The International Conductors Guild is a 501c3 non profit organization whose purpose is to encourage and promote the highest standards in the art and profession of conducting. Recently the Conductors Guild revised its name to International Conductors Guild to accommodate its growing membership of conductors from the United States of America, Canada, South America, Europe, and Asia. The Guild offers services to enhance the training and development of conductors, and promises to represent the views of conductors to the larger community of music professionals. The International Conductors Guild publishes the ''Journal of the Conductors Guild''. It also sponsors an annual conference that provides a means of bringing new compositions to the attention of conductors, the viewpoints of a variety of conductors and composers, and a unique chance of fellowship and gathering for conductors from around the globe. The Guild's training activities include a mentor-apprentice program, conducting workshops for conductors of all skill levels lasting from three days to two weeks, Symposia, and Online Materials and Training. The International Conductors Guild is governed by a group of Officers, and up to 25 Directors, who meet 3 times annually. A variety of board committee work is required of Board Directors who serve in order to help the profession, without personal gain. Since 1988, the Conductors Guild has honored outstanding achievement in the conducting profession with the Theodore Thomas Award. Recipients of the award include

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...

Sir Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...

Maurice Abravanel Maurice Abravanel (January 6, 1903 – September 22, 1993) was an American classical music conductor. He is remembered as the conductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years. Life Abravanel was born in Salonika, Rumelia Eyalet, Ottom ...

Marin Alsop Marin Alsop ( �mɛər.ɪn ˈæːl.sɑːp born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate ...

Kurt Masur Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Or ...

, Robert Shaw,

Frederick Fennell Frederick Fennell (July 2, 1914 – December 7, 2004) was an internationally recognized conductor and one of the primary figures in promoting the Eastman Wind Ensemble as a performing group. He was also influential as a band pedagogue, and grea ...

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mont ...

David Zinman David Zinman (born July 9, 1936, in Brooklyn, NY) is an American conductor and violinist. Education After violin studies at Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota, earning his M.A. in 1963. He ...

Michael Tilson Thomas Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...

and

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...

. The Guild's Max Rudolf Award, given since 1997, recognizes outstanding achievement as a scholar and mentor. Recipients have included

Gustav Meier Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

Herbert Blomstedt Herbert Thorson Blomstedt (; born 11 July 1927) is a Swedish conductor. Herbert Blomstedt was born in Massachusetts. Two years after his birth, his Swedish parents moved the family back to their country of origin. He studied at the Stockholm Ro ...

Daniel Lewis Daniel, Dan or Danny Lewis may refer to: * Dan Lewis (rugby league), rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s and 1910s for Wales, Welsh League XIII, and Merthyr Tydfil * Dan Lewis (footballer) (1902–1965), Welsh football goalkeeper * Dan ...

, and Paul Vermel.

History

The Conductors Guild had its beginnings in June 1974 at a national conference of the American Symphony Orchestra League (now the

League of American Orchestras The League of American Orchestras, formerly the American Symphony Orchestra League, is a North American service organization with 700 member orchestras of all budget sizes and types, plus individual and institutional members. Based in New York Ci ...

) in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. An informal meeting of conductors to discuss challenges facing the profession led to plans to form a professional organization. The Conductors Guild was officially born in 1975 at the League's

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

conference. It continued as a subsidiary of the League until becoming a separate organisation in 1985. The first European conference of the Conductors Guild took place in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in 2010. Guild events have featured leading figures in the world of concert music, including

Catherine Comet Catherine Comet (born 1944) is a French-born, American conductor who from 1986 to 1997 was the music director of the Grand Rapids Symphony in Grand Rapids, Michigan, becoming the first woman to hold a post as music director of a professional orch ...

Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...

Chen Yi Chen Yi may refer to: * Xuanzang (602–664), born as Chen Yi, Chinese Buddhist monk in Tang Dynasty * Chen Yi (Kuomintang) Chen Yi (; courtesy names Gongxia (公俠) and later Gongqia (公洽), sobriquet Tuisu (退素); May 3, 1883 – June ...

Norman Dello Joio Norman Dello Joio (January 24, 1913July 24, 2008) was an American composer active for over half a century. He won a 1957 Pulitzer Prize#Letters, Drama, Pulitzer Prize in 1957. Life Dello Joio was born Nicodemo DeGioio in New York City to It ...

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City, ...

James Levine James Lawrence Levine (; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 1 ...

Ulysses Kay Ulysses Simpson Kay (January 7, 1917 in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson, Arizona – May 20, 1995 in Englewood, New Jersey, Englewood, New Jersey) was an American composer. His music is mostly neoclassicism, neoclassical in style. Life and career Kay, the ...

Keith Lockhart Keith Alan Lockhart (born November 7, 1959) is an American conductor. He is the Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Chief Guest Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and the Artistic Director of the Brevard Music Center in North Carol ...

, and Alan Gilbert,

Presidents

* Harold Farberman (1975–1979) *Charles A. Ansbacher (1979–1981, 1986) *Maurice Peress (1981–1983) *Donald Portnoy (1983–1986) * Samuel Jones (1987–1988) *Evan Whallon (1989–1990) *Michael Charry (1991–1992) *Larry Newland (1993–1994) *Adrian Gnam (1995–1996) *Barbara Schubert (1997–1998) *Wes Kenney (1999–2000) *Harlan Parker (2001–2002) *Emily Freeman Brown (2003–2004) *Tonu Kalam (2005–2006) *Sandra Dackow (2007–2008) *Michael Griffith (2009–2010) *James A. Anderson (2011-2013) *Gordon Johnson (2014-2016) *John Farrer (2016-2019) *Julius P.Williams (2019-

External links

Conductors Guild official siteConductors Guild Records, 1975-1997
Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Conductors (music)