ABOUT

Harris Han is a conductor and instrumentalist who strives to create performances that help people feel music deeply. Equally at home on the podium, at the keyboard, or with a violin in hand, he believes that many listeners have yet to discover how powerfully music can move them and aims to make that experience possible through meaningful concerts, thoughtful programming, and direct connection with audiences.

Harris currently serves as Assistant Conductor of the Palm Beach Symphony. He is the recent winner of the 2025 Seoul Philharmonic Conducting Fellowship and, following a recommendation from both the orchestra and Music Director Jaap van Zweden, led the orchestra in a performance of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra at Lotte Concert Hall. He will attend the Aspen Music Festival’s Conducting Academy in the Summer of 2025.

Harris has served as Assistant Conductor with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra, Ithaca College Opera Studio, and as a cover conductor for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. With the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, he worked closely with conductor Grant Cooper and was regularly engaged beyond the podium—performing violin in subscription concerts, playing harpsichord for The Four Seasons, and appearing as piano soloist in Carnival of the Animals. With the Ypsilanti Symphony, he conducted works ranging from Wagner to Sibelius, performed as both section and solo violinist, and helped grow the orchestra’s digital presence by producing promotional video content.

An active pianist, harpsichordist, violinist, and chamber musician, Harris has performed with ensembles such as the Symphony of the Americas, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra. As a collaborative pianist, he has worked at the University of Miami, Florida International University, the University of Michigan, Cornell University, and Ithaca College. He was invited to the Bach and Beyond Baroque Music Festival (NY) for many summers as violinist and harpsichordist, appearing as soloist in Bach’s Keyboard Concerto BWV 1054 and 1058. It was in one of these performances that music critic Andrew Martin Smith wrote the following remark: 

“He played with great technical agility and superb artistic expression. I can safely say that this piece was the best performance here that I have heard to date. I was so captivated, I wanted to throw all venerable concert tradition and etiquette aside and applaud vigorously after the completion of the first movement. Fortunately, out of respect for the other members of the audience, I was able to restrain my enthusiasm until the final movement’s closing chords.”

Harris is passionate about reimagining the concert experience. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he began developing "Virtual Orchestra" projects—meticulous multimedia performances featuring works like the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, involving remote collaboration, layered video editing, and creative direction. He also launched a series of “Neighborhood Concerts,” performing chamber music for his local community and later expanding the initiative to retirement homes and senior centers, where he presented engaging programs and took time to speak about the music, helping audiences connect more deeply with what they were hearing. Recently, Harris collaborated with violinist and YouTuber Charles Morey to produce an online video of an entirely original rendition of Wieniawski’s Polonaise Brillante in D Major.

He has attended and participated in programs such as the Riccardo Muti Opera Academy (Japan), George Enescu Conducting Masterclass (Romania), and the Pierre Monteux School and Festival (ME), where he served as Assistant Conductor and violinist. He was also a Conducting Scholar at the Eastern Music Festival (NC).

A committed educator and communicator, Harris recently conducted “Let’s Go to Brazil,” a family concert produced in collaboration with the Frost Live Entertainment Program, for which he arranged the full chamber orchestra score and wrote an original script to guide young audiences through the music.

Harris holds a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, where he studied with Gerard Schwarz and continued violin studies with Scott Flavin. He earned his Bachelor of Music in Piano and Violin Performance from Ithaca College, studying with Charis Dimaras and Calvin Wiersma. While at Ithaca, he was awarded the Mary Hayes North Piano Competition prize and won the school’s 2020 Concerto Competition.

His mentors include Jaap van Zweden, Cristian Măcelaru, Gerard Schwarz, Kenneth Kiesler, and Grant Cooper. In 2025, Harris was honored with a Career Assistance Award from The Solti Foundation U.S.