Chen Lin is one of the most promising, talented female conductors that China has brought to the world. Born in Heilongjiang, China, in 1978, Chen Lin received her first piano lesson when she was five years old. At the age of thirteen, she won the grand prix in the young children category of the second Heilongjang Youth Piano Competition.

In 1993, when she was fifteen, Chen Lin was admitted to the junior high school affiliated with Beijing Central Conservatory of Music and started studying composition. In 1996, she entered the Central Conservatory of Music where she studied conducting under Yu Feng.

Chen Lin was a finalist in the Besançon International Conductors' Competition in 1999, 2001 and 2003. She made her debut at the Tanglewood Music Festival, USA, in 2000, at the recommendation of Seiji Ozawa.

Since 2003, Chen Lin has been participating in Seiji Ozawa Ongaku-juku as an associate conductor for opera performances of Die Fledermaus, La bohème and Il barbiere di Siviglia. The same year in 2003, recommended by Seiji Ozawa, Chen Lin made her successful debut in Japan by conducting the Osaka Century Symphony Orchestra at the Izumi Hall, a prestigious concert hall in Japan.

In 2004, Chen Lin was appointed Professor of Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, immediately upon her graduation from the school as a Master’s student of Conducting. In the following year, she was appointed Assistant Field Service Professor of Ensembles and Conducting of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), and Music Director of CCM Concert Orchestra.

In 2006, she appeared at the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan and conducted operas for the Young People and Children's Concert. In 2007, she won the second prize of the 8th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors. In 2009-2010, she was invited to conduct Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra.

While the China National Opera House premiere of Die Fledermaus conducted by Chen Lin in 2011 is considered a milestone of her career, the Saito Kinen Orchestra debut of hers made on 6 September 2013 has marked yet another major success.

In 2015, Chen Lin was invited by China National Opera House again to conduct Puccini’s Tosca in Beijing. From 2014 to 2016, while the Taiwan Creation Opera Institute performances of Puccini’s La Bohème and Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte conducted by Chen Lin are instant successes.

Chen Lin has conducted Saito Kinen Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Picardie, Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Philharmonic Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa Ongaku-juku Orchestra, Century Orchestra Osaka, China NCPA Orchestra, China National Opera House, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra and Shanghai philharmonic Orchestra.

Chen Lin is currently a professor in the conducting department of the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing.