Jahja Ling

Jahja Ling is an Indonesian conductor, music director and pianist. From 2004 to 2017, he was the music director and conductor at the San Diego Symphony. Following his retirement in 2017, he plans to do guest conducting, as well as teaching and volunteering.

Early life He was born 25 October 1951 in Jakarta, Indonesia, and began to play the piano at age 4. He studied at the Yayasan Pendidikan Musik (Indonesian: Foundation for Musical Education) in Jakarta. At age 17 he received a Rockefeller award scholarship and went to study at The Juilliard School in New York City. At Juilliard he earned a master's degree, studied piano with Mieczyslaw Munz and conducting with John Nelson. Ling then went to study orchestral conducting at the Yale School of Music under Otto-Werner Mueller and received a doctor of musical arts degree. He was also a conducting fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute.

Career Ling served as founding Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (1986-1993) and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (1981–84), where Ling served as SFSYO's first music director from 1981-1984. He and the SFSYO were selected to perform for Queen Elizabeth II while on a State visit to San Francisco in 1983. Ling was on the conducting roster of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1984–2005, serving as resident conductor from 1985-2002.

For 6 seasons, from 2000-2005, Ling served as music director of the Blossom Festival and is the last person to have served with that title.

From 1988-2002, Ling was music director of the Florida Orchestra and brought that orchestra from a community orchestra into one of the finest regional orchestras in the country.

Starting in 2004, he was the music director of the San Diego Symphony, with an initial contract for 5 years which later was renewed as Green Contract. In 2014 he announced that the 2016-17 season would be his last. He conducted his final concert as music director in June 2017. His 13-year tenure is the longest in the history of the San Diego Symphony, and he is credited with rebuilding and revitalizing the orchestra.

Collaboration with others In 1980, he was awarded Leonard Bernstein conducting Fellowship and Tanglewood Music Center, where Mr. Bernstein became one of his most influential mentors. In 1987 he made his Cleveland Orchestra debut and has appeared as piano soloist with numerous U.S. and international orchestras. Under STEMI, he commits himself to visit Aula Simfonia Jakarta at least once a year After mourning for three years following his first wife’s death, he remarried in 2001. His second wife is Jessie Chang, a Taiwanese Christian pianist, and they have two daughters.

In 2014, he announced at a meeting with the board of directors, staff, and musicians of the San Diego Symphony that he planned to leave after the 2016-17 season. He said, "After the 2016-17 season, I look forward to pursuing more international guest conducting, passing on the great musical traditions to the next generation through teaching, and continuing with my volunteer work in Christian mission."