In 2023, Chinese-Australian conductor Dane Lam was appointed Music Director of the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the State Opera of South Australia. He has held the post of Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra since 2014.
As well as concerts in Xi'an and Honolulu, this season he conducts Gluck's Orpheus & Eurydice for Opera Australia (previously there: La bohème and Don Giovanni) and La bohème for Hawai'i Opera Theater. Last season included new productions ofCarmen for West Australian Opera (directed by Stuart Maunder) and for Scottish Opera (directed by John Fulljames), where he has previously conducted La traviata.
His credits also include appearances with the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Canberra, Adelaide and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Het Residentie Orkest, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Beethoven Orchester Bonn and the Verbier Festival Orchestra.
He was the first conductor in the history of Opera Queensland to be honoured with an official position when he was appointed their Associate Music Director and Resident Conductor in December 2020. During his tenure he conducted productions of Le nozze di Figaro and La traviata.
He was nominated as Artist of the Year by Limelight Magazine in 2021.
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Orpheus & Eurydice
Opera Australia, January 2024
Dane Lam, who conducted the original 2019 production in Brisbane (and who was recently appointed as the Artistic Director of State Opera South Australia), leads the Opera Australia Orchestra, finding all the beauty in Gluck’s exquisite, lyrical music with a lovely, lively reading.
Jo Litson, Limelight Magazine
Seeing Dane Lam conduct offered a visual embodiment of the rhythmic impulse coming from the pit that complemented the stage. His interpretation told. A person did not need to read the printed synopsis to know where the Acts fell; the orchestral weight said it all. There was an impressive architecture in Lam’s reading, note for example the way not overly-emphatic accents in the overture which accompanied the hanging Eurydice, grew to stabbing emphasis in Orpheus’s big Act three number, “Che farò senza Euridice,” Orpheus’s regret at finally losing Eurydice, and a musical pinnacle that Lam and Dumaux built toward.
Gordon Williams, OperaWire
First produced by Opera Queensland in association with Circa in 2019, this re-mounting, also directed by Lifschitz, adds the not inconsiderable power of the Opera Australia Chorus and Orchestra, performed under the light, sensitive baton of Dane Lam, familiar to Canberra audiences from his work with National Opera and the CSO.
Helen Musa, City News
The orchestra under the baton of Dane Lam did a wonderful job of realising Gluck’s composition...
Irina Dunn, City Hub
The orchestra ...playing dynamically or sweetly as required under Dane Lam’s baton.
Jeremy Eccles, Bachtrack
Carmen
Scottish Opera, May 2023
Under the baton of conductor Dane Lam, the orchestra plays Bizet’s remarkable score with a delicate, sensitive freshness and, when required, an invigorating heft.
Mark Brown, The Telegraph
Australian-Chinese conductor Dane Lam leads Scottish Opera’s orchestra with vim and swagger, and the chorus is on top form throughout.
David Lee, The Guardian
...the score (slightly cut) gets its due from Dane Lam, whose conducting never drags or sags but gives Bizet’s melodies room to fly. The result is a briskly paced but very lyrical Carmen...
Richard Bratby, The Spectator
The greatest consistency comes from the orchestra, magnificently emotive and alert under conductor Dane Lam.
Ken Walton, The Scotsman
The musical language of the show is... in safe[r] hands, conductor Dane Lam – who takes up the enviable position of Music Director of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra this summer – revelling in all the details of Bizet’s glorious orchestration and the orchestra delivering in spades, both soloists and ensemble.
Keith Bruce, The Herald Scotland
In the pit, Australian Dane Lam conjured up Bizet’s score with energy and vigour, the Scottish Opera Orchestra nimbly responding with lively strings, bright woodwinds and splendid brass. Tune after tune tumbled out, Lam keeping his musicians and singers well in step, tempering the excitement with lyrical delights, some lovely flute solos and nifty castanets.
David Smythe, Bachtrack
The ultimate, and most consistent, champions of this Carmen are the Scottish Opera Orchestra, whose performance on opening night under Australian conductor Dane Lam was exemplary, capturing Bizet’s red hot vibrancy, electrifying energy and melting expressiveness to the absolute full, proving that the beating heart of any opera emanates from the notes on the page.
