Dane Lam, an Australian-Chinese-Singaporean conductor, is known for performances that unite precision with passion and for a rare ability to lead across borders—musically, geographically, and institutionally. He works in opera and orchestral music with equal fluency and has built a career defined not only by international reach but by the artistic and civic renewal he brings to the organisations he serves.

The only conductor in the world to hold major positions in the United States, Australia, and Asia, Dane is Music and Artistic Director of the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director of State Opera South Australia, and Principal Conductor of the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra. Few conductors lead major ensembles on three continents—and even fewer do so while commissioning new work, expanding audiences, and strengthening cultural identity in each place.

In Hawai‘i, since his appointment in 2023, Dane has led a resurgence of the Symphony’s role in civic life. He has introduced televised concerts, launched the HapaSymphony series blending classical and Hawaiian music, expanded audiences to record levels, and commissioned new works from across the Pacific alongside core repertoire in his Masterworks program. In 2024-25, he led the orchestra’s first complete Beethoven Symphony Cycle in its 125-year history—pairing Beethoven with Pacific Rim composers such as Xiaogang Ye and reviving the music of Honolulu-born Dai-Keong Lee (1915-2005), neglected for decades. His programming places Beethoven beside local legends and new voices beside overlooked ones, reframing tradition for a living community.

Whether conducting Mahler or Mozart, in Waikīkī, Xi’an, or Adelaide, Dane Lam doesn’t just build concerts—he builds bridges: between cultures and communities, between artists and audiences, and between what music has been and what it still can be today.