Jorge Mester (born April 10, 1935,
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
) is a Mexican conductor of Hungarian ancestry.
He has served as the artistic director for the Orquesta Filarmónica de
Boca del Río, Veracruz
Boca del Río is a city and municipality located in the center of the Mexican state of Veracruz. The small city of Boca del Río serves as the seat of the municipality. The municipality lies just south of the municipality of Veracruz, and contains ...
, since it was founded in 2014.
Biography
He studied conducting with
Jean Morel at the
Juilliard School
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 el ...
in New York City, and worked with
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
at the
Berkshire Music Center
The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The center operates as a part of the Tanglew ...
and with
Albert Wolff. In 1955 he made his debut with the
National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico and in 1960 made his opera debut with ''
Salome'' at the
Spoleto Festival
The ''Festival dei Due Mondi'' (Festival of the Two Worlds) is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958. It features a vast array of conce ...
in Italy.
Mester became music director of the
Louisville Orchestra
The Louisville Orchestra is the primary orchestra in Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1937 by Robert Whitney (1904–1986) and Charles Farnsley, Mayor of Louisville. The Louisville Orchestra employs salaried musicians, and offers a wide ...
in 1967 and served in the post until 1979. In this time he gave over 200 world premieres of works commissioned by the orchestra.
From 1970 to 1990, he was music director of the
Aspen Music Festival
The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is a classical music festival held annually in Aspen, Colorado.
It is noted both for its concert programming and the musical training it offers to mostly young-adult music students. Founded in 1949, the ...
, and there founded the Aspen Chamber Symphony. He became music director of the
Pasadena Symphony Orchestra in 1984. His most recent contract extension had been through 2012, but in May 2010, the orchestra announced the conclusion of Mester's tenure as music director with immediate effect.
In 1998, he became music director of the
Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra
The Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra ( es, Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México) is an orchestra of international rank founded and underwritten by the National Government of Mexico. The home venue is the Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the ...
. From 2004 until 2012, Mester was the music director of the Naples Philharmonic in
Naples, Florida
Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the historical city (i.e. in the immediate vicinity of downtown Naples) was 19,115. Naples is a principal city of the Naples-Marco Island, Flori ...
. Mester returned to Louisville in 2006 for his second tenure as music director of the Louisville Orchestra, on an "open-ended" contract of unfixed duration, until the orchestra secured a new music director, with Mester as a member of the search committee.
Mester has served as director of Juilliard's conducting department and conducted concerts and operas in the
USC Thornton School of Music
The USC Thornton School of Music is a private music school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1884 only four years after the University of Southern California, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Los An ...
. In 1987, Mester participated in the documentary ''
A Woman Is a Risky Bet: Six Orchestra Conductors'', directed by
Christina Olofson
Anna-Maria Christina Olofson (born June 13, 1948 in Kristinehamn, Värmlands län, Sweden) is a Swedish film director, producer and scriptwriter. In 1974, after founding the Hagafilm production company with Göran du Rées, she went on to produce ...
, where he comments on the conservative attitudes towards women in the world of classical music.
Mester has a long-standing affiliation with
Peter Schickele
"Professor" Peter Schickele (; born July 17, 1935) is an American composer, musical educator, and parody, parodist, best known for comedy albums featuring his music, but which he presents as being composed by the fictional P. D. Q. Bach. He also ...
and the
P.D.Q. Bach
P. D. Q. Bach is a fictional composer invented by the American musical satirist Peter Schickele, who developed a five-decade-long career performing the "discovered" works of the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family. Schickele's music combines ...
concerts, dating back to 1965, when he conducted the first public P.D.Q. Bach concert.
Personal
Mester has been married twice. His first marriage to Paula Seibel ended in divorce. His second marriage, which also ended in divorce, was to the American mezzo-soprano Kimball Wheeler, with whom he had a daughter, Amanda, who is an accomplished hip-hop journalist and former college professor.
He resides in Southern California.
References
External links
Biography on NaxosPasadena Symphony and Pops page on Jorge Mesterby Bruce Duffie, July 14, 1994
with Doug Ordunio, recorded ca. 1995 for usage upon Aeromexico flights
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mester, Jorge
Aspen Music Festival and School faculty
Mexican conductors (music)
Male conductors (music)
Mexican emigrants to the United States
Musicians from Mexico City
Mexican people of Hungarian descent
Juilliard School alumni
University of Southern California people
Living people
1935 births
American male conductors (music)
21st-century American conductors (music)
21st-century American male musicians