Robert
Spano
Music Director, Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra
Mr. Spano
is recognized internationally as one of America's outstanding conductors,
acclaimed for leading vital, musically distinguished performances as well
as for the breadth of repertoire he explores and his consistently imaginative
programming. He has conducted nearly every major North American orchestra,
including the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Houston
Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony,
Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Toronto Symphony, as well
as the Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis,
and Santa Fe Opera. He has also appeared with orchestras and opera companies
throughout Europe and Asia, notably the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala
(Milan), Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra of the Hague,
Ensemble Intercontemporain (Paris), New Japan Philharmonic (Tokyo), Royal
Opera at Covent Garden (London), and Welsh National Opera. As Music Director
of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra since 1996, he has brought the orchestra
to serious international attention.
Last season, in addition to his Atlanta and Brooklyn concerts, Mr. Spano made
his New York Philharmonic debut and conducted the orchestras of Cleveland,
Cincinnati, Saint Louis, and the City of Birmingham, England. He gave the
London premiere of Kaija Saariaho's opera L'Amour de loin, of which he conducted
the North American premiere in Santa Fe in the summer of 2001. He is the Director
of the Festival of Contemporary Music at the Tanglewood Music Center for the
summers of 2003 and 2004, where he has served as Director of the prestigious
conducting fellowship program since 1998.
An accomplished pianist, Mr. Spano performs chamber music with many of his
colleagues from the Atlanta Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Boston Symphony,
Oberlin Conservatory and this season will appear with the Emory Chamber Music
Society as part of ASO Connect!, a chamber music initiative of the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra.
Born in Conneaut, Ohio, and raised in Elkhart, Indiana, Mr. Spano grew up
in a musical family, composing and playing flute, violin, and piano. A graduate
of the Oberlin Conservatory, he studied conducting with Robert Baustian and
continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with
Max Rudolf. Last season he received an honorary doctorate from the Curtis
Institute. He has been featured on the PBS series City Arts, A&E's Breakfast
with the Arts, CBS's Late Show with David Letterman, CBS Sunday Morning and
"Sound Choices"- Inside the ASO with Monica Kaufman of WSB-TV. He
makes his home in Atlanta.