About Yun
Yun's BIO
Chinese American conductor, arts administrator, and pianist Yun Cao is recognized for his musical versatility, energetic presence, and compelling musicianship. From classical concerts to opera and musical theater productions, his diverse musical palette has led him to Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Severance Hall, Chicago Symphony Hall, the Lincoln Center, and major concert halls in Asia and Europe.
Yun currently serves as Faculty Artist and Music Director of the Aurora Philharmonic Orchestra at the Aurora School of Music, Associate Conductor and Manager of the Frost Symphony Orchestra, Lead Doctoral Teaching Assistant at the Frost School of Music, and Managing Director of JSGS Publishing. From 2022-2025, he served as an Assistant Conductor of the Palm Beach Symphony in West Palm Beach, Florida. He has been a Young Artist of the Cleveland Orchestra Kent/Blossom Music Festival, Conducting Fellow at the 2024 Cabrillo Music Festival, and auditioned at the 2025 Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Conducting Academy in Tokyo, Japan.
Yun has conducted and performed throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe, including three fully-staged opera productions: Puccini's Suor Angelica, Kurt Weill's Street Scene, and Jonathan Dove's Flight. As a pianist, he has conducted Mozart concertos from the bench, played orchestral keyboards side-by-side with the Cleveland Orchestra, soloed in concertos with orchestras across the nation, led Baroque ensembles from the harpsichord, and is an avid chamber musician performing works such as the Dvorak, Schumann, and Schubert Quintets. He is also the Second Prize winner of the American Protégé International Piano Competition and was a member of the 2016 Cleveland International Piano Competition Junior Jury.
His involvements at the University of Miami have led to world premieres of new musical compositions, family concerts, opera productions, TV broadcast recordings, conducting workshops, and collaborations between the Moss Center for the Performance Arts, the Adrienne Arsht Center, the Lowe Art Museum, and the Frost School of Music. Recently, Yun was credited assistant music director and audio producer for a live recording of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, which was nominated for an Emmy. He was also credited as assistant music director for a multimedia presentation of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” Both TV shows were broadcasted on more than 200 PBS stations nationwide.
Dedicated to bringing music to a wider audience, Yun has performed outreach concerts throughout the United States including lecture recitals for the Florida Honors Collegiate Council, presentations on score study to the Virginia Music Educator's Association, and performances at state and nationwide music conventions. Yun holds degrees in piano and conducting from Cleveland State University and the University of Miami, and has conducted for and received mentorship from renowned conductors including Gerard Schwarz, Riccardo Muti, Cristian Marcelaru, Larry Rachleff, Don Schleicher, Andrew Constantine, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya.