About this Artist

Music Director ALAN GILBERT, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, began his tenure at the New York Philharmonic in September 2009. The first native New Yorker to hold the post, he ushered in what The New York Times called “an adventurous new era” at the Philharmonic. In his inaugural season he introduced a number of new initiatives: the positions of The Marie-Josee Kravis Composer-in-Residence, held by Magnus Lindberg; The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, held in 2010–11 by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter; an annual three-week festival, which in 2010–11 is titled Hungarian Echoes,led by Esa-Pekka Salonen; and CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic’s new-music series. In the 2010–11 season Mr. Gilbert is leading the Orchestra on two tours of European music capitals; two performances at Carnegie Hall, including the venue’s 120th Anniversary Concert; and a staged presentation of Jana?ek’s The Cunning Little Vixen. Highlights of his inaugural season included major tours of Asia and Europe and an acclaimed staged presentation of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre.

In January 2010 Alan Gilbert was named Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies at The Juilliard School, a position that will begin in fall 2011. This adds to his responsibilities as the first holder of Juilliard’s William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies, establishing Mr. Gilbert as the principal teacher for all conducting majors at the school. He is also conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and principal guest conductor of Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted other leading orchestras in the U.S. and abroad, including the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco symphony orchestras; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras; and the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich’s Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. From 2003 to 2006 he served as the first music director of the Santa Fe Opera.

Alan Gilbert studied at Harvard University, The Curtis Institute of Music, and The Juilliard School. From 1995 to 1997 he was the assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra. In November 2008 he made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut conducting John Adams’s Doctor Atomic. His recordings have received a 2008 Grammy Award nomination and top honors from the Chicago Tribune and Gramophone magazine. On May 15, 2010, Mr. Gilbert received an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music.