Artistic DirectorS
Hung-Wei Huang
Artistic Director
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, violist Hung-Wei Huang joined the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra as Principal Viola in February 2021. In 2002 Mr. Huang became the youngest-ever principal viola of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, going on to play with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He has served as guest principal viola of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Mr. Huang has performed chamber musicat Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall and the Kennedy Center and at the Marlboro, Santa Fe, and Great Mountain Festivals. He has collaborated with Joshua Bell, Myung-Wha Chung, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-SophieMutter, Paula Robison and Mitsuko Uchida, as well as members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, and Orion string quartets.
Hung-Wei Huang began music lessons at the age of seven with Lin Chia-Zong, and continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Julliard School, and the Mannes School of Music.
Mr. Huang served as guest professor of viola and chamber music at the Korea National University of Arts, and his students are members of professional orchestras around the world.
Joan Blackman
Artistic Director Emerita
Joan Blackman is a violinist, orchestral leader, chamber musician, curator, and mentor whose distinguished career has spanned solo, orchestral, and chamber music performance across British Columbia and beyond. A longtime member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, she served as Assistant and then Associate Concertmaster, and has been widely praised for her ravishing tone, lyricism, precision, and joy.
As a soloist, Joan has performed with the Vancouver Island Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Victoria Symphony, Vancouver Philharmonic, CBC Radio Orchestra, Turning Point Ensemble, Elektra, and the Banff Centre Orchestra. Her chamber music appearances have included Music in the Morning, MusicFest Vancouver, Jeffrey Concerts in London, Ontario, and the American String Project in Seattle, as well as summer festivals such as Hornby Island Festival, Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival, Kaimerata, and Victoria Summer Music Festival. She is also a member of the eclectic ensemble Four Jays.
Joan was Artistic Director of Vetta Chamber Music Society from 2007 to 2026 where she has curated innovative programs, championed Canadian music, and nurtured emerging artists through Vetta’s mentorship program, which supports young women at the beginning of their musical careers. She has also curated the summer festival for the Pender Harbour Concert Society. Deeply committed to music as a force for connection, she is especially passionate about mentorship and about fostering cross-cultural collaboration, including projects that build respectful creative relationships with First Nations artists and communities.
Joan is honoured to be joining the Vancouver Island Symphony as Concertmaster and looks forward to contributing to the artistic life of the orchestra and the wider Vancouver Island community where she now resides with her husband Larry.