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ANDREW LITTON
Conductor
Season 2015/2016 Bio
Andrew Litton, newly appointed Music Director of the New York City Ballet, ends his
twelve year tenure as Music Director of Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic with a Gala
Concert celebrating the Orchestra’s 250th Anniversary. Under Litton’s leadership the
Bergen Philharmonic gained international recognition through extensive touring, making
debuts at London’s BBC Proms, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and appearances at
Vienna’s Musikverein, Berlin’s Philharmonie, and New York’s Carnegie Hall. It records
extensively for Sweden’s BIS and Britain’s Hyperion labels. Litton becomes Bergen
Philharmonic Music Director Laureate and continues to serve as Music Director of the
Colorado Symphony Orchestra in Denver, Artistic Director of the Minnesota Orchestra’s
Sommerfest, and Conductor Laureate of Britain’s Bournemouth. He guest conducts the
world’s leading orchestras and opera companies, and has a discography of over 120
recordings with awards including America’s Grammy, France’s Diapason d’Or, and many
other honors.
Litton’s Sommerfest 2015 performances conducting Gershwin’s Concerto in F from the
keyboard and his concert presentation of “Madame Butterfly” drew rave notices. He
opens the 2015-2016 season taking the Bergen Philharmonic on tour to Amsterdam’s
Concertgebouw, London’s Royal Albert Hall BBC Proms, and Dublin’s
National Concert Hall. He also conducts a Proms concert with the BBC Symphony.
Litton returns to the Minnesota Orchestra in its regular season, Washington’s
National Symphony Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic, and the Bournemouth
Symphony. Having premiered the Deutsche Oper Berlin’s 2008 new production of
Richard Strauss’ “Egyptian Helen”, he returns to conduct its revival.
Conductor of many of the world’s top opera companies, including the Metropolitan
Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, and Deutsche Oper Berlin, Litton participated with
the Bergen Philharmonic in founding the Bergen National Opera. Now its Artistic
Advisor, Litton conducted critically acclaimed, sold-out performances of Tosca, Carmen,
Flying Dutchman, and La Bohème.
Litton’s work in ballet began while still a Juilliard student, performing as on-stage pianist
for Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, and Cynthia Gregory. After a 2015 debut
conducting the New York City Ballet’s “Coppelia” he was invited to become its Music
Director and begins his new duties conducting the holiday run of “Nutcracker”. On
January 19 he opens their Winter season with a special performance of ballets he has
chosen.
An accomplished pianist, Litton often conducts from the keyboard and enjoys performing
chamber music with his orchestra colleagues. Passionate about Jazz, Litton joins the
New York Jazzharmonic organized by New York City Ballet Principal Bass Ron
Wasserman to perform at Symphony Space in May. A recognized authority on Gershwin,
Litton has performed and recorded Gershwin’s works as pianist and conductor in
America, Asia, and Europe. He led the Covent Garden premiere of Porgy and Bess and
arranged his own concert suite of that work, now performed throughout the world. The
University of Michigan asked Litton to join a distinguished panel of Gershwin experts in
developing a critical edition of all Gershwin works. Long an admirer of the late jazz
pianist Oscar Peterson, Litton recorded his first solo piano album, A Tribute to Oscar
Peterson, released in 2014.
Litton was Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony from 1988-1994, bringing
it on its first American tour and producing 14 recordings, including the Grammy winning
Belshazzar’s Feast. Music Director of the Dallas Symphony from 1994-2006, he hired
over one third of the players, led the orchestra on three major European tours, appeared
four times at Carnegie Hall, created a children’s television series broadcast nationally
and in widespread use in school curricula, produced 28 recordings, and helped raise the
orchestra’s endowment from $19 million to $100 million. Litton’s Dallas Symphony
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto recordings with Stephen Hough, widely hailed as the best
since the composer’s own, won the Classical Brits/BBC Critics Award. Litton also
received a Grammy nomination for his recording of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd with the
New York Philharmonic and Patti Lupone.
Andrew Litton, a graduate of the Fieldston School, New York, received his bachelor’s
and master’s degrees from Juilliard in piano and conducting. The youngest-ever winner
of the BBC International Conductors Competition, he served as Assistant Conductor at
Teatro alla Scala and Exxon/Arts Endowment Assistant Conductor for the National
Symphony under Rostropovich. His many honors in addition to Norway’s Order of Merit
include an honorary Doctorate from the University of Bournemouth, Yale University’s
Sanford Medal, and the Elgar Society Medal.