Ken Walton, Vox Carnyx
Dane Lam and the orchestra laid a lively musical foundation.
Andrew Clark, Opera Magazine
The Orchestra of Scottish Opera is wonderfully responsive under Dane Lam’s baton. He coaxes glorious colours and timbres out of Bizet’s very well-known score, with the Intermezzo which opens Act III appearing as a real highlight.
Lorna Murray, West End Best Friend
The chorus was on sparkling form as usual, and the orchestra, under conductor Dane Lam, fizzed with fiery passion.
Miranda Heggie, The List
The curtain call on the show’s Edinburgh opening accordingly provided two particularly raucous cheers… the second for a rambunctious, and dynamic orchestra under Dane Lam.
WJQUINN, The Quintessential Review
...in purely musical terms, the production is quite excellent. The Orchestra of Scottish Opera is crisp and clear as ever, with Dane Lam’s musical direction fully exploiting Bizet’s rich store of melody and dramatic picture-painting, coupled with an emotional intensity that is quite astonishing for pre-verismo opera.
Donal Hurley, Edinburgh Music Review
Carmen
West Australian Opera, February 2023
Conductor Dane Lam, leading with passion and energy, was with his singers every step of the way and commanded a highly responsive and disciplined West Australian Symphony Orchestra with commitment and authority.
Stewart Smith, Limelight Magazine
Dane Lam’s conducting is entrancing, with the intensity, clarity and musicality drawing wonderful energy from the musicians.
Bourby Webster, Seesaw Magazine
...a vice-like grip on proceedings from Queensland-based conductor Dane Lam marshalling 150 musicians and singers in an epic production under the stars...
David Cusworth, The West Australian
La Traviata
Opera Queensland, July 2022
Musically this La Traviata was very fine indeed. A sensitive and clear interpretation by conductor Dane Lam was brilliantly conducted and extremely well delivered. It was played quite beautifully and with great attention to detail by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
Suzannah Conway, Limelight ****½
The music is utterly beautiful, and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under Dane Lam is the foundation for everything.
Courier Mail
QSO East Meets West
Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Dane Lam’s conducting was, as usual, excellent, with a keen ear for detail and control.
Paul Ballam-Cross, Limelight ****
QSO, Opera Gala
Queensland Symphony Opera, June 2022
Conductor Dane Lam, who was also the host of the concert, played a pivotal role in introducing the repertoire and the singers, guiding the audience and providing links from one piece to the next. With his easy and confident manner, his role was invaluable. Moreover, he conducted with much joy and in an energetic style that was infectious, his precise beat and great attention to detail bringing out the best in his orchestral forces. Well-versed in opera and clearly an enthusiastic devotee, he is proving to be an excellent singers’ conductor and was instrumental in the success of this exceptionally good program. In his program notes, Dane Lam stated that one thing all these operatic works have in common is ‘their ability to entertain, move and transform’. The concert did all three of those things extremely well and was moreover both joyous and polished at every level of its performance.
Suzannah Conway, Limelight *****
WASO, Last Night of the Proms
West Australian Symphony Orchestra, November 2021
'The Great Dane’, otherwise known as conductor Dane Lam, was an excellent replacement. What an unexpected treat was Lam, who had flown in from his recent appointment as Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra after several years as Principal Conductor of China’s Xi’an Symphony Orchestra.
Barbara Booth, Artshub ****½
WASO, Landscape and Wonder
West Australian Symphony Orchestra, November 2021
Under the direction of the ebullient Dane Lam, WASO took a measured approach to the tempo of the first movement, ensuring distinct lack of freneticism and controlled dynamic contrast that allowed the strings to inject a degree of nobility and refinement to the opening material.
Laura Biemmi, Limelight
He was energetic and purposeful in the opening work, Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, an apt amuse-bouche. Lam captured the off-beat wit, showcasing WASO’s star-studded woodwind and brass[...].
