Robert Spano, conductor, pianist, composer, and teacher, is known worldwide for the intensity of his artistry and distinctive communicative abilities, creating a sense of inclusion and warmth among musicians and audiences that is unique among American orchestras. Beginning his 19th season as Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and first season as Principal Guest Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, this highly imaginative conductor is an approachable artist with the innate ability to share his enthusiasm for music. A fervent mentor to rising artists, he is responsible for nurturing the careers of numerous celebrated composers, conductors, and performers. As Music Director of the Aspen Music Festival and School since 2011, he oversees the programming of more than 300 events and educational programs for 630 students and young performers.
Highlights of Mr. Spano’s 2019-2020 season include a return to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, conducting the world premiere of George Tsontakis’s Violin Concerto No. 3 alongside Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony. He returns to the Indianapolis Symphony, the Singapore Symphony, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of Dimitrios Skyllas’s Kyrie eleison, commissioned by the BBC. Conducting debuts include the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, and Wroclaw Philharmonic. As the newly appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony, Spano appears on the orchestra’s Symphonic Series, conducting two of the ten scheduled concert weekends.
With the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, programs include the Spano’s quintessentially rich, diverse pairings of contemporary works and cherished classics, welcoming seasoned guest artists and many new faces. The orchestra’s 75th season features 16 ASO premieres, including works by living American composers Krists Auznieks, Jessie Montgomery, Joby Talbot, and Jennifer Higdon, and two world premieres by Richard Prior and Brian Nabors. The season opens with Joshua Bell joining the ASO for Henryk Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and Pablo de Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen. In celebration of Beethoven’s 250th birthday, the ASO and Chorus travels to Carnegie Hall in April 2020 to perform Missa solemnis with soprano Susanna Phillips, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, tenor Benjamin Bliss and bass Matthew Rose. The season concludes with the Atlanta premiere of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde.
The 2018-2019 season featured Mr. Spano’s highly-acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut, leading the US premiere of Marnie, the second opera by American composer Nico Muhly, with Isabel Leonard, Janis Kelly, Denyce Graves, Iestyn Davies, and Christopher Maltman, and the conclusion of the ASO’s two-year “LB/LB” celebration commemorating Leonard Bernstein and Ludwig van Beethoven. This celebration featured six Bernstein works and nine Beethoven Symphonies, and vocal masterpieces including Verdi’s Otello, Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Bernstein’s Candide. Recent concert highlights have included several world premiere performances including Voy a Dormir by Bryce Dessner at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor; the Tuba Concerto by Jennifer Higdon, performed by Craig Knox and the Pittsburgh Symphony; Melodia, For Piano and Orchestra, by Canadian composer Matthew Ricketts at the Aspen Music Festival; and Miserere by ASO bassist Michael Kurth. In addition to his leadership of the ASO, Spano recently returned to his early love of composing. His most recent works include Sonata: Four Elements for piano, premiered by Spano in August 2016 at the Aspen Music Festival, and a song cycle, Hölderlin-Lieder, for soprano Jessica Rivera. Both works were recorded on the ASO Media label and praised by Oberon’s Grove: “On this latest release, from ASO, we experience Spano as both an imaginative and evocative composer - with a special gift for writing for the voice - and a poetic pianist.”
The Atlanta School of Composers reflects Spano’s commitment to American contemporary music. He has led ASO performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Ravinia, Ojai, and Savannah Music Festivals.
Guest engagements have included the Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Minnesota Orchestras, New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, and the San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, San Diego, Oregon, Utah, and Kansas City Symphonies. Internationally, Maestro Spano has led the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, BBC Symphony, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira, Orquestra Sinfonica Estado Sao Paulo, the Melbourne Symphony in Australia, and the Saito Kinen Orchestra in Japan. His opera performances include Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and the 2005 and 2009 Seattle Opera productions of Wagner’s Ring cycles.
With a discography of critically-acclaimed recordings for Telarc, Deutsche Grammophon, and ASO Media, Robert Spano has garnered six Grammy™ Awards with the Atlanta Symphony. Spano is on faculty at Oberlin Conservatory and has received honorary doctorates from Bowling Green State University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Emory University, and Oberlin. Maestro Spano is one of two classical musicians inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and makes his home in Atlanta.
“Mr. Spano drew a glowing, spacious performance of this Brahms masterwork from the orchestra, marking a great return visit for both him and this essential ensemble.” – The New York Times
“The festival's music director, Robert Spano, caught both the broadest and finest strokes of tempo, dynamics and critical orchestral balances. He drew the best playing in the quiet, subtle moments of the score and long buildups to big climaxes.” – Aspen Times
“The sonics of the CD are excellent, and the presence of both Rivera and Spano well-suited. It is a fine presentation of both Rivera’s voice and Spano’s collaborative capabilities at the piano, as well as his insight into his skills as a composer.” – ArtsATL
JUNE 2019 -- AT THE REQUEST OF THE ARTIST, PLEASE DO NOT ALTER THIS BIOGRAPHY WITHOUT APPROVAL