Success Stories

Maestro Troy Quinn (MM ’07) will make his Boston Pops debut this year, guest-conducting the orchestra’s New Year’s Eve Celebration concert featuring Bernadette Peters at Symphony Hall in Boston. Quinn will lead the orchestra for the first half of the performance; Peters’s music director Joseph Thalken will conduct during her performance in the second half of the concert.

Quinn is the music director of the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra in Kentucky, as well as music director of the Venice Symphony in Florida, and the Pops Conductor of the Santa Rosa Symphony in California.

This past summer, Quinn and the Owensboro Symphony were nominated for a regional Emmy Award for their television special A Night at the Oscars.

Learn more about Troy here.

Learn more about the concert here.

MSM Choral Conducting alumnus and former MSM Vocal Arts faculty member Dr. Malcolm Merriweather (DMA ’15) has assumed the inaugural Tania León Chair of Music at Brooklyn College. This position is Brooklyn College’s first-ever endowed chair in honor of the College’s namesake professor emerita and renowned composer.

To read more about Dr. Merriweather’s appointment and his outside conducting engagements, click here.

MSM alumnus Jinwoo Lee (AD ’09, DMA ’16) will begin his second season as conductor and concertmaster for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and was recently featured in the Milwaukee Sentinel, where he spoke about the upcoming season.

“The conductor is the head of the entire orchestra,” said Jinwoo Lee, he told the publication. ”But he’s really the only person who doesn’t make a single sound.”

Jinwoo Lee came to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra from Neue Philharmonie Westfalen in Germany, where he also had been a concertmaster. A native of South Korea, he earned bachelor and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, then completed his doctorate at the Manhattan School of Music.

Read the article here.

Estonian conductor, composer, pianist, and prolific recording artist Kristjan Järvi (BM ’95), who has more than 60 albums to his credit, is featured in Estonian World, the most popular English-language Estonian web magazine.

The feature includes a video interview conducted by the Living the Classical Life videocast in which Järvi discusses his immersive experiential musical events that foster unity between audience and performers alike. He also speaks about his musical beginnings within the prominent Järvi dynasty, starting as a pianist while growing up in New York.

Read the article here.

The award is given annually by the Solti Foundation U.S. to a single promising American conductor 38 years of age or younger. It is the largest grant currently given to American conductors in the formative years of their careers. The prize includes $30,000 as well as career guidance and industry connections.

Earl Lee currently serves as Associate Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

This season, Lee made his debut with both the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony. He was formerly resident conductor with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 2015 to 2018. He is a regular guest conductor with the orchestras of North America’s top music schools, including Manhattan School of Music and the New England Conservatory.

Learn more about Earl here.

MSM Alumnus Marlon Daniel (BM ’93) has been named Associate Conductor of the Florida Grand Opera (FGO), in residence at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.

“I have always dreamed of a career in music that followed in the footsteps of some of my favorite conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Herbert von Karajan and Carlos Kleiber, who were equally comfortable in the pit as well as on the podium,” Daniel said in an official statement. “This new position gives me a real opportunity to gain even greater experience in full opera productions in addition to my symphonic conducting. I thank General Director and CEO Susan T. Danis and all of Florida Grand Opera for putting their faith in me at this time in my life.”

Learn more here.

Conductor Kelly Kuo, who received a masters degree in piano studies at MSM in 1998,  joins the ALT’s leadership team as they launch a slate of programs under the umbrella of the Opera Writers Diversity and Representation Initiative (OWDARI), as part of an ongoing commitment by the ALT to mentor the next generation of operatic writers.

In this role, Kelly will share artistic and curatorial responsibilities with ALT’s founder, Lawrence Edelson.

Learn more about the appointment here.

Alumnus Ankush Kumar Bahl (MM ’03) makes his New York Philharmonic conducting debut tomorrow morning during Fun at the Phil: Sleepover at the Museum, a special concert for families with children. Bahl will conduct the orchestra in a performance of Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals and Karen LeFrak’s Sleepover at the Museum while illustrations are projected on a giant screen. Purchase tickets to the event here.

Conductor Ankush Kumar Bahl is recognized for his impressive technique, thoughtful interpretations, and engaging podium presence. Visit his website for a full biography.

In the article, George Mathew (PD ’03, Conducting) discusses how tragedy and near-death experiences have changed his mission for music as a conductor.

“Music has the power to build community, to create social impact, to generate powerful messaging and, most of all, to crowdsource new imagination. Our concerts – indeed, all of our work – creates new communities. The power of music to draw people together in this still-young century is among the most potent social forces of our time – a power we must not squander.” Read the full article here.

Mathew is the founder and Artistic Director of Music For Life International and the UBUNTU-SHRUTI Orchetra, and has performed internationally as a conductor and ambassador for transformative action through music. Learn more about him here.

Alumnus Joseph Rescigno (MM ’69) has announced the publication of his new book, Conducting Opera: Where Theater Meets Music. The book is set to be published in May 2020 by the University of North Texas Press. Rescigno describes the work as “a book with helpful advice and useful insights about 25 standard repertory operas: preparation, practical tips, guiding principles. It also serves as a natural extension of his many decades of working with young musicians and singers.” The book is available for pre-order here.

Maestro Rescigno served as Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor of the Florentine Opera Company of Milwaukee (WI) for 38 seasons beginning in 1981. He also has been Music Director of La Musica Lirica, a summer program for singers in Northern Italy, since 2005. He has conducted in permanent and guest engagements with more than 50 companies on four continents.

Follow Maestro Rescigno on Twitter or view his website for the latest information on his upcoming release.

Marlon Daniel is the artistic and music director of this Guadeloupe festival that pays tribute to native-born violinist and conductor Joseph Bologne (1745-1799), known as Chevalier de Saint-Georges, considered the first-known Black composer, and who fought for equality against France’s Slavery Trade Laws. Marlon will conduct several concerts at the festival, some featuring MSM alumni, the mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges (BM ’08) and bass Soloman Howard (MM ’10). The preview concert on Jan 31 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in NYC, includes a concert and lecture, under the direction of Marlon Daniel.

Tickets to the NYC concert here
More about Marlon here

A rising star in classical music, Alondra de la Parra (BM ’06, MM ’08) has conducted more than 100 orchestras in 20 countries and is now music director of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Brisbane, Australia. For the documentary film La Maestra: Alondra de la Parra, the conductor allowed access to her private archive, and gives a personal view of her life as a jet-setting young mother and podium star (photo above by Cicero Rodriguez).

La Maestra: Alondra de la Parra will air on Arte-TV in Germany on Feb 3, on DW-TV in German on Feb 17, and in English on Feb 18.

Read the conductor’s interview with German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle here