Mickelthwate

Alexander Mickelthwate is the newly appointed Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Beginning with the 2006/07 season he will lead the orchestra in subscription concerts, on tour, and in the orchestra's internationally acclaimed New Music Festival. He will also serve as the Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the 2006/07 season.As Assistant Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the past two years, Alexander Mickelthwate has led the orchestra in programs at Walt Disney Concert Hall, appearing on the Green Umbrella new music series, education and community concerts, and at the Hollywood Bowl. In his first year, he made his subscription debut on 30 minutes notice when he stepped in for Mikko Franck leading Shostakovich's Symphony No. 12 and John Adams' Violin Concerto.In July 2005 he made his Hollywood Bowl debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic leading a program of Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. After the concert, Alan Rich of the LA Weekly wrote, "Keep your eye on Mickelthwate; he has the goods." In January 2006, following a performance of Boulez's "Le Marteau Sans Maître " with the Philharmonic's New Music Group, Mark Swed of the LA Times wrote, "Alexander Mickelthwate has been a fearless assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. No musical style seems to faze him. His technique is first rate, his beat reassuringly precise. ... Mickelthwate conducted very much in the Boulez manner: calm under pressure, sure of ever-changing meters..."As a guest conductor, Mr. Mickelthwate has appeared with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Nashville, New Jersey, Oregon, and Toronto; the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Eos Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa). Upcoming performances include appearances with the symphony orchestras of Ft. Worth, San Antonio and his debut with the New York Philharmonic, in addition to his work with the Los Angeles Philharmonic which includes a subscription program at Walt Disney Concert Hall.Abroad, Alexander Mickelthwate made his European debut with the Hamburg Symphony in April 2006. During the 2006/07 season, his engagements in Europe include debuts with the Orchestre Phillharmonique de Monte Carlo and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra.During his tenure as Assistant Conductor with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which he completed at the end of the 2003-04 season, he co-founded the new music ensemble, Bent Frequency, which was hailed by Gramophone Magazine as "one of the brightest ensembles on the scene." Always striving to engage young people in music, he conducted more than 60 Young People's Concerts with the Atlanta Symphony, and organized an exchange between the Atlanta Youth Symphony and Berlin Youth Orchestra during the summer of 2003, hosting concerts in both cities.Having inherited a passion for opera from his grandmother, a professional opera singer, Mr. Mickelthwate has been a coach, pianist and conductor at New York's Amato Opera and an assistant conductor for the Baltimore Opera, the Florida Grand Opera, and the El Paso Opera.Mr. Mickelthwate was born in Germany into a musical family. He developed his musical talent at an early age as a cellist in youth orchestras and chamber groups, as a singer in a professional choir, and as a pianist and organist. He studied conducting and piano performance at the Musikhochschule in Karlsruhe, where as a student he worked as a pianist for the Frankfurt Chamber Opera and the Karlsruhe Opera Studio. He also studied for two summers at the Eötvöes Institute in Hungary.After winning a Peabody merit scholarship, Mr. Mickelthwate came to America to study at Baltimore's Peabody Institute of Music with Frederik Prausnitz and Gustav Meier. Further studies took place with Seiji Ozawa, Robert Spano, and Andre Previn as a fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center and with Leonard Slatkin at the National Conducting Institute in Washington, D.C.Mr. Mickelthwate lives in Los Angeles with his wife and young son.