USA
Nominated for the 2016 Salzburg Festival/Nestle Young Conductors Award, Karin Hendrickson’s operatic work includes: Music Director for the premiere and tour of Opera for the Unknown Woman (Melanie Wilson/National Theatre), Music Director for the Garsington Youth Opera, and Music Director for Bloomsbury Opera. Symphonic debuts include the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Kammersymphonie Graz, Sao Paulo Symphony, Ensemble Eroica, Southbank Sinfonia and Britten-Pears Orchestra. In 2016/17 Karin Hendrickson was Assistant Conductor to the BBC Proms Verdi Requiem under Marin Alsop, and cover conductor for the Royal Ballet. Upcoming projects include music direction for an independent performance of Strauss’ Die Ägyptishce Helena, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s Musical Leadership project, and Chorus Master for Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria with The Royal Opera.
Australian-born conductor Jessica Gethin has won praise from audiences and critics alike for her dynamic energy, outstanding musicianship and abounding presence on the podium. A graduate of the exclusive Symphony Australia Conductor Development Program, Ms. Gethin commenced her official appointment as Chief Conductor of the Perth Symphony Orchestra (Perth, Australia) in 2011. Jessica Gethin has performed on stages throughout Europe, USA, UK, Canada, Asia and Australia as conductor, concert presenter, program writer, orchestrator, guest lecturer, music educator and adjudicator. With a diverse background working across a variety of genres ranging from classical, jazz, opera and ballet to musical theatre, contemporary and film score; Jessica has recorded for numerous CDs, television documentaries, live radio broadcasts and television commercials. Artist collaborations include conducting Welsh bass baritone Bryn Terfel, Divinyl’s Chrissy Amphlette, The Ten Tenors, soprano Rachelle Durkin, Australian screen star Lisa McCune, soprano Marina Prior, tenor David Hobson, jazz trumpeter James Morrison and Dutch violinist Rudolf Koelman, to name a few. Ms. Gethin currently resides in Western Australia with her husband and two children.
Jennifer Condon has been passionate about opera from an absurdly young age – since her teens she has been fortunate to have fellow Australian, Simone Young, as mentor. Jennifer studied piano in Sydney, and conducting in Melbourne and Vienna before commencing work as a souffleuse at the Hamburg State Opera in 2008. She now has a repertoire of over 55 operas. During her time in Hamburg, Jennifer also brought Peggy Glanville-Hicks’ opera Sappho (1963) from the composer’s hand-written manuscript to the recording studio. The CD, with an eminent cast including Deborah Polaski, Sir John Tomlinson and Wolfgang Koch with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, has been released to considerable critical acclaim. Jennifer lives in Berlin and works as a free-lance vocal coach and prompt as she pursues a conducting career. Assistant conducting engagements to date include Lohengrin in Zurich and Salome in Vienna. Future engagements include Reimann’s Lear in Budapest and Ariadne auf Naxos in Tokyo.
Winner of the 2009 International Conductors’ Workshop and Competition, Chaowen Ting currently serves as Conductor of the Georgia Tech Symphony Orchestra. A protégé of Bernard Haitink, Ting studied with the maestro at Lucerne Festival and was later invited by Haitink to observe his work with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Outside of the U.S., she has conducted the Lucerne Festival Strings (Switzerland), Mihail Jora Bacau Philharmonic (Romania), Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra (Croatia), St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic (Russia), and Orquesta Filarmónica de Honduras (Honduras). She won the 2013 Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship and was a Conducting Fellow at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. In addition to her symphonic repertoire, opera productions she directed received honors from National Opera Association’s Opera Production Competitions for two consecutive years.
A major prizewinner at the 2012 Emmerich Kálmán International Operetta Conducting Competition in Budapest, Carolyn Watson was also a Fellow of the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival. She has conducted throughout Europe including Staatsoper Berlin, Brandenburger Symphonkier, BBC Concert Orchestra, North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Kodály Philharmonic. Carolyn has participated in master classes with Marin Alsop, Peter Eötvös, Yoel Levi, Martyn Brabbins and Alex Polishchuk; conducted musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic in Interaktion 2010; served as resident assistant at the Israeli National Opera in 2009; and has worked with conductors including Sir Charles Mackerras, Simone Young and Karen Kamensek. She is the recipient of the Brian Stacey Award for Emerging Australian Conductors, Charles Mackerras Conducting Prize awarded by the Australian Music Foundation in London, Nelly Apt Scholarship and Opera Foundation Australia’s Bayreuth Opera Award and Berlin New Music Opera Award. Recently, Carolyn a position as Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Kansas, where she will conduct the orchestra, opera productions and head up the graduate orchestral conducting program.