Cheung Chau is a director of orchestra in residence at University of Connecticut.  He is also music director of Central Pennsylvania Symphony and the Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale.as well as general and music director of Sinfonietta Polonia in Poland.  Formerly he was visiting director of orchestra at Haverford College and music director of Georgia Southern Symphony. 

The Polish Gazeta Wyborcza praised him that “noteworthy are Chau’s truly remarkable feeling for specificity of Polish music, his indeed solid conducting technique/métier and his methods of working with the orchestra thanks to which a given work is shaped in a very clear, transparent and dynamic way”.  The German Thueringer Allgemein reviewed “[Chau] used all colors and dynamic contrasts possible from the orchestra.  It was a full identification with the composer’s yearnings (Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique).  After powerful tones of the trombones the music sank into a hardly audible depth.  The audience was so captivated that a moment of silence followed, after which the tension exploded in unending applause.”

Invited by music director Edo de Waart, Chau served as conducting fellow of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted the Philharmonic in prominent projects, including leading the Philharmonic in the 2007 world live broadcast opening ceremony of the 10th anniversary celebration of Hong Kong’s Handover, amongst guests including Chinese President Hu Jintao. 

As guest conductor, Chau is principal guest conductor of Lublin Philharmonic in Poland and permanent guest conductor of Inner Mongolia Opera Theater in China and conducted the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra (USA),  Nordhausen Philharmonic Orchestra (Germany), Filharmonica Marchigiana (Italy), Moscow Symphony Orchestra (Russia), Tianjin, Xiamen and Xinhua Philharmonic Orchestras (China), Lublin, Bialystok, Olsztyn, Kielce and Sudettic Philharmonic Orchestras (Poland), Gavle Symphony Orchestra (Sweden), Vaasa City Orchestra and the Sibelius Academy Orchestra (Finland). 

As general and music director of Sinfonietta Polonia in Poland, he led the ensemble in tours in Germany, China, Poland and France. In August 2011, Chau was also the director of the International Karol Szymanowski Festival in Beijing, China, presenting works of Szymanowski as well as works of other Polish and Chinese composers with Sinfonietta Polonia, Atma Trio, and artists from the USA, Russia, Poland and China at the China National Centre for the Arts, Beijing Concert Hall and Forbidden City Concert Hall. Performances of Sinfonietta Polonia were nominated for best cultural event of the year in Ostrów, Poland in 2005 and won the award for most important cultural event of the year in 2008.  Sinfonietta Polonia recorded for Acte Preable, Huhhot TV, Beijing TV and was featured as a cover article for the prestigious Polish classical music magazine, Muzyka 21, in November 2009. 

Chau was awarded the first double doctorate in the history of the New England Conservatory in Boston in wind ensemble conducting and cello, where he studied conducting with Frank Battisti and cello with Colin Carr.  He later studied orchestral conducting with Jorma Panula at the Royal Conservatory of Sweden in Stockholm.  As conductor, he is a National Arts Associate of Sigma Alpha Iota. 

As cellist, Chau is member of the Atma Trio, with violinist/wife Blanka Bednarz and pianist Slawomir Dobrzanski.  They perform in USA, Germany, Italy, China,  and tours regularly in Poland.  They also recorded works of Mendelssohn and Ravel for Polish label Acte Preable.