Maestro Cao Peng is one of China's most distinguished conductors, respected and revered for decades throughout the country and abroad. 

Maestro Cao started his career as a conductor in 1945. He conducted the Beijing Film Orchestra, the Shanghai Film Orchestra, and recorded many movie scores. While still a student at the Moscow Conservatory of Music in the 1950's, Maestro Cao conducted a number of concerts with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and the Conservatory of Music Opera Orchestra. Notable concerts featured the debut of Chinese repertoire, among them, the "Butterfly Lovers" violin concerto, with the Soviet Union Broadcast Symphony Orchestra.

In 1961, Maestro Cao returned to China and became conductor of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra for thirty years, and for which he is now the Music Advisor. He has also been the Music Director/Principal Conductor of the Shanghai Philharmonic, and the Shanghai Chamber Orchestra. During his 60-year career, Cao has conducted all over the world, including leading international and Chinese symphony orchestras, opera and dance companies. Maestro Cao, with his orchestras, has traveled and performed successfully all over the world. He is frequently invited as a guest conductor and lecturer abroad.

Cao has also been invited in jury at various international music competitions. In 1990, Cao brought the Shanghai Philharmonic in a tour to Russia giving concerts celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Tchaikovsky.  Music Lover magazine (Moscow) enthused, "The standing ovations and the encores lasted for more than thirty minutes. The dramatic intensity of the performance left a mood felt by everyone in audience." Maestro Cao teaches a conducting course at Shanghai Conservatory. He is also the Academician Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and a professor at East China University of Political Science and Law and Tong Ji University, among others.

Maestro Cao has worked extensively with traditional Chinese orchestras, as a frequent guest conductor of the Shanghai Traditional Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra and Taipei Municipal Chinese Classical Orchestra. In 1996, he conducted a joint performance of the Shanghai Traditional Orchestra and the Taipei Experimental Chinese Orchestra. The concert was hailed as a great event, marking the first collaboration in 40 years between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. The China Times review praised Cao Peng for his "...high degree of artistic and technical proficiency. His art mesmerizes."

In 1993 Cao embarked on a project with the Hong Kong HNH International Record Company to record a fifty-CD set named the “Complete Chinese Symphonic Music Series.” Released worldwide, this groundbreaking work would have a long and lasting impact on the future of symphonic music in China. In addition to his conducting and teaching activities, Maestro Cao has been a tireless advocate for classical music. These efforts led to the establishment, in 1995, of the "Cao Peng Music Centre", which supports the tremendous renaissance of musical activity throughout China. One of its most recent accomplishments was the inauguration of the Shanghai City Symphony Orchestra, dedicated to giving people more opportunities to enjoy, perform and love classical music.

Maestro Cao has won many prestigious awards and honors. He is the recipient of “Performing Arts Distinguished Contribution Award” given by the State Council of China. He received various awards by the Ministry of Culture and other national and local agencies. He has been referred to as a “hero” in the popularization of classical music in China.