“Byron Stripling ignites audiences across the globe as a conductor, trumpet virtuoso, singer, and actor—his charisma and talent making him a Pops orchestra favorite with over 100 orchestras worldwide.”
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With a contagious smile and captivating charm, conductor, trumpet virtuoso, singer, and actor Byron Stripling ignites audiences across the globe. In 2020, Stripling was named Principal Pops Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and in 2024, he was named Principal Pops Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He also currently serves as Artistic Director and Conductor of the highly acclaimed Columbus Jazz Orchestra. Stripling’s baton has led countless orchestras throughout the United States and Canada, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood and the orchestras of San Diego, St. Louis, Virginia, Toronto, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Fort Worth, Rochester, Buffalo, Florida, Portland, and Sarasota, to name a few.
As a soloist with the Boston Pops, Stripling has performed frequently under the baton of Keith Lockhart, as well as being the featured soloist on the PBS television special, Evening at Pops, with conductors John Williams and Mr. Lockhart. Currently, Stripling serves as Artistic Director and Conductor of the highly acclaimed Columbus Jazz Orchestra.
Since his Carnegie Hall debut with Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops, Stripling has become a pops orchestra favorite throughout the country, soloing with over 100 orchestras around the world, including the Boston Pops, National Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Toronto Symphony, and orchestras throughout Europe and Asia. He has been a featured soloist at the Hollywood Bowl and performs at festivals around the world.
An accomplished actor and singer, Stripling was chosen, following a worldwide search, to star in the lead role of the Broadway-bound musical, Satchmo. Many will remember his featured cameo performance in the television movie, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, and his critically acclaimed virtuoso trumpet and riotous comedic performance in the 42nd Street production of From Second Avenue to Broadway.
Television viewers have enjoyed his work as a soloist on the worldwide telecast of The Grammy Awards. Millions have heard his trumpet and voice on television commercials, TV theme songs including 20/20, CNN, and soundtracks of favorite movies. In addition to multiple recordings with his quintet and work with artists from Tony Bennett to Whitney Houston, his prolific recording career includes hundreds of albums with the greatest pop, Broadway, soul, and jazz artists of all time.
Stripling earned his stripes as lead trumpeter and soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra under the direction of Thad Jones and Frank Foster. He has also played and recorded extensively with the bands of Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Dave Brubeck, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry, Louis Bellson, and Buck Clayton, in addition to The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and The GRP All-Star Big Band.
Stripling is devoted to giving back and supports several philanthropic organizations, including The United Way and homelessness advocacy, as well as The Community Shelter Board. He also enjoys sharing the power of music through seminars and master classes at colleges, universities, conservatories, and high schools. His informative talks, combined with his incomparable wit and charm, make him a favorite guest speaker to groups of all ages.
Stripling was educated at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan. One of his greatest joys is to return periodically to Eastman and Interlochen as a special guest lecturer.
A resident of Ohio, Stripling lives in the country with his wife, Alexis, a former dancer, writer, and poet, and their beautiful daughters.
Known for inspiring musicians and audiences alike, Herb Smith’s dynamic leadership on the podium as a guest conductor with orchestras across the country leaves a lasting impression, making him a highly sought-after figure in the pops, classical and jazz realms. Herb’s deep expression of music draws from his multifaceted and dynamic musical experiences from around the world.
Conductor Herb Smith is widely known in both the classical and jazz worlds as an exciting performer who inspires musicians and audiences wherever he goes. Whether he is performing, conducting, teaching, or composing, Herb’s expression of music draws from his multifaceted and dynamic musical experiences from around the world.
Herb has recent and upcoming appearances as a guest conductor with orchestras around the country, including the Indianapolis Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, No Name Pops at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Long Beach Symphony, Hawaii Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Springfield Symphony, Arkansas Symphony, Stockton Symphony, and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.
Herb currently directs the Eastman Youth Jazz Ensemble. He also guest conducts for All-State and All-County Bands, Orchestras, and Jazz Ensembles all across New York State. Herb recently conducted and curated a Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Brass performance of Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” at a Black Lives Matter rally and a concert honoring Harriet Tubman. This performance united the City of Rochester, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and neighborhood churches in honor of Tubman’s bicentennial celebration.
