Yukuang JIN

Candidate of the 2027 Competition

Yukuang Jin has served as Principal Conductor of the Sichuan Philharmonic Orchestra since the 2024/2025 season.

He is the recipient of the Paavo Järvi Scholarship at the Tonhalle Zürich Conducting Academy 2026, a Designate Winner of the Second International Conducting Competition Rotterdam, winner of the Neeme Järvi Prize 2023, and Second Prize winner of the Khachaturian Competition 2021. He is also the founder of Camerata Novus-Classica, one of China’s Ten Outstanding Young Conductors.

In June 2026, Yukuang Jin was selected as one of six participants from 422 applicants for the Tonhalle Zürich Conducting Academy, where he was awarded the only Paavo Järvi Scholarship at the final prize concert.

In August 2023, he won the Neeme Järvi Prize at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival in Switzerland. In 2025, he was named one of six Designate Winners of the Second International Conducting Competition Rotterdam after advancing from the semi-finals.

On 8 January 2021, Yukuang Jin founded Camerata Novus-Classica. Later that year, he led the ensemble to the Young Musician Award at the 24th Beijing International Music Festival, as well as the New Artist of the Year award at the Ganlan Art Awards. In 2022, he was named one of China’s Ten Outstanding Young Conductors, as recognized by the Art Department of the Ministry of Culture and the Publicity Department of China.

Over the past several years, Yukuang Jin has collaborated with Grammy Award-winning artists including Laufey and Time for Three, as well as internationally renowned musicians such as Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Ye Xiaogang, Denis Kozhukhin, Feng Ning, Jing Zhao, Alexander Gavrylyuk and Paul Huang.

He has worked as an assistant conductor and student with distinguished conductors including Jaap van Zweden, Myung-Whun Chung, Paavo Järvi, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Markus Stenz, Shao-Chia Lü, Daniele Gatti, and Johannes Schlaefli.

Through season concerts, music festivals, competitions, and masterclasses, Yukuang Jin has collaborated with leading orchestras including the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the 18th Century, Mozarteum Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Rotterdam, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, and Klangforum Wien. In Asia, he has also worked with major ensembles such as the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, and Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra. In recent years, he has collaborated with more than 40 orchestras, conducting over 100 performances.

Yukuang Jin entered the Conducting Program at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music Middle School in 2015, where he studied with Xiaoou Zhao, Guoyong Zhang, and Daye Lin. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Conducting at the Zurich University of the Arts under Christoph-Mathias Mueller, while continuing his artistic development with his long-time mentor, Long Yu.

Check out Yukuang’s Website