Andrew Litton
Conductor, Artistic Advisor
Andrew Litton guest conducts the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies and has a discography of over 100 recordings, including a Grammy® and other honors. In 2003, he became the first American Music Director appointed to Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic. He is also currently the Artistic Director of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Sommerfest, and Conductor Laureate of Britain’s Bournemouth Symphony.
Mr. Litton’s recordings include a Grammy®-winning Belshazzar’s Feast with the Bournemouth Symphony and baritone Bryn Terfel, a Grammy® nominated Sweeney Todd with the New York Philharmonic and Patti Lupone, and numerous recordings in a dual role of pianist conducting from the keyboard. Mr. Litton’s Mendelssohn Symphony series with the Bergen Philharmonic won one of BBC Magazine’s coveted annual awards and special recognition in Gramophone and Classic FM magazines. Mr. Litton was Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony from 1988-1994, bringing it on its first American tour and producing 14 recordings, including the Grammy®-winning Belshazzar’s Feast. Music Director of the Dallas Symphony from 1994-2006, he hired over one third of the players, led the orchestra on three major European tours, appeared four times at Carnegie Hall, created a children’s television series broadcast nationally and in widespread use in school curricula, and produced 28 recordings. Mr. Litton’s Dallas Symphony Rachmaninov Piano Concerto recordings with Stephen Hough, widely hailed as the best since the composer’s own, won the Classical Brits/BBC Critics Award. A graduate of the Fieldston School, New York, Litton received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard in piano and conducting. The youngest-ever winner of the BBC International Conductors Competition, he served as Assistant Conductor at Teatro alla Scala and Exxon/Arts Endowment Assistant Conductor for the National Symphony under Rostropovich. His many honors include an honorary Doctorate from the University of Bournemouth, Yale University’s Sanford Medal, and the Elgar Society Medal.
Litton lives in New York City with his wife and two children.
Marin Alsop
Conductor Laureate
Hailed as one of the world’s leading conductors for her artistic vision and commitment to accessibility in classical music, Marin Alsop made history with her appointment as the 12th music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, mirroring her ongoing success in the as principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony since 2002. She continues her association with the Colorado Symphony as conductor laureate following her highly successful 12-year tenure as music director; she also continues in her 17th season as music director of the acclaimed Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California . In addition, Alsop has held the position of principal guest conductor with both the City of London Sinfonia and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, with whom she made numerous critically acclaimed recordings. In 2005, Marin Alsop was named a MacArthur Fellow, the first and only conductor ever to receive this prestigious American award. In the same year, Alsop won the Classical Brit Award for Best Female Artist, and she is the first artist to win Gramophone’s “Artist of the Year” award and the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Conductor’s Award in the same season (2003). Most recently, she was honored with a 2007 European Women of Achievement Award, presented to individuals whose vision, courage and determination have made a major impact on increasing the influence of women on European affairs.
Alsop is a regular guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic. She is also one of the few conductors to appear every season with both the London Symphony and the London Philharmonic orchestras and has appeared as a guest conductor with many other distinguished orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Zurich Tonhalle, Orchestre de Paris, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Boston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony and Tokyo Philharmonic. She made her debut with the Opera Theater of St. Louis conducting John Adams’s Nixon in and in 2004 she conducted a fully staged production of Bernstein’s Candide with the New York Philharmonic, a production which was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2005. Highlights of Alsop’s acclaimed recording collaboration with Naxos include a Brahms symphony cycle with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and an ongoing series of Bournemouth Symphony recordings, which include Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and the symphonies of Kurt Weill. One of Alsop’s first projects as music director of the Baltimore Symphony will be a Dvoøák symphonic cycle, recorded on the Naxos label.
Scott O’Neil
Resident Conductor
This is Scott O’Neil’s sixth season with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. He most recently served as associate conductor for the Utah Symphony, which he joined in August 2000. O’Neil has guest conducted the Houston Symphony, Houston Youth Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Annapolis Symphony, Florida Philharmonic, Tulsa Philharmonic, Portland Symphony (Maine), the Lubbock Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic, the Salt Lake Symphony and the Columbus Symphony in Ohio. O’Neil studied piano performance at the Oberlin College Conservatory, served as the assistant conductor of the Eastman School Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestras at the Eastman School of Music, and earned a master’s degree in orchestral conducting at Rice University, where he was the director of the Campanile Orchestra, a community/university orchestra. In 1999 he served as director of orchestras at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas. In the spring of 2003, O’Neil was selected by the League of American Orchestras (LAO) to conduct an orchestra comprised of members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and advanced students from the University of Southern California in Synergy, a program created to promote young, contemporary composers. Also in the spring of 2003, O’Neil was selected by LAO to appear on the Conductor Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony. O’Neil leads the Colorado Symphony in every series this season, including educational concerts and appearances on each of the Colorado Symphony’s Masterworks, Family Series and Pops Series. In addition to his work with the Colorado Symphony, Mr. O’Neil is the founder and music director of the Rosetta Music Society, a group of chamber players that present interactive concerts at the Englewood Arts Center.
Duain Wolfe
chorus director
Recently awarded two GRAMMYs® for Best Choral Performance and Best Classical Recording, Duain Wolfe is founder and director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus and music director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. This year marks Wolfe’s 28th season heading the Colorado Symphony Chorus. The Chorus provides vital support for numerous performances and radio broadcasts with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra each season, and has been featured at the Aspen Music Festival every summer for almost two decades. Wolfe—who is in his 18th season with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, America’s largest professional chorus has collaborated with Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink and the late Sir George Solti onnumerous recordings with the Chicago Symphony, among them Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, which won the 1998 GRAMMY® for Best Opera Recording. Wolfe’s extensive musical accomplishments have resulted in numerous awards, including an honorary Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Denver, the Bonfils Stanton Award in the Arts and Humanities, the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline. Wolfe is also founder/director of the Colorado Children’s Chorale, from which he retired in 1999 after 25 years. For 20 years, Wolfe also was active with the Central City Opera Festival as conductor, directing the company’s young artist residence program, as well as its education and outreach programs. Wolfe’s additional accomplishments include directing and preparing choruses for Chicago’s Ravinia Festival and the Grand Teton Music Festival. He has also worked with Pinchas Zuckerman and the choral programs of the Canadian National Arts Centre Orchestra for the past ten years.