season. She has conducted orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic, The Philharmonia, and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra. Equally at home in the theatre, she conducts at Northern Ballet, Opera Holland Park, and is currently Conductor in Residence at the Academie de l’Opéra de Paris.

Polina Lebedieva is assistant conductor of Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris. In July 2023, she was a semi-finalist (Top 5) in the Mahler Competition in Bamberg, Germany, and in June 2024, she reached the semi-finals of the International Conducting Competition in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She has also worked with the Berner Symphonieorchester, the Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra, and L’Orchestre du Pays Basque, among others.

Born and raised in Beijing, China, Ziwei Ma is currently the Conducting Fellow at the New World Symphony. She recently served as Cover Conductor for The Philadelphia Orchestra (under Stéphane Denève) and appeared as Offstage Conductor with members of the orchestra in performances of Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony. Ma also served as a conducting fellow at the Lakes Area Music Festival and has been invited to return in 2026.

Molly Turner served as Conducting Fellow of New World Symphony during the 2023–24 and 2024–25 seasons, and was also a Dudamel Fellow with Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2024–25. Highlights of the current season include return engagements with the LA Phil, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Orchestre de Paris, as well as debuts with Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra and Opera Grand Rapids. In addition to conducting, Turner is also a composer and plays violin, viola, and piano. She was a TACF Mentee in 2023–24.

New and continuing partnerships with U.S. and international orchestras

This year, the TACF solidifies exciting partnerships with multiple international orchestras that will provide additional opportunities for the TACF network of conductors. These orchestras are: the Reno Phil in Reno, NV; the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra in South Africa; and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) in Katowice, Poland.

The Reno Phil, with support from Charlotte and Dick McConnell, launches the annual McConnell Conducting Fellowship in the 2026–27 season. In partnership with the TACF, the Reno Phil will choose some of its fellows each year from the Taki community; additional details to be announced. “The Reno Phil is proud to partner with the Taki Alsop Fellowship to expand opportunities for emerging conductors,” said Reno Phil Music Director Laura Jackson, the TACF 2004 Fellow. “Marin Alsop’s mentorship and the strength of the Taki community have played a meaningful role in my own journey. It’s deeply important to me to use my work at the Reno Phil to help support and elevate the next generation.”

The KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, two leading South African orchestras, will offer conducting residencies for TACF conductors. “The KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestras are proud to meaningfully contribute to the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship, which fosters talented women conductors through active mentorship,” said Bongani Tembe, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of both orchestras.

TACF and the NOSPR — where Alsop serves as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor — have enjoyed a fruitful collaboration going back several seasons; the orchestra has hired numerous TACF alumni for guest conducting engagements, and invites two TACF conductors each season to participate in its annual week of masterclasses, led by Alsop. 

TACF Mentoring Program, supported by the Sherman Family Foundation

In 2022, the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship launched its Mentoring Program, which provides 10 free mentoring sessions with TACF alumni. Initially funded by AT&T in 2022, the program has since accepted 50 conductors and continues to expand with the generous support of the Sherman Family Foundation.

Through the Mentoring Program, TACF expands its network of women conductors and collects research and data to create a mentoring model for the future. As evidenced by the 2026–28 class of Fellows and Award Recipients, past Mentees can reapply for the Fellowship and are frequently chosen for higher level awards.

The 2026 class of Mentees includes: Sara Aldana, Ying Lam Chu, Jeanne Cousin, Claudia Fuller, Nina Haug, Guro Ansteensen Haugli, Sohye Jung, Michal Oren, Damali Willingham, and Naomi Woo. Their mentorship period runs from January 1 to December 31, 2026. 

The 2027 class of Mentees includes: Katarine Araujo, Maria Bazou, Yudania Gómez Heredia, Nadia Kisseleva, Fang-Ju Kuo, Mojca Lavrenčič, Heeseong Lee, Chloé Meyzie, Gabriela Opacka-Boccadoro, and Leanna Mei-Ling Puttick. Their mentorship period runs from January 1 to December 31, 2027. 

About the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship

In 2002, Marin Alsop, with the support of Tomio Taki, created the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship in order to mentor, support, and promote women conductors as they advance in their professional careers. Since 2003, 42 women conductors have been chosen to participate in the program. The TACF Mentoring Program was established in 2022 and has added 50 additional women conductors to the TACF. All are working to ensure a more equitable future in classical music through their artistry and advocacy. Among them, 32 Music Director/Chief Conductor titles are held with orchestras around the world.

The selection process for the 2026–28 Fellow and other award recipients included a thorough application, conducting videos, a personal statement video, references, and interviews for the finalists. In addition to Alsop and the TACF staff, other esteemed conductors and industry leaders also assessed the finalists and provided observations. Learn more at takialsop.org. 

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Media contact:

Caroline Finane
8VA Music Consultancy
+49 152 2706 3037
caroline@8vamusicconsultancy.com