conductor

In 2007 Maria Nauen founded the first in China semi-professional orchestra, - the Beijing International Chamber Orchestra ( BICO) their mission was to unite professional and amateur musicians of all nationalities together. The first orchestra set was literally a "chamber" one and consisted of 15 musicians from Russia, China, Hungary, the US, Germany, France Austria, Mongolia, and South Korea. From 2007 until 2023 BICO was growing big and became a symphony orchestra, with more than 50 members. All these years Maria served as chief conductor and artistic director, also moving the orchestra forward as passionated event manager: there were about 100 different concert programs performed, and most of them to support a charity.

Maria´s goal was not only to unite musicians of different nationalities but to perform for a good purpose: supporting children with disabilities, foster homes, migrant schools, and victims of natural disasters, and donating all income to the International Red Cross.

Maria was leading BICO until May 2023 when she moved back to Austria after 16 years living and working in China. She passed her conductor baton to Keith Lipson, an American conductor, but still until now she continues to organize BICO performances, working as artistic director, a public relationship manager, recruiter, event organizer, and designer, creating digital and physical posters and flyers for BICO concerts.

Besides Maria´s permanent directing of the Beijing International Chamber Orchestra, she worked as a guest conductor of the Changchun Symphony Orchestra ( Changchun, China), Seoul Romance Orchestra ( Seoul, South Korea), and Pacific Ocean Symphony Orchestra ( Vladivostok, Russia). Back to years 2001, she served as artistic director and conductor of the Chamber Orchestra "Gloria" ( Khabarovsk, Russia).

Her conductor´s repertoire consists of large monumental symphonic compositions of different epochs and styles ( Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Handel, Raff, Xinghai, Mendelssohn, Respighi, Prokofiev, Dunaevsky, Shostakovich ) as also charming chamber pieces from baroque to jazz.