Voted “Best Instrumentalist” of Rochester 2022 by City Magazine, Herb currently holds the third trumpet position in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the principal trumpet position in the Gateways Festival Orchestra, which made its Carnegie Hall debut in April 2022. Herb also serves as principal trumpet in the Gateways Brass Collective, a nationally touring professional brass quintet sponsored by Conn-Selmer. Being a highly sought-after lead trumpeter has afforded Herb the opportunity to play with such notable musicians as Jeff Beck, Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, the O’Jays, Johnny Mathis, and Doc Severinsen, to name but a few. He has been a frequent guest soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Rochester Philharmonic.
Herb’s Freedom Trio (composed of trumpet played through electronics, bass, and drums) can be seen in performances around the country. This funky, eclectic group, a frequent guest at the Rochester International Jazz Festival, offers its “idiosyncratic yet charming melodies” (City Magazine) in concerts and festivals around the world.
As a composer, Herb has been commissioned by brass ensembles, high school choirs, jazz ensembles, and trumpet ensembles in addition to writing for his jazz trio and the Gateways Brass Collective. Herb’s “The Twelve Tones of Christmas,” composed for trumpet, piano, and voice, premiered in Carnegie Hall in 2008. Tony Award-winning choreographer Garth Fagan commissioned Herb to write a ballet for his Children’s Ensemble. The resulting forty-minute, six-part work ranged across many styles, including reggae, classical, jazz, and funk.
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Herb is a trumpet instructor at the Eastman Community Music School. He also leads masterclasses and offers lectures on trumpet technique, endurance, and sound production. From universities to elementary schools, Herb is frequently invited to serve as a teacher, teaching artist, and clinician. He co-founded Herb’s City Trumpets, a program that mentors and teaches trumpet to Black students aged 8 to 17, in partnership with the Rochester City School District.
GRAMMY Award winner Jeff Tyzik is one of America’s most innovative and sought-after pops conductors. Tyzik is recognized for his brilliant arrangements, original programming, and engaging rapport with audiences of all ages. Tyzik has written over 400 arrangements, orchestrations, and compositions for orchestra alone and his works have been commissioned and performed by the world’s leading ensembles.
GRAMMY Award winner Jeff Tyzik is one of America’s most innovative and sought-after pops conductors. Tyzik is recognized for his brilliant arrangements, original programming, and engaging rapport with audiences of all ages. This is the fourteenth season that Tyzik has held The Dot and Paul Mason Principal Pops Conductor’s Podium at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He also serves as Principal Pops Conductor of the Oregon Symphony and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, a post he has held for 30 years. Tyzik made his debut with the New York Philharmonic in September 2023 and was immediately invited back in 2024 where he conducted two sold out performances at David Geffen Hall.
Frequently invited as a guest conductor, Tyzik has appeared with over one hundred orchestras, including the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, Milwaukee Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra, The New York Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Tyzik previously served as the principal pops conductor of the Detroit Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Erie Philharmonic & Winnipeg Symphony.
In May 2007, the Harmonia Mundi label released a recording of works by Gershwin with Tyzik conducting the RPO and acclaimed pianist Jon Nakamatsu. This recording stayed in the Top 10 on the Billboard classical chart for over three months. Alex Ross of The New Yorker called it “one of the snappiest Gershwin discs in years.” “His concert is the kind of thing that’s likely to give classical music a good name, perhaps even make it seem, dare I say, relevant,” writes John Pitcher of the Gannett News Service.
As an accomplished composer and arranger, Tyzik has had his compositions recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony, and Doc Severinsen with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. He has also produced and composed theme music for many of the major television networks, including ABC, NBC, HBO, and Cinemax, and released six of his own albums on Capitol, Polygram, and Amherst Records. He produced a GRAMMY Award-winning album, The Tonight Show Band with Doc Severinsen, Vol. 1. Tyzik’s subsequent recordings with Severinsen garnered three more GRAMMY nominations.
