Jonathan Schiffman, guest conductor

Jonathan Schiffman is an exciting new presence in the musical world. Now in his second season as principal conductor of the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Schiffman also maintains an active career in Europe where he serves as assistant conductor to both the Orchestre National de France and the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

Mr. Schiffman made his conducting debut in 2001 at age twenty-four with the Fort Worth Symphony. His success there led to his immediate reengagement for future concerts, as well as appearances with the Eugene Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand), Riva Music Festival (Italy), Florida West Coast Symphony, and National Symphony orchestras.

Mr. Schiffman, an active composer himself, has also been especially involved in new music. In 2001, he was invited to conduct the U.S. premiere of a work by avant-garde Italian composer Fausto Romitelli in Juilliard’s Focus Festival. Mr. Schiffman has since returned to conduct works by Zoltan Jeney and Stravinsky in subsequent Focus Festivals. More recently, Mr. Schiffman recorded young composer Sarana Choi’s flute concerto, which took first prize in the 2002 ASCAP Composers Contest.

A native of New York City, Mr. Schiffman began studying cello at age five. While an undergraduate at Yale, Mr. Schiffman was appointed music director of the Yale Bach Society Orchestra & Chorus. During his two-year tenure, Mr. Schiffman led the orchestra in the world premiere performance of Stravinsky’s last work, Four Preludes & Fugues.

Upon graduating from Yale with honors, Mr. Schiffman was accepted into the 1999 Aspen Music Festival Conducting Seminar. He returned the following year as a fellowship recipient. Mr. Schiffman received a masters degree from Juilliard in 2004, where he studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller.

Mr. Schiffman currently resides in Paris, having spent the past year studying composition with Narcis Bonet as a Fulbright scholar.