Artistic DirectorS
Hung-Wei Huang
Artistic Director
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, violist Hung-Wei Huang has built an international career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral leader, and artistic director, performing throughout Asia, Europe, and North America in venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, David Geffen Hall, Royal Albert Hall, and the Marlboro Music Festival.
Huang has held principal positions with major orchestras worldwide. In 2002, he became the youngest Principal Viola of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2005 he was appointed Principal Viola of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra by Maestro Chung Myung-Whun. He has also served as Guest Principal Viola with London's Royal Philharmonic, London Symphony, and London Philharmonic Orchestras, and in 2020 was named Principal Viola of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
As a soloist, Huang has appeared with the Taiwan Writers' and Artists' Association Orchestra, the Hong Kong and Seoul Philharmonics, Metropolitan Philharmonia in Taiwan, and the Vancouver Symphony. His chamber music engagements span Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Jordan Hall, as well as festivals such as Marlboro, Kneisel Hall, Santa Fe, and Taiwan Connection. He has collaborated with artists including Mitsuko Uchida, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Joshua Bell, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, and members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, and Orion String Quartets.
Huang began studying music at seven with Lin Chia-Zong and won Taiwan's National Instrumental Competition in 1993. He trained at the Curtis Institute of Music (Louisa Knapp Curtis Fellowship), The Juilliard School (Naumburg Scholarship), and Mannes College of Music, studying with Michael Tree, Joseph de Pasquale, Karen Tuttle, Samuel Rhodes, and Huang Hsin-Yun.
A dedicated educator and Guest Professor at the Korea National University of Arts, Huang also serves as Artistic Director of Vetta Chamber Music, shaping its programming and cross-generational artistic collaborations.
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.