Tyzik has written over 400 arrangements, orchestrations, and compositions for orchestra. A consummate musician, Tyzik regularly appears as a guest conductor in the RPO’s classical subscription series. He has also been commissioned to compose original works for orchestra, including a Trombone Concerto, which was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and subsequently performed at Carnegie Hall. Tyzik conducted the world premiere of his original work New York Cityscapes with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in 2010. Tyzik composed a Timpani Concerto commissioned by the RPO and also led the RPO in the premiere of his new orchestral suite, “Images: Musical Impressions of an Art Gallery,” to rave reviews. In the 2015/16 season, Tyzik premiered his new work Jazz Concerto for Violin and Orchestra during his Philharmonic Series performance with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2018, the Eastman Wind Ensemble released Images, an all-Tyzik CD of his compositions for Wind Ensemble. The Eastman Wind Ensemble recently recorded Tyzik’s Jazz Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Wind Ensemble and Symphonies for release in the fall of 2024.
In 2023, Jeff Tyzik launched his new publishing company, TyzikMusic.com. This digital site features over 150 arrangements, orchestrations, and compositions for Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music ensembles, and Wind Ensemble.
A native of Hyde Park, New York, Tyzik began his life in music when he first picked up a cornet at age nine. He studied both classical and jazz throughout high school and went on to earn both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music. While there, he studied composition/arranging with Radio City Music Hall’s Ray Wright and jazz studies with Chuck Mangione. Tyzik subsequently toured with Mangione as lead trumpet and worked on five Mangione recordings as a producer and performer from 1976 to 1981.
Committed to performing music of all genres, Tyzik has collaborated with such diverse artists as Leslie Odom Jr., Megan Hilty, Chris Botti, Matthew Morrison, Wynonna Judd, Sutton Foster, Tony Bennett, Art Garfunkel, Dawn Upshaw, Marilyn Horne, Arturo Sandoval, The Chieftains, Mark O’Connor, Doc Severinsen, and John Pizzarelli. Tyzik has created numerous original programs that include the greatest music from jazz, classical, Motown, Broadway, film, dance, Latin, and swing.
With co-producers Greenberg Artists and Schirmer Theatrical, Jeff Tyzik has created 20 new orchestra pops programs that have been presented by 150 orchestras in the past three seasons.
Evan Roider is a highly sought-after pops conductor, celebrated for his versatility and dynamic presence, equally at home on the symphonic stage and in the orchestra pit. Evan maintains an extremely active guest conducting schedule, captivating audiences across the country with genre-spanning performances featuring film and television music, Broadway favorites, classical masterworks, and iconic hits spanning the decades.
Evan Roider is a sought-after pops conductor, celebrated for his versatility and dynamic presence. Equally at home on the symphonic stage and in the orchestra pit, he maintains an active guest conducting schedule, captivating audiences across the country.
The 2025-2026 season brings debuts with the National Symphony, Houston Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic, among others. In recent years, he has appeared with the Detroit Symphony, Utah Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Sarasota Orchestra, Tucson Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, and the Philly Pops. Driven by a passion for genre-spanning performances, Roider has led concerts featuring film and television music, Broadway favorites, classical masterworks, and iconic hits spanning the decades.
His Broadway credits include The Great Gatsby, Old Friends, and Wicked, a show for which he recently completed a four-year tenure as Music Director/Conductor of the North American tour. Previously, he toured with Les Misérables and Cats, performing in venues such as the Kennedy Center, National Arts Centre, and Hollywood Pantages Theatre. In New York, he was Assistant Conductor for Candide at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, starring John Lithgow. Currently, he serves as an Associate Music Supervisor for the MUNY in St. Louis, having previously worked at Barrington Stage, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and other theatres across the country.
Evan is a graduate of the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and The Hartt School in Connecticut.
His 40 seasons as a Music Director, his 35 years in the opera pit, and his nearly 50 years conducting pops concerts give Maestro Bob Bernhardt a unique perspective into all genres of music and insight into every single performance.
The 2025-26 season highlights several milestones in Bob Bernhardt’s career. He starts his 45th season with the Louisville Orchestra, his 11th with the Grand Rapids Symphony, and his 19th with the Edmonton Symphony!
In Louisville, he has been Principal Pops Conductor since 1997, Principal Guest Conductor of Kentucky Opera before that, and the LO’s Assistant and Associate Conductor prior to that, all beginning in 1981. He has been the Pops Conductor in Grand Rapids since 2015, and conductor of the ESO’s Symphony Under the Sky Festival since 2006, and has been an annual guest on several of their subscription series since then.
