About

Linus Ip, renowned for his innovative programming, fostering cultural collaborations, and advocating for contemporary composers,  is currently serving as the assistant conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute at the John. F. Kennedy Center, leading rehearsals and educations; as well as the assistant conductor at the Orion Youth Symphony of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra Academy. He is also the conductor of the Old Bay Ensemble for New Music. He had also been assisting at the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Opera and the Peabody Youth Orchestra at the Peabody Prep.  He places underrepresented narratives at the forefront of his work with his powerful voice in the communities. In the past year, Linus is one of the semifinalists in the Kussewitzsky Competition 2024 in Italy. He was selected as one of the conducting fellows at the National Orchestral Institute in 2022. Most recent engagement include conducting the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (US), National Philharmonic of the United State, and assisting Marin Alsop at Washington Choral Art Society in the Kennedy Centre. In the summer of 2024, he has appeared as a conductor at the Symphoniker Hamburg (Germany) and was the conducting scholar at the Eastern Music fesival.

Linus is dedicated to premiering living composers work. At the Old Bay New Music Ensemble, he made contemporary music art more accessible and understandable, through bringing audiences into the world of living composer’s mind. The root of this understanding comes from him as a composer. In the 2024–25 season, Linus led the Old Bay New Music Ensemble in premiering five new operas and works for sinfonietta. His strong interdisciplinary collaborations have successfully elevated the ensemble to a new level. He has also been collaborating with MfNM ensemble for New Media and was appointed as the Associate Conductor & Associate Curator of NYsoundCircuit in New York in 2021. 

Linus earned his master’s degree in orchestral conducting at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, studied under renowned conductors Marin Alsop, Joseph Young and choral conducting with Beth Willer. He also studied orchestral conducting under Ulrich Windfuhr through an exchange program at Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg (HfMT). He earned his bachelor’s degree in music composition from the Mannes School of Music, where he studied with Huang Ruo. His previous private conducting mentors include Henry Shek, Mark Shapiro, and Michael Charry, and he has participated in masterclasses worldwide with teachers such as Mei-Ann Chen, Gerard Schwarz, José-Luis Novo, Toby Purser, Martin Sieghart, and James Ross.