FBC Music Minister Job Description
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fAREWELL to Yiran Zhao

Congratulations to Yiran Zhao, our Minister of Music, who
will begin a Doctor of Music Arts degree program in Choral Conducting at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY
this fall!  Yiran was also accepted to a prestigious orchestral conducting program for the summer, which starts in late June.  We will formally thank her for her three years of service as
First Baptist's Music Minister on Sunday, June 9. Please join
us for a special reception in her honor after service that day. 

Yiran, a conductor, composer, pianist and vocalist (b.1999), received her bachelor’s degree in Piano and Theory & Composition from Westminster Choir College. She earned a master’s degree in Choral Conducting at the Yale School of Music. Yiran was the choir director and organist at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Kendall Park, NJ from 2019 to 2021. She was also the director of the Xiao Feng Arts Choir. She is the assistant conductor of the SameStream choir, directed by Dr. James Jordan and composed of alumni of the Choir College. She was also faculty of High School Piano Camp at Westminster in 2019. 

​Born and raised in Beijing, China, Yiran joined the award-winning Beijing Philharmonic Choir at the age of 8. By summer 2020, she was the youngest conductor ever accepted to the Norfolk Chamber Choir & Choral Conducting Workshop at Yale (cancelled due to COVID-19).  Yiran has written multiple works in different genres, from solo voices and instruments to large works for choirs and orchestras. She has skillfully and faithfully served our congregation.  We will miss her bright spirit and we wish her God's richest blessings.  Thank you, Yiran!