Rising Stars: Meet Mingyan (Sally) Yu

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mingyan (Sally) Yu.

Hi Mingyan (Sally) Yu, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Kunming, Yunnan, China, also known as the “Spring City” with a very mild climate. I started taking piano lessons when I was five years old. However, I did not like piano or classical music as much back then, as it was more of a task given by my parents. I embarked on the soil of San Diego in 2009 as a high school sophomore. In my junior and senior year at La Jolla Country Day School, I picked up piano playing, and for the first time, I sincerely enjoyed making music with friends at school. I played lots of chamber music, and I even learned to play the double bass in order to contribute more in the school orchestra. Then, I moved to the East Coast and completed my undergraduate education at Cornell University. While majoring in Electrical and Computer engineering, I maintained my interest in classical music by completing a music minor. I was the vice president of Cornell Piano Society and a member of Dr. Andrew Zhou and David Friend’s piano studio, with the highlight of a senior recital in March 2016 featuring a collection of piano repertoires on a theme of ‘Water’ music.

I completed my first Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering at Columbia University in 2017. I was a member of the Columbia High-Speed and Millimeter-wave Integrated Circuits Lab (CoSMIC). I took piano lessons with Dr. Reiko Uchida at Columbia and Dr. Michael Shinn at the Juilliard School. I worked as a mixed-signal circuit design intern at Qualcomm Inc. in San Diego in 2017 and a full-time Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuited designer at Anokiwave, Inc. in Billerica, Massachusetts in 2018-2019. I decided to turn my passion for classical music into a lifelong career pursuit after taking conducting lessons with Prof. Charles Peltz at New England Conservatory (NEC) and Dr. Mark Shapiro at Juilliard School in 2018. I was driven to do something I truly love.

Then I completed my second master’s degree in instrumental conducting at NEC in 2021 with Maestro Charles Peltz. There I was also a proud protégé of Lyle Davidson, who inherited Nadia Boulanger’s Vidal harmony training from the Paris Conservatory. Since then, I have attended conducting workshops and festivals with Maestros Simeon Pironkoff, Neil Varon, James Ross, James Lowe, Neil Varon, Larry Rachleff, Donald Schleicher, Mark Gibson, and Mark Shapiro among others. I am currently a doctoral student in orchestral conducting at Michigan State University with Maestros Octavio Más-Arocas and Katherine Kilburn. I am the assistant conductor of Michigan State University’s Symphony Orchestra, Concert Orchestra, Opera, and Musique 21. I have conducted the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Philharmonic, Denver Philharmonic, and Miami Music Festival Orchestra. In 2023, I won second place in the International Conducting Workshop and Competition with the Denver Philharmonic. It is my dream to became a professional orchestra conductor in the future.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Switching career path is for sure not a smooth road. Although I had 120% passion and determination to switch to conducting from engineering, even since I started an actual music degree at New England Conservatory in 2019, I doubted myself almost every day. Of course, I was intellectually prepared for all the theoretical coursework, as I have taken so many private lessons to catch up in theory and musicology. I realized the actual ‘doing’ part came so much more difficult than I expected. Although I started playing piano when I was young, I was not professional trained. Having to play an instrument in front of lifelong musicians in class was very intimidating. Although I had regular conducting lessons and spent my summer before NEC in Paris learning conducting, having to conduct an ensemble on a regular basis was a totally different story. A conductor has so many responsibilities, and for me to feel prepared, I spent lots of time studying the score, playing the underlying harmonies on the piano, watching my own conducting videos, and reflecting on what needed to be changed. Most importantly, I have always struggled to deal with my confidence on the podium, as I was terrified of making mistakes. This comes from my engineering background, as in my old days, one transistor can throw off an entire module in a circuit. It took me a few years to realize that in conducting, you learn the best from your mistakes, and pursuing a “perfect” performance should never be the goal.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Currently, I am the only graduate assistant in the Orchestral Conducting area at Michigan State University. I am the assistant conductor of Michigan State University’s Symphony Orchestra, Concert Orchestra, Opera, and Musique 21, the contemporary chamber ensemble. I am extremely organized and disciplined, making it possible to navigate smoothly among the duties of different ensembles. I am very proud of my good memory and analytical mind. I use these abilities to conquer all the musical problems in conducting and help attain musicians’ needs in those ensembles whenever I can.

How do you define success?
Everlasting enthusiasm and happiness.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sallymyu.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sallymyu17/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sallyu17/

Image Credits
Photo Credit: Victoria Vucheva, Sonya Minqiao Barlow, Miami Music Festival