Pika Točka Tačka

As one of America's most promising and talented young conductors, Andrew Grams has already appeared with many of the great orchestras of the world including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C. On the international arena, he has conducted the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Melbourne Symphony, the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia Rome and the Residentie Orchestra of the Hague, to name a few.

Maestro Grams was a protege of Franz Welser-Moest and served as Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra from 2004 to 2007.

The 2010-11 season witnesses a major debut for Grams with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London alongside debut appearances with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and the Orchestra of the Beethovenhalle Bonn.

A Maryland native raised in Severn, Andrew Grams began conducting at the age of 17, when he directed the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan. He studied violin at the Juilliard School, and conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music, with Otto-Werner Mueller.

The Chinese conductor, Muhai Tang, is the new Chief Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic; Mr Tang has also been Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra since 2006, Conductor Laureate and Artistic Advisor of the Queensland Orchestra, Conductor Laureate of the China National Symphony Orchestra. In season 2009/2010, he became Artistic Director of the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Zhenjiang Symphony Orchestra in China. In September 2009, he assumed the role of Principal Guest Conductor of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra.

Son of a famous film director in China, Muhai Tang has always been drawn to the musical stage, and has conducted opera on several continents. He previously held the position of Chief Conductor of the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, where he conducted highly successful new productions of Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Turandot, Der Rosenkavalier, Pique Dame, as well as Madame Butterfly, Tosca, La Rondine, Boris Godunov, The Marriage of Figaro, La Traviata, The Barber of Seville and Othello. Among his ballet performances with the orchestra are the highly acclaimed Sacre du Printemps and the new production of Swan Lake.

Dmitrij Kitajenko is one of the great conductors of our time. Equally esteemed in eastern and western Europe, he regularly conducts prestigious orchestras like the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Among other prizes, his complete recording of Shostakovich's symphonies with the Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra (2005) was awarded the ECHO Klassik.

Dmitrij Kitajenko was born in Leningrad, where he studied at the renowned Glinka School of Music and the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. He went on to study with Leo Ginzburg in Moscow and in the legendary conducting class of Hans Swarowsky and Karl Österreicher in Vienna. In 1969 he won the first International Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition in Berlin and was appointed principal conductor of the influential Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow at the age of only twenty-nine. In the early 1970s he very successfully conducted a great number of operas in Moscow and in cities like Vienna, Munich and Brussels in Western Europe.

Jonathan Schiffman's imaginative, fresh and contemporary approach to repertoire and programming has captured the interest of both orchestras and audiences throughout Europe and the US. Informed by his background as a composer, Schiffman draws on a strong interest in contemporary music as well as a wide core repertoire to produce programmes which are both unique and appealing. His open enthusiasm and charismatic approach towards conducting have earned him the respect and admiration of many strong supporters.

After two seasons as assistant to Kurt Masur at the Orchestra National de France and Ivan Fischer at the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Schiffman held the position of Music Director with the Orchestre Lyrique de Région Avignon-Provence from 2007-2010, during which time audience subscriptions doubled. In February 2006, Schiffman made his subscription concert debut with the Orchestre National de France which resulted in a 2008 reengagement as well as debuts with the Opéra National de Lorraine and the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire.