Eugene Tzigane (IPA – Ju:dʒi:n tsi'ga:n) (real name: Gene McDonough) is a symphonic and operatic conductor. He's serving as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of

Kuopio Symphony Orchestra Kuopio (, ) is a Finland, Finnish city and municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia. It has a population of , which makes it the List of Finnish municipalities, most populous municipality in Finland. Along with Joensuu, Kuopio is on ...

Kuopio Kuopio (, ) is a Finnish city and municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia. It has a population of , which makes it the most populous municipality in Finland. Along with Joensuu, Kuopio is one of the major urban, economic, and cult ...

, Finland, since 2023.

Biography

Tzigane was born in Japan.

Career

Tzigane has guest conducted on four continents including appearances with the

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) is a German broadcast orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra performs its concerts principally in the Philharmonie Berlin. The orchestra is administratively based at the ''Rundfunk Berlin-Branden ...

Bruckner Orchestra Linz The Bruckner Orchester Linz is an Austrian orchestra based in Linz. Named for Anton Bruckner, the orchestra is the concert orchestra for the state of Upper Austria, and also the opera orchestra at the Landestheater Linz (Upper Austrian State Theat ...

Sinfonieorchester Basel The Sinfonieorchester Basel (Symphony Orchestra Basel; Swiss abbreviation SOB) is a symphony orchestra based in Basel, Switzerland. Its principal concert venue is the ''Musiksaal'' of the Stadtcasino. In addition, the orchestra accompanies ballet ...

Lahti Symphony Orchestra The Lahti Symphony Orchestra (''Sinfonia Lahti'') is a Finnish orchestra, based in the city of Lahti. The orchestra is resident at the Sibelius Hall. The orchestra was founded in 1910, and placed under the control of the Lahti municipality in 1949 ...

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra The New Jersey Symphony, formerly the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, is an American symphony orchestra based in the state of New Jersey. The New Jersey Symphony is the state orchestra of New Jersey, performing classical subscription concert serie ...

Oregon Symphony The Oregon Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded as the 'Portland Symphony Society' in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States. I ...

Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra The , also known as Tokyō (都響), is one of the representative symphony orchestras of Japan. The Orchestra was founded in 1965 by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, to commemorate the Tokyo Olympics (1964 Summer Olympics). Currently Kazushi ...

RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO; previously known as RTÉ Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra) is the largest professional orchestra in Ireland. Housed at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, since January 2022, it used ...

, and

Norwegian Radio Orchestra The Norwegian Radio Orchestra (Norwegian, ''Kringkastingsorkestret'', abbreviated as KORK) is a radio orchestra affiliated with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (''Norsk rikskringkasting AS'', or NRK). Its principal base is the ''Store Studi ...

among many others. His operatic appearances include the

Bavarian State Opera The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

Frankfurt Opera The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Shrek's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, '' Fennimore und Gerda'' by Frede ...

, and the

Hamburg State Opera The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''General ...

. Tzigane studied with

James DePreist James Anderson DePreist (November 21, 1936 – February 8, 2013) was an American conductor. DePreist was one of the first African-American conductors on the world stage. He was the director emeritus of conducting and orchestral studies at T ...

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 ...

, and graduated in 2007 with a Master of Music in orchestral conducting. He later studied with

Jorma Panula Jorma Juhani Panula (born 10 August 1930) is a Finnish conductor, composer, and teacher of conducting. He has mentored many Finnish conductors, such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mikko Franck, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä and Klaus ...

at the

Royal College of Music, Stockholm The Royal College of Music, Stockholm ( sv, Kungliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm) is the oldest institution of higher education in music in Sweden, founded in 1771 as the conservatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The institution was mad ...

. His awards include the Grand Prize at

The Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors The Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors (Polish: ''Międzynarodowy Konkurs Dyrygentów im. Grzegorza Fitelberga'') is one of Poland's premier conducting competitions. Named in honour of Grzegorz Fitelberg (1879–1953), th ...

(2007) in

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

, Poland, and the Second Prize at both the

Sir Georg Solti International Conductors' Competition The Sir Georg Solti International Conductors' Competition is a German competition for conductors that occurs biennially in Frankfurt, at the Alte Oper. The cooperating music organisations are the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester and the hr ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, Germany and the

International Competition of Young Conductors Lovro von Matačić The International Competition of Young Conductors Lovro von Matačić is being organized by the Lovro and Lilly Matačić Foundation every 4 years in Zagreb (Croatia) and is eligible to conductors under the age of 35. About the Competition In 199 ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, Croatia. Tzigane first guest-conducted the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in October 2009. In December of that year, he was named the orchestra's next Chief Conductor, effective with the 2010–2011 season. He was chief for four seasons conducting over 140 concerts with the orchestra in Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, and the US, playing music of over 60 composers including several German premieres and a world premiere. He relinquished this post as of April 2014. Tzigane served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Pomeranian Philharmonic Orchestra (''Filharmonia Pomorska'') in

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

from October 2009 until May 2011, and as Chief Conductor of the

Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie The Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie (North West German Philharmonic) is a German orchestra, symphony orchestra based in Herford. It was founded in 1950 and, along with Philharmonie Südwestfalen and Landesjugendorchester NRW, is one of the 'official ...

until April 2014. Tzigane guest-conducted Kuopio Symphony Orchestra since 2015, before being selected as its Chief Conductor and Artistic Director in November 2022. His contract is two plus two years. Kuopio Symphony Orchestra's second conductor is

Atso Almila Atso Almila (born 13 June 1953, in Helsinki 1) is a Finnish orchestral conductor, music director, composer, trombonist and teacher. He has worked with most Finnish orchestras as a guest conductor or otherwise. Though he primarily operates in Finlan ...

, with Tzigane's former teacher at Royal College of Music, Stockholm,

as honorary conductor.

References

External links

*
Tzigane's introduction video for the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra in 2023
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tzigane, Eugene Living people 1981 births 21st-century American conductors (music)