Opera star Stacey Robinson (left) with conductor John Demain in Tokyo in 1995

John DeMain is an American conductor, currently in his 29th year as music director of the

Madison Symphony Orchestra The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an orchestra headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Its conductor is John DeMain, who began his 28th season with the orchestra in the fall of 2022. The orchestra was founded in 1925 as a small community ensemb ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, as well as serving as artistic director of

Madison Opera Madison Opera is a regional opera company based in Madison, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1961 as an extension of thMadison Symphony Orchestraand came to national prominence in 1993 with the commissioning and premiering of ''Shining Brow'', the o ...

. He was music director and principal conductor of

Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is an American opera company located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955 by German-born impresario Walter Herbert and three local Houstonians,Giesberg, Robert I., Carl Cunningham, and Alan Rich. ''Houston Grand Opera at ...

for eighteen years in the 1970s and 1980s, establishing a reputation for conducting new operas. Notable among the world premieres he led there were Floyd's ''

Willie Stark ''Willie Stark'' is an opera in three acts and nine scenes by Carlisle Floyd to his own libretto, after the 1946 novel ''All the King's Men'' by Robert Penn Warren, which in turn was inspired by the life of the Louisiana governor Huey Long. The o ...

'' (1981), Bernstein's ''

A Quiet Place ''A Quiet Place'' is a 2018 American post-apocalyptic horror film directed by John Krasinski and written by Bryan Woods, Scott Beck and Krasinski, from a story conceived by Woods and Beck. The plot revolves around a father (Krasinski) and a mo ...

'' (1983), Adams's ''

Nixon in China ''Nixon in China'' is an opera in three acts by John Adams with a libretto by Alice Goodman. Adams's first opera, it was inspired by U.S. president Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China. The work premiered at the Houston G ...

'' (1987) and Tippett's ''

New Year New Year is the time or day currently at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system to ...

'' (1989). DeMain also conducted the United States premiere of '' Akhnaten'', by

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

, in 1984. One of his early achievements with the chorus and orchestra of the Houston company was the second-ever complete recording of Gershwin's ''

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', itse ...

'', made for

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

in 1976 in its New York studios. Today, besides his work in Madison, he acts as occasional guest conductor for

Los Angeles Opera The Los Angeles Opera is an American opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth-largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center. Leadersh ...

. DeMain lives in

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

. His daughter, Jennifer, is a UW-Madison graduate.

References

External links

John DeMain page
from Pinnacle Arts Management site
Biography on Madison Symphony Orchestra's website
American conductors (music) Grammy Award winners People from Youngstown, Ohio Texas classical music Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Madison, Wisconsin {{US-musician-stub