Alana Chan is an accomplished conductor, pianist, music educator, adjudicator, and Royal Conservatory of Music examiner. With a deep passion for conducting, she was recognised as one of the Top Emerging Canadian Conductors at the RBC Canadian Conductors Showcase where she made her guest debut with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. The orchestras she has conducted include the London Serenata, Prague Summer Nights Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy Orchestra, Hong Kong Symphonia, Hong Kong Elite Chamber Orchestra, Hong Kong Children’s Symphony Orchestra on concert tour in Vienna. She also conducted the Chamber Orchestra of New York at the International Respighi Conducting Competition where she was the first female conductor to be awarded Honorable Mention in Carnegie Hall. In the summer of 2018, Alana was the Assistant & Cover Conductor for the fully staged opera of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” at the Prague Summer Nights Music Festival in the historical Estates Theater (the only standing theater where Mozart conducted in) in Prague. She also conducted a staged opera scenes concert of works by Czech composers including Sylvie Bodorová who was present in the audience in Tabor, Czech Republic. Alana was invited to return to Prague in 2019 for the production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and “Marriage of Figaro”. Back home in Canada, she was invited to conduct the musical production “Once Upon a Mattress” by Rodgers and Barer, presented by the North Shore Light Opera Society. Alana is currently the Music Director of A Little Night Music Orchestra (ALNMO) since 2018. As the International Ambassador & Conductor of the international project “Recuperar Bomtempo” invited by the Associação Cultural Ekletica and Portuguese Ministry of Culture, she led the Canadian premiere of João Domingos Bomtempo’s Piano Concerto No. 3, performed with guest soloist Bogdan Dulu at ALNMO’s 50th Season Finale Concert in Vancouver. In 2025, Alana concluded a decade of leadership as Music Director of the Simon Fraser University Concert Orchestra and was named Music Director Laureate in recognition of her artistic leadership and contribution to the orchestra’s growth and stability.

 

Alana holds a Master of Arts degree in Music (Piano Pedagogy) with Distinction and was the recipient of the Scholastic Award for being the top student of her graduating class at the Hong Kong Baptist University. She later furthered her studies and received Advanced Intensive Conducting training from the Juilliard School. Currently, she is on faculty at the Vancouver Academy of Music | S.K. Lee College, where she teaches piano, music theory, conducting, and ear training; and is the conductor of the Vancouver Academy of Music Junior Symphony. She serves as Examiner and Advanced Specialist for the Royal Conservatory of Music in Piano, Music Theory, and History. An active adjudicator, Alana has judged numerous competitions including the International Piano Competition for Composers of Jewish Heritage in Germany, 20th Asia Piano Open Competition in Hong Kong, Canadian Music Competition (CMC), Vancouver International Music Competition, 25th & 26th Annual Edith Lando Gifted Youth Music Competition, Phyllis Salter Annual Piano Competition, Vancouver Academy of Music Junior and Intermediate Symphony Concerto Competitions, Mastery School of Music Concerto Competition, Mozart School of Music Vancouver Piano Concerto Competition, Pacific Rim International Music Festival, and VSO School of Music Festival of Piano.

 

Alana’s teaching career has included leadership of school bands and choirs, and she was the founder of the choir for children with special needs at the Jockey Club Sarah Roe School of the English Schools Foundation in Hong Kong. She previously served on faculty at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and was invited by the Government of Hong Kong to present consecutive summer music workshops for young learners. Alana has been featured in Ming-Pao Daily News (Hong Kong), Fraser Monthly (Japanese Magazine), and on Fairchild Chinese Radio and Fairchild TV in Vancouver, where she discussed music’s role in healing during the COVID-19 pandemic following her creation and direction of a collaborative music video project. She currently serves as Vice President of the Vancouver International Music Festival & Competition and the Canada International Arts and Music Society, and has served on the board of the Vancouver Women’s Musical Society (now the Vancouver Westcoast Music Society). Beyond music, Alana has also made scholarly contributions in the field of Chemistry and was awarded the Vice President Research Award from Simon Fraser University.