Gerard Yun

Trained in the Western Classical tradition as a conductor, composer, global music performer and scholar, I have held professional posts with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestras, the San Jose Civic Light Opera and The Colorado Lyric Theatre. My community-based ensemble work in the U.S. included the Sacramento Master Singers and The Chorus and Orchestra of Southern Utah.

I was 1 of several Western conductors invited to study with conductors of the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in St. Petersburg, Russia just after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Although originally taken up as "hobbies of distraction," my work with instruments such as the Australian Didgeridoo and the Lakota Flute eventually became part of my professional portfolio. This is especially true of my work in Tuvan and Tibetan Overtone Singing and the Japanese Zen Buddhist Shakuhachi.

Before immigrating to Canada, I held the role of professor of choirs and voice at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah and director of choral studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Currently, I teach courses in Music and Contexts and Global Musics in the Faculty of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University and conduct choirs at Laurier and Conrad Grebel University College. I serve as instructor of Japanese shakuhachi at York University.

I am the artistic director of Waterloo’s East-West Concert Series and serve on a number of community music boards.