Lorin Varencove Maazel was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in the concert halls of Europe by 1960 but, by comparison, his career in the U.S. progressed far more slowly. He served as music director of The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, among other posts. Maazel was well-regarded in baton technique and possessed a photographic memory for scores. Described as mercurial and forbidding in rehearsal, he mellowed in old age.
S. P. Somtow is a Thai-American musical composer and conductor, and a science fiction, fantasy, and horror author writing in English as both Somtow Sucharitkul and S. P. Somtow. He has both Thai and American citizenship.
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The orchestra performs primarily at the Bradley Symphony Center in Allen-Bradley Hall. The orchestra also serves as the orchestra for Florentine Opera productions.
The Orchestre National de France is a French symphony orchestra based in Paris, founded in 1934. Placed under the administration of the French national radio, the ONF performs mainly in the Grand Auditorium at the Maison de la Radio et de la Musique from where all its concerts are broadcast. Some concerts are also held in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, which was the previous main venue of the orchestra before the Auditorium was built.
Grzegorz Nowak is a Polish conductor. He has served as music director of the Polish National Opera, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Radio Orchestra in Kaiserslautern, Germany), and Sinfonia Helvetica and festival Musique and Amitié in Switzerland. He is the Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London.
Joseph Rescigno is an American conductor best known for his work in opera in North America and Europe. He served as Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor of the Florentine Opera Company of Milwaukee, WI for 38 seasons beginning in 1981. He also served as Artistic Director of l'Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, in Quebec, Canada, for four seasons. His commitment to young musicians and singers returns him each year to La Musica Lirica, a summer program for singers in Northern Italy, where he has been Music Director since 2005., He has mentored Solti Foundation U.S. Award recipients as part of the Foundation's residency project since the 2014–2015 season, first at the Florentine and later elsewhere. In this program, award recipients apprentice through an entire rehearsal and performance cycle.
Cabildo is the only opera by the American composer Amy Beach, her opus 149. This chamber opera is in one act and has a libretto by Nan Bagby Stephens. Beach composed the music in 1932 and made use of folksong and Creole tunes. However, the work was not performed in her lifetime and received its first performance in 1947. Subsequent performances were in 1981, at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and in 1982, at the American Musicological Society meeting and the Sonneck Society. The first fully professional production was on May 13, 1995, as part of the "Great Performers at Lincoln Center" series, led by Ransom Wilson and directed by Hans Nieuwenhuis.
Grant Llewellyn is a Welsh conductor and music director of the Orchestre National de Bretagne.
Brett Mitchell is an American conductor, composer, and pianist. He is currently Music Director of the Pasadena Symphony and Artistic Director & Conductor of the Sunriver Music Festival.
The Philharmonia Chorus is an independent self-governing symphony chorus based in London, UK. Since its foundation in 1957 the Chorus has given over 900 concerts and made over 100 recordings. The Chorus Master is Gavin Carr.
Jonas Alber is a German conductor and violinist based in Berlin. He was appointed general music director of the Staatstheater Braunschweig in 1998, becoming Germany’s youngest conductor to hold such a position at the time.
Arnaldo Cohen is a Brazilian pianist.
John Neal Axelrod is a Swiss/American conductor. In 2024, Axelrod was named Music Director and Principal Conductor of the newly created Swiss National Orchestra. Axelrod was elected Principal Conductor of the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra in a unique open ended contract in 2022. From 2019 to 2023 He was Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. He was also elected Artistic and musical director of the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville in 2014 and is Principal Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, "Giuseppe Verdi", also known as "LaVerdi". Between 2009 and 2013, Axelrod was music director of l'Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, based in Nantes and Angers, France; and from 2009 to 2011, Axelrod served as music director of "Hollywood In Vienna" Gala Concerts with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna. He has also served as music director and Chief Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2009, and from 2001 to 2009 as Principal Guest Conductor of Sinfonietta Cracovia.
Siam Sinfonietta is a youth orchestra founded in 2010 by Thai-American composer Somtow Sucharitkul, Thai conductor Trisdee na Patalung, and the Bangkok Opera Foundation. It was created in order to provide intensive training for young Thai musicians intending to have a serious career in classical music. The orchestra operates out of the offices of the Bangkok Opera Foundation.
Opera Vista was a nonprofit chamber opera company in Houston, Texas, founded in 2006 by conductor and artistic director Viswa Subbaraman, soprano Elizabeth Knudson and her husband musician Chris Knudson. The company aimed to promote and perform new and contemporary works, and to attract new and younger audiences who may be unaccustomed to opera.
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.
Michel Glotz was a French classical music record producer and impresario.
Ken-David Masur is a German-born American conductor.
Woldemar Nelsson was a Russian conductor who was active in West Germany and numerous other countries from 1976 onwards.
Thomas Rösner is an Austrian conductor.
