Marlon Chen's dynamic charisma and artistic versatility have seen him conduct opera, ballet, symphonic works and chamber orchestras to sold-out concert halls across four continents.
In 2025, Marlon Chen continues his positions as Music Director of the Manila Symphony and Resident Conductor of the Aperio Music of the Americas in Houston, Texas. Previously he held positions as Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfonica de la Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Hildalgo, Principal Conductor of the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra and Singapore International Festival of Music. He was an Associate Conductor of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, Assistant Conductor of the MDR Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig and Assistant Conductor of the Orchestre de Paris. Marlon Chen appears as guest conductor on both sides of the Atlantic with many of the world's finest orchestras including Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, National Orchestra d'ile de France, MAV Orchestra Hungary, English School of Opera Festival Orchestra London, Bulgarian State Opera, Moldova Chamber Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, the San Antonio Symphony, Bolivian Festival Orchestra, Singapore International Festival of Music Orchestra, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, MDR Orchestra of Leipzig, Philharmonique de Radio France, and the Symphonic Orchestra of Natal, Brazil. Upcoming engagements in China and southeast Asia include the Taiwan Philharmonic, the Shenyang Symphony, and Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra.
From 2002 to 2009 as Music Director of the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio and Maggini Ensemble. Over his tenure he initiated outreach programs to bring classical music to thousands of students in the Houston and San Antonio area. He organized international tours to give young musicians the opportunity to perform in world class concert halls throughout Europe. With the Maggini Ensemble the Houston Chronicle once praised him for his eloquent gestures and remarking “...the performance was beautiful” Himself a composer and arranger, Marlon Chen has performed his own works with the major orchestras he has conducted, commissioned works from composers and has conducted more than 50 premieres of contemporary compositions. Recent film projects include recording for Netflix on the award winning show Sense8 and Babylon Berlin with director Tom Tykwer.
In conjunction with the Kristjan Jarvi's Sound Projects at the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, Marlon Chen pioneered a new wave of audience participation. Branded as the “Awaking the Meditative Listening Journey” his simple and poignant new way to enlighten modern audiences breaks down the barriers of performers and listeners. The innovative listening approach electrifies each performance with invigorating participation that ignites the entire concert, audience and musicians emerge together to form a uniquely shared experience. Using insights to collective psychology, he has developed a method system to educate young music students all over the world to become better musicians in ensembles and orchestras focusing on a mutual and mindful learning approach.