Previously, he was Music Director of the Tucson Symphony, the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, and the Amarillo Symphony; he was also Artistic Director of the Rochester Philharmonic and Lake Placid Sinfonietta. He served as an Artist-in-Residence at Lee University in Cleveland, TN.
His 40 seasons as a Music Director, his 35 years in the opera pit, and nearly 50 years conducting pops give him a unique perspective and insight into all of his work. He is grateful to be a musical omnivore, a fan of almost all music he has been fortunate enough to encounter.
He has been a frequent guest conductor with the Detroit Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, the Phoenix Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Fort Worth Symphony, the Santa Barbara Symphony, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, and many others. He made his Pops debut in Boston in 1992 at John Williams’ invitation and has been a frequent guest since then.
Born in Rochester, New York, he holds a Master’s degree from the University of Southern California School of Music, where he studied with Daniel Lewis. He is also a Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of Union College in Schenectady, New York, where he played four years of varsity soccer and baseball. In his senior year, he was captain of the soccer team and was selected as an Academic All-American baseball player (third base). While all the research is not yet in, Bernhardt believes he is the only symphony conductor in the history of music to be invited to spring training with the Kansas City Royals. After four days, the Royals suggested a life in music for him. He and his wife, Nora, live in Signal Mountain, TN.
A Broadway veteran renowned for his expressive, high-energy style, William Waldrop brings an unparalleled musical versatility and magnetic presence to symphony stages all across the United States.
William Waldrop is a Broadway Music Director, Conductor, and Pianist whose dynamic presence on the podium has captivated audiences throughout the United States and abroad. Most recently, he served as Music Supervisor and Music Director for Cats: The Jellicle Ball at New York City’s landmark new Perelman Performing Arts Center—praised by The New York Times for his “gorgeous” choral direction. Prior to that role, he was the Associate Conductor for Broadway’s longest-running musical, The Phantom of the Opera.
Waldrop is equally comfortable conducting from the pit or center stage with a symphony orchestra. Renowned for his expressive, high-energy style, he is a sought-after guest conductor across the U.S., known for leading thrilling concert experiences across a wide array of genres—from Broadway and the American Songbook to Rock & Roll, Swing, Motown, and the unforgettable music of The Beatles.
He has led performances with many of the nation’s most esteemed orchestras, including the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Portland Symphony, the Sarasota Orchestra, the Tucson Symphony, and the Las Vegas Philharmonic, among many others.
Waldrop’s association with The Phantom of the Opera spans over 15 years and includes major productions around the world. He recently served as Associate Musical Supervisor for the 2023 South Korean production, as well as the 2019 International Tour (which premiered in Manila). He was also Musical Supervisor for the 2018 Copenhagen production and held key roles in productions in Germany, Denmark, on the U.S. National Tour, and in Las Vegas.
His other Broadway credits include serving as the Music Director/Conductor for the acclaimed revival of Cats at the Neil Simon Theatre and Associate Conductor for the revival of Evita on Broadway, starring Ricky Martin, Elena Roger, and Michael Cerveris. He was also the Music Director for the 30-city national tour of Evita, culminating in performances with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. He has conducted or played on numerous other Broadway productions, including Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, On The Town, Fiddler on the Roof, and Some Like It Hot.
He has collaborated with major musical artists such as Michael Lynche and Leona Lewis, and worked closely with Broadway stars including Betty Buckley, Rachel York, Christiane Noll, and Klea Blackhurst. He has also led acclaimed chamber productions of Grey Gardens, South Pacific, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
As a composer, Waldrop’s original music has been featured at Birdland, The Laurie Beechman Theatre, and New World Stages. His solo concert Still, and Still Moving: The Music of William Waldrop premiered at New York City’s legendary Metropolitan Room. A dedicated vocal coach, he works with leading performers from Broadway and national tours, and is a frequent master class instructor for organizations such as Empower Voices Now, The Growing Studio, Broadway Workshop, Broadway in Motion, and Broadway Classroom.
Waldrop holds a Master of Music degree from The Peabody Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Mississippi.
