Ho-Yin Kwok

Described by Classical Voice of North Carolina (CVNC) as an “impressive conductor…outstanding in his attention to detail and his command of the big picture”, Hong Kong-born conductor Ho-Yin Kwok is a three-time winner of The American Prize, 2021, winner of 2017-2018 Vincent C. LaGuardia, Jr. Conducting Competition and 2021 International Conductors Workshop and Competition. Recently concluded his 8 transformative years as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Mississippi Valley Orchestra, Kwok is the Director of Orchestras at Ithaca College, New York. Concurrently, he also serves as Music Director of Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra in Duluth, Minnesota.

Having established a nationwide professional reputation, He served as Assistant Conductor of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and was invited to be cover conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and Kansas City Symphony. Kwok was previously Assistant Conductor of Collegium Musicum Hong Kong and has performed in esteemed venues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall and Musikverein in Vienna. His recent guest conducting engagements include the New World Symphony (FL), the Syracuse Orchestra (NY), Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra (MN), Arapahoe Philharmonic (CO), Cayuga Chamber Orchestra (NY), Gwinnett Symphony Chamber Orchestra (GA), and Eastern Festival Orchestra (NC).

An avid music educator, Kwok previously served as the Director of the Duluth Superior Youth Symphony, and in the faculty of Eastern Kentucky University and University of Minnesota Duluth. His recent educational guest conducting engagements include multiple All-state and All-county Orchestras, Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies, Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras, University of Wisconsin-Madison Summer Music Clinic, and Foster Music Camp. He was invited as adjudicator for concerto competitions such as those of Minnesota Orchestra Young People’s Symphony Concert Association, University of Minnesota, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Cornell University and Binghamton University.

Kwok is a first prize winner of The American Prize in opera conducting. He had served as Music Director of the Opera Theatre at University of Minnesota Twin-Cities. He enjoys conducting operas of a wide range of periods and styles, from Mozart’s Idomeneo to Puccini’s La Bohéme, Britten’s Albert Herring, and Menotti’s The Consul. He was the instigating artistic force behind the formation of opera orchestra at Eastern Kentucky University and has collaborated professionally with Arbeit Opera Theatre and Lyric Opera of the North. In the 2021-22 season, Kwok gave one of the first performances of Laura Kaminsky’s new opera, Hometown to the World.

Known for his passion in diversifying the orchestral concert repertoire, Kwok has been involved in multiple initiatives and special projects. With the Mississippi Valley Orchestra, he created the annual Foreground Composers Series, a year-round celebration and in-depth research on an underrepresented composer. This ongoing project has led to numerous US premieres of works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Ruth Gipps, Ina Boyle, and Bao Yuankai, along with many other neglected composers. Kwok is also a panel member of …And we were heard, a national initiative to promote contemporary music and composers of underrepresented backgrounds. Kwok is the co-director of Contemporary Chamber Ensemble at Ithaca College and conducted the Center for New Music at the University of Iowa. 

Kwok studied conducting at the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities and the University of Iowa. His principal teachers are Mark Russell Smith and William LaRue Jones. His other important mentors are Gerard Schwarz, Kevin Noe, Cristian Măcelaru, Giancarlo Guerrero, the Ensō String Quartet, Brentano Quartet, Joel Krosnick, David Shifrin, Kathy Saltzman Romey, and Grant Cooper. He is a Marquis Who’s Who biographical listee.