May, 2020 marks the 25th Season for the Hot Springs Music Festival and to begin their celebrations, the Festival is pleased to announce the appointment of Sameer Patel as the new Artistic Director and Principal Conductor. Maestro Patel is internationally recognized for his deep musicianship and passionate communication and is considered one of America’s most exciting young conductors.
He continues as Associate Conductor of the Sun Valley Music Festival and recently concluded an acclaimed tenure as Associate Conductor of the San Diego Symphony, where he reinvigorated the orchestra’s programming and connection with its community. Upcoming engagements include conducting a production of Puccini’s Tosca with Houston’s Opera in the Heights, along with concert performances with the Detroit Symphony, Savannah Philharmonic, Chicago Sinfonietta, and the La Jolla Symphony. Recent appearances include the orchestras of Toronto, St. Louis, Detroit, as well as the National Symphony in Washington, D.C, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago Sinfonietta. Abroad, he has conducted acclaimed performances with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, the Leipziger Sinfonieorchester, and others. With an unending enthusiasm for understanding the music of our time, Sameer has curated programs and has championed music by living composers such as Adam Schoenberg, Anna Clyne, Mason Bates, Ellen Reid, Hannah Lash, Tan Dun, and others.
Sameer’s impressive work spans three continents and has led to recognition from the Solti Foundation U.S., which granted him three consecutive Career Assistance Awards and an Elizabeth Buccheri Opera Residency with North Carolina Opera. In 2016 he was recognized by Daniele Gatti as a top conductor at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, which led to his acclaimed professional debut with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo. In 2013, Kurt Masur, the late Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, recognized Sameer’s talents with a prize from the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Foundation, which allowed him to study with and assist Maestro Masur in his appearances with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. That same year, Sameer was one of only six conductors selected by the League of American Orchestras for the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, which led to subsequent, multiple engagements with that orchestra. In the early stages of his career he held conducting positions with the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.
A graduate of the University of Michigan, he furthered his training across Europe with some of the greatest conductors of our time. Born and raised in Michigan, Sameer Patel is an enthusiastic advocate for music education and in his spare time pursues his passions for literature, languages, traveling, history, and geopolitics.
Maestro Patel was a Conducting Apprentice with the Hot Springs Music Festival in 2008. He returned in 2009, where he met his future wife Shannon, who was an Arts Administration Apprentice. They make their home in Southern California and have a young son. Devan.
For more information about the Hot Springs Music Festival and the 25th anniversary celebration, please visit www.hotmusic.org. The 25th Season dates are May 31 through June 13, 2020.
