A highly respected and influential figure in Asia's orchestral music scene, Yip Wing-sie has been the Music Director of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta since 2002 and is also the Principal Guest Conductor at the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. Positions she has previously held include the Ong Teng Cheong Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore (2005–2006), Principal Conductor and later Music Director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra (1997–2003) and Resident Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (1986–2000). Winner of the First Prize as well as "LYRE d'OR" in the 35th Concours International des Jeunes Chefs d'Orchestre de Besançon, France in 1985 and a prizewinner in the 8th Tokyo International Conducting Competition in 1988, Yip is in great demand as a guest conductor in Asia. Orchestras she has conducted include the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of China, China National Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Inchon City Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Mozart Players, the symphony orchestras of Sapporo, Hiroshima, Shinsei Nihon, Yomiuri, Kyushu, Taiwan, Tasmania, Melbourne and Queensland as well as the Auckland Philharmonia of New Zealand. In Europe, Yip's engagements have included concerts with the National Capitol Orchestre de Toulouse and the Chambre Orchestre de Besançon in France, Warsaw Philharmonic in Poland, Spain's Tenerife Symphony Orchestra and the Czech State Orchestra of Košice. She has also conducted at prestigious venues and festivals such as the Vienna Musikverein (Grossersaal), Beijing Music Festival, Fukuoka's Asian Month Festival in Japan, Hong Kong Arts Festival and Macao International Music Festival. Yip has also collaborated with such renowned artists as Augustin Dumay, Fou Ts'ong, Shlomo Mintz, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman. Recent highlights included Hong Kong Sinfonietta's 2006 and 2007 Japan Tour (La Folle Journée in Tokyo), début at 2007 Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, the 2005 European Tour (festivals in France and Lithuania, as well as concert at the prestigious National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw) and the 2004 French Tour where they appeared at two French festivals in the "Year of China in France". Born in Guangzhou and brought up in Hong Kong, Yip studied at the Royal College of Music in London before going on to the Indiana University at Bloomington, USA, where she obtained her Master's Degree in violin performance and conducting. As the winner of the Koussevitsky Scholarship and the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship Award, Yip spent the summers of 1986 and 1992 attending the conducting seminar and fellowship programmes at the Tanglewood Music Center. Her mentors included great maestros such as Norman Del Mar, Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Gustav Meier and David Atherton. In 1990, Yip was named one of Hong Kong's Ten Outstanding Young Persons. In 2006, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Open University of Hong Kong. She was recently bestowed "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" by the Ministry of Culture and Communication of France.