Andreas Delfs (born 30 August 1959) is a German conductor. He is the music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Biography

Delfs was born in

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. He began studying

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

at age ten, and by age twenty was named Music Director of the Hamburg University Orchestra.
/sup> Delfs graduated from Hamburger Konservatorium, Hamburg Conservatory in 1981, and earned his Master's at

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

in 1984. At Hamburg, Delfs studied under

Aldo Ceccato Aldo Ceccato (born 18 February 1934) is an Italian conductor. Ceccato was born in Milan. He worked as assistant to Sergiu Celibidache and was music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1973 until 1977. Then, from 1976 until 1982, he ...

and

Christoph von Dohnanyi Christoph is a male given name and surname. It is a German language, German variant of Christopher (given name), Christopher. Notable people with the given name Christoph * Christoph Bach (musician), Christoph Bach (1613–1661), German musician * ...

. After receiving his Master's, he accepted the post of Assistant Conductor of the

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra The ''Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra'' (''PSO'') is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District, Pittsburgh, Cultural District. History The Pittsburgh Sy ...

, then under the music directorship of

Lorin Maazel Lorin Varencove Maazel (, March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in th ...

. From 1984 to 1995 he also held the position of chief conductor of the Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra
SYSO
. Delfs was appointed Music Director and conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 1997. In 1999, he led the Orchestra on a tour of Cuba, the first by an American orchestra in more than 37 years. In December 2006, the orchestra announced that Delfs would relinquish the music directorship of the Milwaukee Symphony after the 2008-2009 season (the Orchestra's fiftieth season), and become its Conductor Laureate. Delfs held the post of Music Director of the

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) is a full-time professional chamber orchestra based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In collaboration with five Artistic Partners, the orchestra's musicians present more than 130 concerts and educational programs ea ...

from 2001 to 2004, and the position of

Generalmusikdirektor A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the d ...

of the Staatsoper Hannover from 1996 to 2000. In March 2007, Delfs was named Principal Conductor of the Honolulu Symphony, with an initial contract of 3 years. His tenure with the Honolulu Symphony ended when it went bankrupt and filed for liquidation in December 2010. In June 2015, Delfs was appointed music director of the Temple University Symphony Orchestra at the

Boyer College of Music and Dance Boyer () is a French surname. In rarer cases, it can be a corruption or deliberate alteration of other names. Origins and statistics Boyer is found traditionally along the Mediterranean (Provence, Languedoc), the Rhône valley, Auvergne, Limou ...

, replacing the retired Luis Biava. In addition, he is also to serve as a professor under the school's Department of Instrumental Studies. Delfs first guest-conducted the

Rochester Philharmonic The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is an American orchestra based in the city of Rochester, New York. Its primary concert venue is the Eastman Theatre at the Eastman School of Music. History George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Company ...

in 1994. In January 2021, the Rochester Philharmonic named Delfs its next music director.

Discography

*Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 3 & 4 (John O'Conor, piano; London Symphony Orchestra

* Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5 (John O'Conor, London Symphony Orchestra) * Sacred Songs (Renée Fleming, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) * Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel (Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra) * Mozart/Süssmayr: Requiems (St. Paul Chamber Orchestra) * Ervín Schulhoff: 'Concertos Alla Jazz' * Schoeck: Violin Concerto op. 21, Penthesilea-Suite (Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra) * Roberto Sierra: ''Missa Latina "Pro Pace"'' (

Heidi Grant Murphy Heidi Grant Murphy (born 1965) is an American operatic soprano and academic voice teacher. A member of the Metropolitan Opera since 1989, she appeared at international opera houses, and made recordings. She has been a voice teacher at the Jacobs ...

, soprano; Nathaniel Webster, baritone; Milwaukee Symphony Chorus and Orchestra)

References

External links

Andreas Delfs in conversation with Robert Levine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delfs, Andreas Living people 1959 births German male conductors (music) People from Flensburg 21st-century German conductors (music) 21st-century German male musicians