Eugene Frederick Castillo is a Filipino American conductor, most recently serving as the director and principal conductor of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. An active spokesman for the arts, he has been recognized with numerous civic awards and recognitions.
As a conductor, Castillo is best known for his work with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, which he led from 2004 to 2008. His contemporaries cite his efforts to combat brain drain in the Philippines by making the orchestra an item of national pride and raising its global profile. Critics enjoy his eclectic mix of symphonic music, and his advocacy of contemporary and living composers. [1]
Castillo has been honored four times by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers for his commitment to the works of contemporary composers. [2] The Filipino-American Historical Society has recognized him as the only Filipino-American to conduct a major metropolitan symphony. [3] In the past, he has conducted metropolitan symphonies in Long Beach, California, Pasadena, California, and Sacramento, California. Also, he has served as a cover conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra(U.S.) at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, officially known in shorthand as LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September. Gustavo Dudamel is the current music director, Esa-Pekka Salonen is conductor laureate, Zubin Mehta is conductor emeritus, and Susanna Mälkki is principal guest conductor. John Adams is the orchestra's current composer-in-residence.
Michael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, and Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Howard Harold Hanson was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music. In 1944, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his Symphony No. 4, and received numerous other awards including the George Foster Peabody Award for Outstanding Entertainment in Music in 1946.
Stanislaw Pawel Stefan Jan Sebastian Skrowaczewski was a Polish-American classical conductor and composer.
The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) is the resident symphony orchestra of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). It is currently under the musical direction of its resident conductor and associate conductor, Dr. Herminigildo Ranera.
Robert Spano is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Aspen Music Festival and School, and music director laureate of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO).
Henry Jay Lewis was an American double-bassist and orchestral conductor whose career extended over four decades. A child prodigy, he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 16, becoming the first African-American instrumentalist in a major symphony orchestra and, later, the first African-American symphony orchestra conductor in the United States. As musical director of the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra, he supported America's cultural diplomacy initiatives in Europe after World War II.
David Atherton is an English conductor and founder of the London Sinfonietta.
Vladimir Mikhailovich Jurowski is a Russian conductor. He is the son of conductor Michail Jurowski, and grandson of Soviet film music composer Vladimir Michailovich Jurowski.
Donato Cabrera is an American conductor with an active international career. He is the Music Director of the California Symphony and the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and was the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2009-2016.
Gerard Imutan Salonga is a Filipino musical conductor, composer, and arranger. From 2012 to 2020, he was the music director of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra, assistant conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra from 2016 to 2018, and from 2019 to the present the resident conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.
Matthias Bamert is a Swiss conductor and composer.
Donald George Johanos was a conductor and music director with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. He was recognized for his support of contemporary classical music. He performed or conducted on at least 16 recordings.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, CC is a Canadian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montréal), the Metropolitan Opera, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was also principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 to 2018.
Herminigildo G. Ranera is a Filipino conductor, composer, arranger, performer and educator.
Chorus Philippines is a composite choir founded by choirmaster-composer Joy Nilo in 2002. Cited as one of the country's leading chamber choirs, the choir has performed works by major composers as well as compositions by Filipino icons found in most concert halls in the Philippines.
Yoshikazu Fukumura is a Japanese conductor, formerly Music Director of the Tokyo City Ballet Company, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, and Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2016 he began his tenure as music director of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Pasadena Symphony and POPS is an American orchestra based in Pasadena, California. In 2010 it took up residence at the Ambassador Auditorium, where its Classics Series runs from October through April. Since 2012 it performs a summer series at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden from June through September.
Olivier Fabrice Ochanine is a French conductor and flutist; he is founding Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Sun Symphony Orchestra of Hanoi, Vietnam and the former Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO), the national orchestra of the Philippines.
Black conductors are musicians of African, Caribbean, African-American ancestry and other members of the African diaspora who are musical ensemble leaders who direct classical music performances, such as an orchestral or choral concerts, or jazz ensemble big band concerts by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms, face and head. Conductors of African descent are rare, as the vast majority are male and Caucasian.