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JAMES JUDD
Music Director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, British-born conductor
James Judd stands at the forefront of a new period of artistic growth
for his orchestra. In addition to embarking on a sizable series of recordings
with the orchestra for the Naxos label - including the complete orchestral
works of Leonard Bernstein - he has brought the orchestra recent international
acclaim through appearances with the New Zealand Symphony at the 2000
Summer Sydney Olympic Arts Festival as well as a specially televised Millennium
Concert with Kiri Te Kanawa as soloist.
A graduate of London’s Trinity College of Music, Mr. Judd came to
international attention as the Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra,
a post he accepted at the invitation of Lorin Maazel. Four years later,
he returned to Europe after being appointed Associate Music Director of
the European Community Youth Orchestra by Claudio Abbado, an ensemble
with which he continues to serve as an honorary Artistic Director.
Since that time, James Judd has led the Berlin Philharmonic and the Israel
Philharmonic; he has conducted in the great concert halls of Europe, including
the Salzburg Mozarteum and Vienna’s Musikverein; and has made guest
appearances with such prestigious ensembles as the Vienna Symphony, Gewandhaus
Orchestra of Leipzig, Prague Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre
de la Suisse Romande, Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Monte-Carlo Symphony
Orchestra and the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg.
As opera conductor, he has appeared with the English National Opera conducting
productions of Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Rigoletto,
and Le Nozze di Figaro; and at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival in Rossini’s
La Cenerentola.He continues to conduct all of the major British ensembles,
including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the Hallé
Orchestra, and the English Chamber Orchestra. He was co-founder of the
Chamber Orchestra of Europe, which he has led on tours throughout the
United States, the Far East and Europe.
In North and South America he is a frequent and much-admired guest conductor,
having appeared with the orchestras of Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis,
Utah, Vancouver and Ottawa.James Judd’s recent performances include
recordings and concerts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Florida
Philharmonic, and the New Zealand Symphony, as well as upcoming engagements
with the Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra,
the Madrid National Radio Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra
of Ottawa.
Maestro Judd recently completed a 14-year tenure as Music Director of
the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, which recently released a recording
of Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety,”
on Naxos. As the Florida Philharmonic’s Music Director, James Judd
was the only conductor in America to open two major concert halls in consecutive
seasons: the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach
in 1992 and the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale
in 1991.
James Judd also served as Artistic Director of the Florida Grand Opera
from 1993- 1996. He made his U.S. opera debut in 1988 conducting Don Giovanni
for that institution. A widely-recorded artist, James Judd will be fulfilling
a 5 year project with the Naxos label and the New Zealand Symphony of
works by Copland, Steve Reich, Takemitsu, Gershwin and Bernard Herrmann.
January 2002