Han-Na Chang began her career as a cellist but has devoted her artistic work exclusively to conducting for almost twenty years. She made her first appearance with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in June 2025, conducting works by Beethoven, Richard Strauss and Bernd Richard Deutsch.
As a cellist, Han-Na Chang made a stunning international debut at the age of 11 winning the Grand Prix at the Rostropovich Cello Competition in Paris in 1994. She made a series of award-winning recordings and performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago orchestras, and the Berlin Philharmonic.
Beginning in 2007, Chang has devoted her artistic work exclusively to conducting. She is principal guest conductor of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra (since 2022) and was artistic director and chief conductor of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra from 2017 until the 2024-25 season. As a guest conductor, she has appeared with orchestras such as the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the WDR Sinfonieorchester, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris and the symphony orchestras of Vancouver, Toronto, Sydney and Melbourne. In 2016, Chang made her conducting debut at The Concertgebouw. Her scheduled Concertgebouw Orchestra debut in 2020 had to be postpone due to the covid pandemic.
Since 2024, the Korean-born conductor has been directing the Daejeon Grand Festival, which focuses on a young and diverse audience. With the Korean broadcaster MBC TV, she produced a television series to make Beethoven's symphonies accessible to a wide audience.
Chang has been a guest lecturer at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology since 2025, conducting research at the intersection of AI and the performing arts. In April 2026, she was appointed President and CEO of the Seoul Arts Center.