John Gennaro Devlin is an ardent champion of American music, an innovator of concert design, and a thought leader in the field of classical music. Devlin’s artistry and versatility make him a frequent guest conductor with major orchestras across the nation. Devlin has premiered and/or commissioned over 50 new American works.
John Gennaro Devlin is an ardent champion of American music, an innovator of concert design, and a thought leader in the field of classical music. Currently in his sixth season as Music Director of the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra (WSO), Devlin is only the ninth conductor in its 90-year history to hold that title. In 2025, Devlin began his tenure as the Music Director of the Lancaster (OH) Festival Orchestra.
For his work with the WSO, Devlin was named a recipient of the 2023 Georg Solti Foundation Career Assistance Award. Also in 2023, Devlin was honored by Wheeling’s mayor, Glenn F. Elliott, with the Mayor’s Award for “distinguished service, loyalty, and dedication to our city.”
Devlin’s artistry and versatility make him a frequent guest conductor with major orchestras across the nation. His engagements include performances with the National Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Greenville Symphony Orchestra, Allentown Symphony Orchestra, York Symphony Orchestra, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, Wintergreen Festival Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and the American Repertory Ballet. Of his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra and violin soloist Joshua Bell, Anne Midgette of The Washington Post wrote that Devlin “led the evening with flair … and was visibly in his element.”
Devlin’s primary artistic goal is to advocate for American music from many different types of genres and creators. With this programmatic focus, Devlin has premiered and/or commissioned over 50 new American works, including pieces by Clarice Assad, Adolphus Hailstork, Arlene Sierra, Leanna Primiani, Eric Nathan, Michael-Thomas Foumai, Enrico Lopez-Yañez, Michael Ellis Ingram, Evan Meier, and Quinn Mason. For its commitment to American music, the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra was granted the prestigious Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Award through the League of American Orchestras in both 2023 and 2025.
Devlin has recent or upcoming performances with many significant American soloists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Time for Three, Chris Thile, Sasha Cooke, Clarice Assad, Joshua Roman, Stefan Jackiw, Tessa Lark, Xavier Foley, Eunice Kim, Third Coast Percussion, Shara Nova, Soloman Howard, Madeline Adkins, and Maxim Lando.
Music of the stage and cinema are also focuses of Devlin’s work with American artists. A lover of all things Broadway, he has collaborated with Sutton Foster, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Sierra Boggess, Hugh Panaro, Scarlett Strallen, Capathia Jenkins, Morgan James, Dee Roscioli, Christiane Noll, and Ryan Shaw. He is also active as a conductor of films with live orchestra soundtracks, including the Harry Potter series, other John Williams scores such as Jurassic Park, and Disney film projects.
A leader in designing concerts that frame orchestral music in inventive ways, Devlin has partnered with others to generate such forward-looking concepts as Gourmet Symphony, Go-Go Symphony, Seamless Symphony, Interactive Symphony, and the New Retro Project. These collaborations paired artists such as Joshua Bell with gourmet chefs and legendary musicians like Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, and Larry Graham with symphony orchestras for the first time. Each reflects Devlin’s mission of making the symphonic art form accessible and engaging for all audiences. The Washington Post hailed these projects as “refreshingly unfamiliar” events that deliver “a new audience for classical music” and brought “the sold-out house to its feet, cheering.” With the WSO, Devlin continues to pursue these types of innovative concert designs, including the reimagining of live performance during two years of pandemic-affected programming. For its success in this type of adaptive concertizing, the WSO was given the 2022 West Virginia Governor’s Award for Resiliency in the Arts.
From 2015 to 2018, Devlin apprenticed with some of the world’s best conductors, soloists, and orchestras while based in Washington, D.C. During that period, he was the exclusive Cover Conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra, where he served as assistant to world-renowned Music Directors Christoph Eschenbach and Gianandrea Noseda, accompanying the NSO on its historic 2018 tour of Russia. He served concurrently as the Assistant Conductor of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra in New Jersey, working alongside Music Director Rossen Milanov.
