Han-Na Chang (Korean: 장한나) (born December 23, 1982), a South Korean cellist and conductor, becomes music director of Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra in September 2013..
Born in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, Chang began studying piano at age 3, and began her study in cello three years later at the age of 6. In 1993, her family moved to United States, where she was enrolled in the pre-college division of the Juilliard School. From 1993, she attended Mischa Maisky's masterclasses in Siena, Italy, and continued to study with him privately. In 1994, she competed in the Fifth Rostropovich International Cello Competition, and was awarded with both the First Prize as well as the Contemporary Music Prize.
Winning the Rostropovich International Cello Competition opened the doors for Chang to study privately under Mstislav Rostropovich himself. In 1995 she made her debut recording (Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme and Saint-Saëns' Cello Concerto No. 1) with Rostropovich himself conducting Chang and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Chang has debuted all around the world in great orchestras including Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Berliner Philharmoniker, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., the New York Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, the Orchestre de Paris, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia of Rome, the La Scala Orchestra of Milan and the San Francisco Symphony.
Chang has said that she has been focusing on conducting since 2007. In 2009, she founded the ‘Absolute Classic Festival’ in Korea, where she serves as the artistic director. Each year, its orchestra is newly auditioned, discovering outstanding talents from its pool of over a hundred instrumentalists in their twenties and thirties.
Han-na Chang made her UK conducting debut with the Philhamonia Orchestra in London in January 2012 and conducted the Royal Liverpool Philhamonic in February 2012.
Chang has been active in her native country South Korea in introducing classical music to children and adults alike.