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Constantine Kitsopoulos has made a name
for himself as a conductor whose musical experiences comfortably
span the worlds of opera and symphony, where he conducts in such
venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Royal Albert Hall,
and musical theater, where he can be found leading orchestras on
Broadway.
Mr. Kitsopoulos was named music director of the Queens Symphony
Orchestra this September and will conduct his first concert as
music director on November 17, 2006. He continues as general director
of Chatham Opera, which he founded in 2005. This season Mr. Kitsopoulos
will also make his debut with the Blossom Festival Orchestra, Hartford
Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony and the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
He will conduct DiCapo Opera Theatre's production of "The
Merry Widow" in
October 2006. In December he will conduct and produce Chatham Opera's
debut production, Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors".
In February Mr. Kitsopoulos will begin rehearsals for "Coram
Boy"
which is set to open on Broadway in April of 2007.
This past season Mr. Kitsopoulos launched Chatham Opera with
a master class given by Regina Resnik. He also initiated Chatham
Opera's introduction to opera series, "Opera 101".
He conducted the Red Bull Artsehcro, an orchestra consisting of
students from the top conservatories and university music programs
in the country, in a concert at Carnegie Hall featuring a program
of world premieres by Raul Yanez and Laura Karpman. Mr. Kitsopoulos
conducted the Queens Symphony and continued his association with
the New York Virtuosi Chamber Symphony. He also made his debut
with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. This past summer he conducted
American Conservatory Theatre's production of Kurt Weill's "Happy
End" and recorded the
cast album at Skywalker Ranch.
The 2004-2005 season displayed Mr. Kitsopoulos’s
ability and interest in performing new works and conducting a wide
variety of genres. He returned to the New Jersey Symphony to conduct
John Goberman’s brand new “Gotta Dance!” program,
as well as Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf for the symphony’s
family concert series. In June of 2005 he conducted New Jersey Symphony’s
Summer Parks Concerts. He also made his debut with the Madison Symphony,
conducting “A Night at the Oscars.” Orchestral highlights
of past seasons include conducting appearances with the Annapolis
Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, New York Virtuosi Chamber Symphony,
Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and a complete
performance of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat with
members of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
In 2003-2004, Constantine Kitsopoulos conducted
Di Capo Opera Theatre’s production of Gounod’s Faust
and all three versions of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, in celebration
of the 100th anniversary of its premiere. More operatic highlights
included the Hong Kong Municipal Opera production of Carmen in both
Hong Kong and Beijing, and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at Alice
Tully Hall. Mr. Kitsopoulos also served as Music Director of the
world premiere production of Ed Dixon’s Fanny Hill at the
Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, where he created the production’s
orchestrations as well.
Mr. Kitsopoulos conducted the new
musical “Mambo Kings,” in San Francisco in May 2005.
He was Music Director and Principal Conductor of Baz Lurhmann’s
production of Puccini’s La Bohème, which he most recently
conducted in Los Angeles to rave reviews. Other musical theater
highlights include serving as Music Director of Frank Wildhorn’s
Dracula and Les Misérables in 2001-2002 and conducting Matthew
Bourne’s Broadway production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.
Constantine Kitsopoulos studied conducting
with Vincent LeSelva, as well as Gustav Meier, Sergiu Commissiona,
and Semyon Bychkov. He studied piano with Marienka Michna, Chandler
Gregg, Ed Edson, and Sophia Rosoff.
His first recording – Baz
Luhrmann’s production of La Bohème – was released
by Dreamworks in 2002..
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