Vivian Ip is a leading young conductor in Hong Kong, recognized for her dynamic leadership in orchestral, choral, and operatic music, with a particular passion for stage productions. The 3rd Prize Winner of the 2025 International Ferenc Fricsay Conducting Competition, Vivian Ip was appointed Associate Conductor of Hong Kong Sinfonietta from the 2023/2024 season, where she has presented a series of concerts and worked closely with guest artists and musicians. Praised by Grammy Award-winning conductor John Nelson, who remarked, “Conducting is like breathing for you. Bright talent you have!”, Ip has established herself as a key figure in Hong Kong's music scene.  

 

Ip has guest conducted for organizations such as the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Hong Kong Grand Opera, Hong Kong Ballet, City Contemporary Dance Company, as well as Musica Viva. From 2016 to 2018, she served as Assistant Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, working alongside Music Director Jaap van Zweden and Principal Guest Conductor Yu Long, as well as renowned overseas conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Charles Dutoit, Vassily Sinaisky, and Lawrence Foster. She was the Music Director of the Xing-er Symphony Orchestra (Guangzhou) from 2017-2022, and led the orchestra to the Gold Award at the 6th World Orchestra Festival in Vienna in 2018, where she also received the Talented Conductor Prize. 

 

As an opera conductor, Ip has conducted operas such as Carmen, Die Zauberflöte, Der Fliegende Holländer, Norma, L’Elisir d’Amore, L'impresario in angustie, The Cunning Little Vixen, Maria de Buenos Aires, Merry Widow, Hansel and Gretel, etc. 

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In 2023, she co-founded ANIMA Ensemble, where she takes on the role of Artistic Director. The ensemble is dedicated to promoting contemporary chamber operas and musical theatre, and its inaugural, original production—the Hong Kong premiere of Philip Glass’s and Leonard Cohen’s The Book of Longing—received critical acclaim. 

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As a choral conductor, she was the Music Director of Chorus Delicti Wien for 7 years and has worked with numerous local and international choirs such as the Berlin Radio Choir, the Arnold Schoenber Chor, Asia Pacific Youth Choir, and the Hong Kong Children's Choir. 

 

Ip earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music (First Class Honours) from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Supported by an Associate Instructorship and the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowship for Overseas Studies, she pursued a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting at Indiana University Bloomington. She later graduated with distinction in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where she received the Würdigungspreis, under the supervision of Uroš Lajovic and Johannes Wildner.  

 

A recipient of the Hong Kong Outstanding Young Musician Award in 2024, Ip currently teaches Conducting at the Chinese University of Hong Kong as well as the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

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