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Ken-David Masur

conductor

About this Artist

KEN-DAVID MASUR began the 2016/17 season by standing in at the last minute for an indisposed Christoph von Dohnányi July 16 to lead the Boston Symphony in a program of Ives, Strauss (Four Last Songs with Renée Fleming), and Tchaikovsky (Sixth Symphony). Masur, who has been hailed as “fearless, bold, and a life-force” (San Diego Union-Tribune) and “a brilliant and commanding conductor with unmistakable charisma” (Leipzig Volkszeitung) stepped in two days later to lead a performance of Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. Both concerts were notable successes. Further 2016 Tanglewood activities include leading the BSO again in Mozart for the annual Tanglewood on Parade concert, and conducting in a gala concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute (Wagner, Brahms, and Bernstein).

In addition to continuing in his post as Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony, Ken-David also conducts in France, Germany, Korea, and Russia in the 2016/17 season, and extends his reach into the Boston musical community leading the New England Conservatory Orchestra at Jordan Hall, and the Boston University Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall. In January 2017 he will once again lead a regular subscription week with the BSO.

Ken-David led the Munich Symphony as Principal Guest Conductor last season in Munich and on tour in Italy. He also returned for a third season with the National Philharmonic of Russia to conduct three programs. In 2015/16 he conducted the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, concerts with orchestras in Madrid and Hong Kong, and a subscription week and Tanglewood concerts with the Boston Symphony.

Previous appointments include Associate Conductor of the San Diego Symphony, Assistant Conductor of the Orchestre National de France in Paris from 2004-2006, and Resident Conductor of the San Antonio Symphony in 2007. In 2011 he was the recipient of the Seiji Ozawa Conducting Fellowship at Tanglewood, where he was invited to return as a Fellow in 2012. He has had guest engagements with the Dresden, Israel, and Japan philharmonics; with the Orchestre National de Toulouse; and the Hiroshima, Omaha, and Memphis symphonies.

Ken-David Masur received his B.A. from Columbia University in New York City. During 1999-2002 he served as the first Music Director of the Bach Society Orchestra and Chorus there, which toured Germany and released a critically acclaimed album of symphonies and cantatas by W.F. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, and J.S. Bach. He received further music studies at the Leipzig Conservatory, the Detmold Academy, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Hanns Eisler Conservatory in Berlin, where he was a five-year master student of bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff.

Masur studied conducting primarily with his father, Kurt Masur, and has been further mentored by conductors such as Stefan Asbury, Christoph von Dohnányi, Charles Dutoit, Jorma Panula, Larry Rachleff, and Christopher Seaman. Together with his wife, pianist Melinda Lee Masur, Ken-David Masur serves as Artistic Director of the Chelsea Music Festival, an annual multi-media/multi-sensorial summer music festival in New York City, called “a gem of a series” by The New York Times. He also won a Grammy nomination from the Latin Recording Academy in the category Best Classical Album of the Year for his work as a producer of the album Salón Buenos Aires.