Richard Westerfield is an American conductor. He has served as Associate Conductor of the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...

, and has led orchestras such as the Brown University Orchestra, the

Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra (HSO) is an American orchestra based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra can be traced back to the early 1930s during the throes of the Great Depression. The orchestra gave its firs ...

, and the

Alabama Symphony Orchestra The Alabama Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra based in Birmingham, Alabama. The orchestra's resident and principal conductor is Christopher Confessore. The Orchestra was first formed in April 1921 but had to close because of financial issu ...

. He came to prominence in 1993 at age 35 when he stepped in at the last minute for three concerts with the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

to fill in for an ailing

Erich Leinsdorf Erich Leinsdorf (born Erich Landauer; February 4, 1912 – September 11, 1993) was an Austrian-born American conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a ...

, to critical acclaim. At the time, his day job was in

JP Morgan JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in City of New York, New York City and Delaware General Corporation Law, inco ...

's Sovereign Group, helping third-world countries get access to capital markets in the US and Europe. In May 2004, he stepped down from a 6-year tenure as music director of the

References

External links

*
Investment banker Richard Westerfield tells the story of how he filled in as a conductor for the New York Philharmonic
on the ''Charlie Rose'' show
Boston Symphony conducting history

of Westerfield and

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 ...

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the ...

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male conductors (music) 21st-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American male musicians {{US-conductor-stub