[...] Languid in the dance measures of the Larghetto second movement, and whimsical in the Gavotte third stanza, Lam led energetically into the Finale but never lost the lightness of touch in frenzied runs, trills and flourishes.
[…Lam found bursts of sunlight amid an anthemic mood building towards a tone poem before breaking into a scherzo, with robust brass tolling out the first movement.
David Cusworth, The West Australian
Queensland's Finest
Queensland Symphony Orchestra, September 2021
Richard Strauss’ tone poem, Till Eulenspiegel lustige Streiche, based on the pranks and adventures of a German peasant folk hero, completed the program. As a composition, it is musically excellent, but also rhythmically great fun, allowing Strauss to showcase all sections of the orchestra with great dexterity. It is a good piece to demonstrate QSO’s skills, with conductor Dane Lam in his element, teasing out the many musical colours of the characters in the individual instruments.
Lam was exemplary throughout the concert both on the podium and in his introductions of the pieces to be played. He has an easy, fluid quality as a speaker that works well and is moreover an asset on the podium where his energetic style and strong, clear beat is well received. He managed Lingane’s new work with aplomb, bringing out the nuances of the musical language and the rhythms of the work with precision and focus. His attention to detail in Beethoven’s Concerto, drawing out the marvellous musical colours and complexities of this work from the orchestra, was first-rate. His tempi were fast but the orchestra rose well to the occasion and his speed added a joyous excitement to the Concerto. Additionally, he had great fun with the Strauss tone poem. Overall, this was a marvellous concert, well realised and delivered by an exuberant orchestra.
Suzannah Conway, Limelight Magazine
As a short, early morning program, Queensland's Finest was a delightful way to take in some classical music pieces – and new works – performed with the virtuosity of the QSO's talented musicians. It is also a great chance to see Brisbane-born international star Dane Lam at work. Dane is the inaugural Associate Music Director and Resident Conductor at Opera Queensland and Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of China’s Xi’an Symphony Orchestra. He has worked all over the world and has returned to his home state of Queensland where, as well as working with the QSO, he is also Associate Lecturer at the University of Queensland, and working with the university's Symphony Orchestra. You really must see this lively conductor in action.
Beth Keehn, Stage Whispers
The physicality and cohesion of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra is always impressive, and Dane Lam conducted with passion and precision, using swift, sharp movements.
Backstreet Brisbane
The Marriage of Figaro
Opera Queensland, July 2021
Maestro Dane Lam managed his orchestral forces strongly, starting with a fine presto overture that kept the action moving, while the Queensland Symphony Orchestra played extremely well. Lam is to be congratulated for taking on the dual role of conductor and continuo fortepiano player for the recitative, making for a demanding evening in the pit.
Suzannah Conway, Limelight Magazine
Audiences have heard the overture countless times, and orchestras play it again and again, but the care that the conductor, Dane Lam, took over the balance, intonation and phrasing gave this familiar music a champagne sparkle which continued right through the long evening. (There were no cuts in this performance – I had never heard the second dance in the last act before). Crucially, this care for balance was also evident in the vocal ensembles. Like Cosi fan tutte, the first half of Figaro is a virtuosic series of ensembles, not arias, in which characters sing music which reflects their sometimes opposite response to the unfolding situations. These are always various within each trio, quartet, and especially larger ensembles. It is seriously hard to balance these so that every voice can be heard, but Lam not only achieved this consistently, but also ensured that the resulting texture was ravishingly clear.
Nicholas Routley, Australian Stage
The score’s humor and sadness was beautifully expressed by the orchestra led by Dane Lam. An excellent conductor, his control, was nuanced and lively which contributed enormously to this night of classic opera buffo.
Peter Pinne, Stage Whispers
Mozart’s score is opulent, familiar and hummable and Dane Lam’s assured conducting demonstrated his affinity with the composer. He steered a responsive orchestra sensitive to the singers.
Gillian Wills, Arts Hub
It's amazing stuff, brilliantly played under conductor Dane Lam - one of our most exciting young talents.
Phil Brown, The Courier Mail
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