Andrew Litton began 2009 leading an ecstatically received Berlin Deutsche Oper new production of the rarely performed Die Ägyptische Helena by Richard Strauss. In January he appears with the BBC Symphony at the Barbican in a program including Strauss’ Heldenleben and five Orchestral Songs. In February, continuing his Strauss journey, he conducts the Dallas premiere of Strauss’ Aus Italien with the Dallas Symphony, of which he is Music Director Emeritus. Andrew Litton in 2006 left Dallas after a 12 year tenure as Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, having significantly raised the orchestra’s international profile: three tours to Europe’s leading concert venues, four appearances at Carnegie Hall, a children’s television series broadcast nationally and in widespread use in school curricula, and 28 recordings, including a Rachmaninoff piano concerto series with Stephen Hough widely hailed as the best since the composer’s own recordings. He hired over one third of the orchestra’s current musicians. When Litton came to Dallas, the orchestra’s endowment fund was $17million; when he left it was $100 million. Andrew Litton currently is based New York. He conducts extensively throughout the world, but devotes his greatest attention to one of the world’s oldest orchestras, Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic. Since 2003, he serves as its first American Music Director of Edvard Grieg’s own orchestra, a superb instrument little known outside its native fjords. Litton has brought the Bergen Philharmonic to the world’s leading stages, including appearances at the London Royal Albert Hall BBC Proms, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein, and a groundbreaking tour of the United States, the orchestra’s first in 41 years, with a performance of Grieg’s Piano Concerto by Andre Watts at Carnegie Hall. Four years ago, Litton was the catalyst in launching a new Norwegian opera company, Den Nye Oper of Bergen. With the Bergen Philharmonic as the pit orchestra, Den Nye Oper has performed Tosca, Carmen and most recently, a Francesca Zambello production of Flying Dutchman to sold-out houses and critical acclaim. Since 2003 Litton serves as Artistic Director of the Minnesota Orchestra's Sommerfest. His performances as conductor, solo pianist and chamber musician, have revitalized the festival and brought it artistic and financial success. Other highlights of Litton’s current season include his long-awaited return to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, along with regular appearances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra of London, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the Tonkuenstler Orchestra Vienna. He also returns to the NHK Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo and the orchestras of Minnesota (main season), Indianapolis, and Vancouver in North America. Litton regularly appears with Britain’s Bournemouth Symphony, of which he was Principal Conductor before coming to Dallas and remains Bournemouth’s Conductor Laureate. In May, Litton conducts and plays at a special concert marking his own 50th Birthday and the 25th Anniversary of his Bournemouth Symphony debut. Litton’s over 80 recordings include the complete Rachmaninoff piano concertos with Stephen Hough and the Dallas Symphony, which won the Classical Brits/BBC Critics Award, and a Grammy-winning Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with the Bournemouth Symphony and Bryn Terfel. He and the Bergen Philharmonic have active recording relationships with Europe’s leading Hyperion and BIS labels. For BIS, they have recently completed recording all the Mendelssohn Symphonies and are currently recording Stravinsky Ballets. Litton began piano studies at age five and at ten decided to become a conductor. He graduated from the Fieldston School, New York, and earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from Juilliard in piano and conducting. The youngest-ever winner of the BBC International Conductors Competition, he served as assistant conductor at Teatro alla Scala and Exxon/Arts Endowment Assistant Conductor for the National Symphony under Rostropovich. His many honors include Yale University’s Sanford Medal, The Elgar Society’s medal, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Bournemouth.
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