Conductors : Artists
Music Director
Gerard Schwarz
EMF Music Director amd renowned American conductor Gerard Schwarz is internationally recognized for his deeply moving performances, innovative programming, and extensive recording history.
Associate Conductor
José-Luis Novo
One of Spain's most promising conductors, José-Luis Novo is currently music director and conductor of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra (MD) and the Binghamton Philharmonic (NY). Prior to these appointments, Mr. Novo served as assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the direction of both music director emeritus Jesús López-Cobus and music director Paavo Järvi, and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under the late Erich Kunzel. He has been the resident conductor at EMF since 1999.
Most recently, Mr. Novo made an impressive Kimmel Center debut in Philadelphia, conducting the Curtis Institute Orchestra in a last-minute replacement for an ailing Maestro Otto Werner Mueller. Prior guest conducting engagements have included appearances with the Baltimore Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Syracuse, Modesto, Tulsa, Windsor, Stamford, Tallahassee, Springfield (Ohio), and Ridgefield symphonies; the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra; the Cleveland and Abilene philharmonics; the Tenerife, Principado de Asturias, and Castilla y León symphony orchestras; the City of Granada Orchestra; the Andrés Segovia Chamber Orchestra at the National Auditorium in Madrid; the Vallés Symphony Orchestra at the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona; and the Echternach Festival Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and on tour in Luxembourg and Germany.
While maintaining a promising professional conducting career, Mr. Novo has also developed a reputation as a keen educator of young musicians. He has held the positions of music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Miami University Symphony Orchestra; associate conductor of the National Repertory Orchestra; and assistant conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Spain and the Yale Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has conducted many noteworthy college and youth orchestras. Among these are the Curtis Institute Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, the University of Maryland Symphony, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, and the Portuguesa State Youth Orchestra of the Venezuelan El Sistema. In the summer of 1998 he took the National Youth Orchestra of Spain on a concert tour of Spain and Portugal, with performances at the Teatro Real in Madrid and the World Exposition in Lisbon.
Mr. Novo is a 2008 recipient of an ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award and a 2005 Heart of the Arts Award. He holds music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Yale University, and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels.
Assistant Conductor
Thomas Hong
Thomas Hong is presently the assistant conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Previously, he was assistant conductor of Orchestre National de France and also associate conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. As assistant conductor of Orchestre National de France, Mr. Hong has participated in various tours all over Europe, including most recently a momentous occasion where Maestro Kurt Masur performed the complete Beethoven symphonies in Frankfurt and Baden-baden. As associate conductor of Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Hong is in charge of programming and conducting all educational and outreach concerts, including four performances as part of Carnegie Hall's LinkUp! music education program, serving all fourth grade students in the Fort Worth Independent School District. Other appointments in the past include assistant conductor of The Curtis Opera Theatre, visiting assistant professor at Haverford College and music director of Delaware County Youth Orchestra as well as First Korean Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, where he served as organist and choir director for many years.
Orchestras that Mr. Hong has conducted in the past include Spokane, Richmond, Winnepeg Symphony Orchestras as well as the Seoul, Buffalo and Lutoslawski Philharmonic Orchestras. Among his operatic and vocal performances are Copland's The Tenderland, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. His most recent operatic production was Donizetti's L'exisir d'Amore at the Wortham Opera Theatre in Houston. Awards that he has received in the past include the Leopold Stokowski Fellowship and the Whitaker Fund for Opera. Most recently, he was awarded the fellowship by the Brahms society of Baden-Baden offering residency for several weeks in the studio of Brahms' only remaining summer home in Germany.
As an educator, Mr. Hong was on the faculty of The Shepherd School Pre-College at Rice University, teaching piano to young students. He was also a part of the Just for U Music Program (JUMP!) at the university, dialoging and interacting with children as well as performing for them. In 2006, he was an integral part of forming a new musical organization, working closely with the executive and artistic directors as the founding conductor. Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, Youth Symphony for United Nations or YSUN's guiding principle continues to be 'a gathering of sound for world peace.'
Thomas was born in Incheon, Korea and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1978. He began his musical training at the age of 15 on the piano and continued his studies with Dr. Samuel Hsu at Philadelphia Biblical University. Later, he went on to earn a master degree in choral conducting at Temple University and an artist diploma in orchestral conducting from The Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Maestro Otto Werner Mueller. He concluded his artistic training with Maestro Larry Rachleff at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music.
Guest Conductor
Manny Laureano
Manny Laureano has served as Co-Artistic Director of the Minnesota Youth Symphonies since 1988, conducts the MYS Symphony Orchestra, and is the brass and woodwind coach for the MYS Repertory Orchestra. Manny has worked with a variety of ensembles, ranging from having been Music Director of the Calhoun-Isles Community Band, Music Director of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra for 9 years, to several guest conducting appearances with the Minnesota Orchestra including serving as Assistant Conductor during the 2005-06 season.
Most recently, Manny has guest conducted the St. Olaf College Orchestra, and has been a frequent guest conductor at Indiana University's Jacob's School of Music. He has conducted the Viva City Orchestra through the Minneapolis School District for several years, was selected to conduct the 2009 Minnesota All-State Orchestra, and is in demand as a clinician for young orchestras throughout the state of Minnesota. Manny was invited to guest-conduct the National Suzuki Youth Orchestra Festival Orchestra and were invited to serve again in 2004.
Guest Conductor
JoAnn Falletta
JoAnn Falletta has a rapidly growing international reputation as a vibrant ambassador for music and an inspiring artistic leader. An effervescent and exuberant figure on the podium, she has been praised by The Washington Post as having "Toscanini's tight control over ensemble, Walter's affectionate balancing of inner voices, Stokowski's gutsy showmanship, and a controlled frenzy worthy of Bernstein." Acclaimed by The New York Times as "one of the finest conductors of her generation", she serves as the Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
She is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards including the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award, the coveted Stokowski Competition, and the Toscanini, Ditson and Bruno Walter Awards for conducting, as well as the American Symphony Orchestra League's prestigious John S. Edwards Award. In the past 10 years, her recordings for Naxos have garnered nine Grammy nominations, including two Grammy awards in 2009 for John Corigliano's Mr. Tambourine Man with the BPO. Ms. Falletta received her undergraduate degree from the Mannes School of Music in New York, her master's and doctorate degrees from The Juilliard School.