ALEXANDER PLATT

Alexander Platt has forged a unique, adventurous career among the younger American conductors. He is Music Director of the Waukesha Symphony in Wisconsin and the Marion Indiana Philharmonic, and recently concluded twelve years as Music Director of the Racine Symphony Orchestra; to all three ensembles, he has brought an unprecedented combination of artistic, educational, and financial success. Alexander is also Resident Conductor and Music Advisor at Chicago Opera Theater, recently recognized as one of America's most inventive opera companies. Making an international reputation "at the front rank of Britten conductors"(The Financial Times), he recently led the triumphant Chicago premieres of Britten's Death in Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream; in 2006-8 he leads the Chicago premieres of John Adams' Nixon in China and Britten's Owen Wingrate, along with the classic double-bill of Bluebeard's Castle and Erwartung. A successful Cedille Records artist, Alexander conducted the world premiere recording of Kurka's The Good Soldier Schweik for that label, to unanimous praise, and is now winning accolades for his new recording with violinist Rachel Barton and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He spends his summers as Music Director of the Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, New York, the oldest summer chamber music festival in America.

Alexander Platt was educated at Yale College and, later, as a Marshall Scholar, at King's College Cambridge. At Yale, he was resident conductor at the Yale Center for British Art, a relationship culminating in a production of Britten's Lucretia with members of the New York City Opera; at Cambridge he conducted both the Cambridge University Opera and Musical Societies, winning high praise in the London press for his revival of Owen Wingrave.

He spent his summers as a Conducting Fellow at both Aspen and Tanglewood, and secured his first post as Apprentice Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Minnesota Opera. Alexander has also guest conducted the Houston, Charlotte and Columbus Symphonies, the City of London Sinfonia, the Freiburg Philharmonic in Germany, and the Aalborg Symphony in Denmark, which he led in a highly successful Mahler week. Along with recording for the BBC, the South-West German Radio, and NPR's "Performance Today."