Committed to serving the wider arts community beyond the podium, Devlin is co-chair of the Conductor Constituency Group of the League of American Orchestras, advocating for conductors nationally. Previously, he served on the Conductors Guild’s Board of Directors. He also delivered the keynote TED talk on “Innovation in Crowded Marketplaces” at a TEDx symposium. In 2020, Devlin, alongside fellow conductors Ankush Bahl, Anna Edwards, and Enrico Lopez-Yañez, launched Everything Conducting, a cost-free, inclusive website where conductors can learn, share, and advance their craft. The project includes a vast online article database and the UpBeat Podcast hosted by Devlin and Lopez-Yañez, Principal Pops Conductor of the Nashville Symphony.
John Gennaro Devlin is an American conductor of Italian and Irish heritage. He completed his master’s and doctoral degrees in orchestral conducting under the tutelage of James Ross at the University of Maryland School of Music. As an undergraduate student, Devlin attended Emory University as a Robert W. Woodruff Scholar, graduating summa cum laude with a double major in Clarinet Performance and Latin. Devlin has also greatly benefited from his time as a member of the New York Youth Symphony, at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and at the Pierre Monteux School. His professional career has been shaped by his time as an assistant to conductors Gianandrea Noseda, Christoph Eschenbach, Rossen Milanov, and Victoria Gau.
As Music Director of the SVMF, Mr. Neale has propelled this festival to national status: it is now the largest privately funded free admission symphony in America. Over the years, Mr. Neale has collaborated with celebrated guest artists including Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Audra McDonald, Midori, Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yuja Wang, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Alasdair Neale is the Music Director of the Sun Valley Music Festival (SVMF). The 2025 season marks thirty-one years at the helm of the festival (formerly the Sun Valley Summer Symphony). As Music Director of the SVMF, Mr. Neale has propelled this festival to national status: it is now the largest privately funded free admission symphony in America. Among the many celebrated guest artists that Mr. Neale has brought to this festival are Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Audra McDonald, Midori, Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yuja Wang, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
In 2024, Mr. Neale completed his five-year tenure as Music Director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. His appointment came after an extensive international search and marked a return for him to the city where he lived, studied, and began his professional career more than 30 years prior.
In 2023, Alasdair Neale celebrated his 22nd and final year as Music Director of the Marin Symphony. After he assumed the post in 2001, Mr. Neale was hailed for invigorating the orchestra and establishing it as one of the finest in the Bay Area. Under Mr. Neale’s direction, the Marin Symphony was chosen as one of several distinguished orchestras to participate in Magnum Opus, a groundbreaking, decade-long commissioning project bringing new music to the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Osvaldo Golijov, Kevin Puts, Kenji Bunch, David Carlson, and Avner Dorman were among the composers represented in the project.
Mr. Neale’s appointment with the Marin Symphony followed 12 years as Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. During that time, he conducted both orchestras in hundreds of critically acclaimed concerts both here and abroad. Under Mr. Neale’s direction, the Youth Orchestra became one of the finest young ensembles in the world, receiving consistent rave reviews for performances in San Francisco, as well as on tours in Amsterdam, Leipzig, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Madrid, Paris, Prague, Dublin, Copenhagen, and Vienna.
From 2001 to 2011, Mr. Neale served as Principal Guest Conductor of the New World Symphony. From 2001 to 2014, he served on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has guest-conducted numerous orchestras around the world, including the New York Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, Houston Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Seattle Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Nashville Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, Sydney Symphony, Real Filharmonia de Galicia, l’Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand-Montréal, Radio Sinfonie Orchester Stuttgart, Auckland Philharmonia, Orchestra of St. Gallen (Switzerland), MDR Leipzig, NDR Hannover, Trondheim Symphony, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, and at the Aspen Music Festival. In March 2002, he collaborated with director Peter Sellars and composer John Adams to open the Adelaide Festival with a production of the oratorio El Niño.
Mr. Neale’s discography includes a recording of Aaron Jay Kernis’ Colored Field with the San Francisco Symphony, featuring English horn player Julie Ann Giacobassi, which won France’s Diapason d’or award following its release. He may also be heard on New World Records conducting the ensemble Solisti New York in a recording of new flute concertos. Alasdair Neale appears on the Bay Brass recording “Sound the Bells,” released in March 2011 on the Harmonia Mundi label and nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Small Ensemble Performance.
Alasdair Neale holds a Bachelor’s degree from Cambridge University and a Master’s from Yale University, where his principal teacher was Otto-Werner Mueller. He lives in Paris.
