Ming Luke

Ming Luke is a versatile American conductor who is the Principal Guest Conductor of the San Francisco Ballet,[1] Principal Conductor of the Nashville Ballet,[2] founder and Program Director of Festival Napa Valley's Blackburn Music Academy,[3] Music Director of the Merced Symphony,[4] Music Director of the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra,[5] and Education Director and Conductor of the Berkeley Symphony[6]

Luke's performance of Britten's War Requiem was voted top choral performance in the San Francisco Bay area in 2016 [7] by the San Francisco Classical Voice and San Francisco Chronicle stated that his performance of San Francisco Ballet's Romeo and Juliet in 2015 was the "best live theater performance[8]" of the work. Highlights of his career include conducting the Bolshoi Orchestra in Moscow, performances of Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet at the Kennedy Center,[9] conducting at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris,[10] and conducting Dvorak’s Requiem in Dvorak Hall in Prague. Ming Luke was named one of Diablo Magazine's 40 Under 40 in the East Bay[11] Luke has been profiled and his work featured in Nashville Public Radio,[12] The Tennessean[13] San Francisco Classical Voice,[14] and the Napa Valley Register.[15]

He has guested with various ballet companies including Boston Ballet, conducting the Nutcracker in December 2016[16] and again in May 2018 leading performances of Sleeping Beauty.[17]

Luke attended Carnegie Mellon University, graduating with an MFA in conducting, and Westminster Choir College, graduated with a double major in music education and piano pedagogy.[18]