Hong Kong–born conductor Cheng Xin Ip was recently appointed Director of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble at the University of British Columbia, where he also serves as Sessional Lecturer in Conducting, teaching undergraduate conducting.

Ip is a member of the third cohort of the Orchestre Métropolitain’s Orchestral Conducting Academy, mentored by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, where he regularly works with the orchestra as Guest Assistant Conductor. He was a conducting fellow at the Domaine Forget de Charlevoix in 2023 and 2024, studying with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Kensho Watanabe, and assisting in performances with the Orchestre Métropolitain and the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec. In 2024, he was invited to the National Orchestral Institute + Festival, collaborating closely with Marin Alsop and Mei-Ann Chen. Most recently, Ip was selected to conduct the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in the 2024/25 RBC Canadian Conductor Showcase, under the mentorship of Daniel Raiskin.

Ip completed his graduate studies in conducting at the University of British Columbia under the tutelage of Dr. Jonathan Girard in 2024, and has participated in workshops and masterclasses with Martyn Brabbins, Mark Heron, Toby Purser, and Clark Rundell. His past conducting teachers and mentors include Ho-man Choi, Mark Heron, Kelvin Ngai, and Toby Purser. He has performed in major venues across Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and Canada.

Also an accomplished percussionist, Ip earned a Master of Music in Timpani and Orchestral Percussion Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music (UK), where he was awarded the Southern Percussion Prize. He previously completed his Bachelor of Arts in Music at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he twice received the Parsons Music Foundation Scholarship as well as the Chung Chi Departmental Prize. In 2019, he was named an RTHK Young Music Maker by Radio Television Hong Kong, giving him opportunities to appear in magazines, television, and radio, and to record solo performances for broadcast and CD release.