Suvarna Garge (Editor)

James Gaffigan (conductor)

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Albums
  
Tchaikovsky 1 / Prokofiev 2

Music group
  
Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (2003 – 2006)

Record labels
  
Myrios Classics, Harmonia Mundi

Similar
  
Kirill Gerstein, Vilde Frang, Simone Lamsma, Jahja Ling, Sergei Prokofiev

Profiles

James Gaffigan (born 1979, New York City) is an American conductor. His father, Dennis Gaffigan, was a salesman for Procter & Gamble, and his mother, Cheryl Gaffigan, was a school secretary. Gaffigan was a student at the LaGuardia High School and the Juilliard School Preparatory Division.

Gaffigan studied music at the New England Conservatory of Music and subsequently at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where his teachers included Larry Rachleff. He earned a Master's degree from the Shepherd School in 2003. He subsequently developed an interest in conducting, and studied at the American Academy of Conducting of the Aspen Music Festival and School, where his teachers included David Zinman and Murry Sidlin. He was a conducting fellow at Tanglewood in 2003. In 2004, he was a first-prize recipient at the Georg Solti Conducting Competition in Germany.

Gaffigan was assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra from 2003 to 2006. During this period in Cleveland, he also served as music director of the CityMusic Cleveland chamber orchestra from 2005-2010. He then was associate conductor of the San Francisco Symphony from 2006 to 2009, during which time he served as artistic director of the orchestra's 'Summer in the City' festival.

In Europe, Gaffigan first guest-conducted the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra in 2008. He returned for a second guest-conducting appearance in June 2009. In January 2010, the orchestra named him its next chief conductor, effective with the 2011-2012 season. In June 2015, his Lucerne contract was extended through the 2021-2022 season. With the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Gaffigan has commercially recorded music of Antonín Dvořák and of Wolfgang Rihm for harmonia mundi. In parallel with the announcement of his Lucerne appointment, Gaffigan was named principal guest conductor of the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest (RFO), with a contract for 4 weeks of concerts per season. He took up the RFO post.in August 2011, and he is currently scheduled to serve as RFO principal guest conductor through the 2017-2018 season. In September 2013, he became principal guest conductor of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the first principal guest conductor in the orchestra’s history.

Songs

Suite in A major - op 98b - B 190 "American Suite": V AllegroSymphony no 6 / American Suite op 98b · 2014
Piano Concerto no 1 in B-flat major - op 23 : Allegro con fuocoTchaikovsky 1 / Prokofiev 2 · 2015
Violin Concerto in D major - op 35: III Finale: Allegro assai vivaceTchaikovsky & Nielsen: Violin Concertos · 2012

References

James Gaffigan (conductor) Wikipedia