Announcing
Timothy Redmond
As the next Music Director!
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (July 11, 2019) – The Winston-Salem Symphony is pleased to announce that a new Music Director has been chosen after an exhilarating 2018–2019 season during which five brilliant conductors vied for the position. The final candidate to take the podium, Timothy Redmond, heralded throughout Europe for his dynamic orchestral and operatic interpretations, will lead the symphony into an exciting future.
“On behalf of the Winston-Salem Symphony’s Board of Directors and the incredibly dedicated members of the Music Director Search Committee, we are thrilled to ‘reveal’ Timothy (Tim) Redmond as our new Music Director,” said Ann Fritchman Merkel, Chair of the Winston-Salem Symphony Board of Directors. “This announcement is the culmination of an exhaustive international search process that began over two years ago and included candidates from over 25 countries and five continents around the globe.”
E. Merritt Vale, Winston-Salem Symphony President & CEO added, “The last of five remarkable finalists in this highly competitive search process, Tim earned the respect and captured the imagination of everyone from the musicians to the audience whose feedback played a vital part in his selection as our new Music Director. We can’t wait to begin growing under Tim’s artistic leadership and to share his creativity and commitment to education and community.
“We are very grateful to Dr. Malcolm Brown and Mr. Jim Dossinger (Co-Chairs) and all members of the Search Committee who helped to produce this exceptional result,” Vale continued. “Additionally, we extend our thanks to all the members of the Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra, Winston-Salem Symphony Chorus, Board of Directors, staff and audience members who faithfully completed candidate evaluations and attended candidate events throughout the community, and to the many others who helped us welcome each of our finalists. Each of you truly ‘played your part’ in helping to recruit an inspiring new leader to our region, and we know you will all help us welcome Tim as he assumes the Winston-Salem Symphony podium and joins our community!”
Redmond joins the Symphony this fall for his inaugural season. The first chance to meet him will be at a special event, Ovation on the night of October 4. More details about this event will be available in August. To be among the first to know more about this event, individuals should sign up for the Symphony’s email list at WSsymphony.org.
Redmond will take the podium for the first time as the Winston-Salem Symphony’s Music Director for the Classics Series season opening concert The Rite of Spring on October 27 and 29, 2019. This electrifying concert will feature Stravinsky’s cutting-edge The Rite of Spring, contemporary composer Jennifer Higdon’s ingenious Low Brass Concerto, and Mozart’s staggering “Haffner” Symphony. Redmond will conduct four of the five remaining 2019–2020 Classics concerts as well as two of the four Pops concerts (A Carolina Christmas: The Gathering and John Williams: Star Wars and Beyond) as well as several other performances throughout the year. Visit WSsymphony.org for further information on the concerts he will conduct this season.
“From my first visit to Winston-Salem, I knew it was a special place, and I felt a connection from the very start,” Redmond stated. “The music we made in rehearsals and at the concerts in April was magical, and you, the audience members, were as much a part of creating the experience as were the musicians. Concerts are so much more than just musical moments passed from stage to auditorium—it’s the combined experience of performers and audience together that makes live music so unforgettable. I look forward to making music with you, the community, as much as I do with the musicians of the Winston-Salem Symphony and Chorus.
“As a lifelong educator, I’m deeply committed to the education programs that the Winston-Salem Symphony offers in and outside of the public schools,” he continued. “I’m very much looking forward to being part of the education of the next generation of music makers in Winston-Salem.
“As you can imagine, I’m thrilled to be joining the incredibly talented musicians and staff of the Winston-Salem Symphony as your next Music Director. One of the many things that attracts me to Winston-Salem is the community’s dedication to innovation and the arts—this type of passion makes communities thrive, and I can’t wait to explore all that Winston-Salem has to offer. See you in the fall!”
Subscribe now to Timothy Redmond’s Inaugural season. Subscriptions are available online at WSsymphony.org or by calling the Symphony Box Office at 336-464-0145. Tickets to individual concerts will go on sale August 15.
“I felt goosebumps, joy, brought to tears… the full gamut of emotional meaning. I had never felt this way in listening to classical music!”
—WSS audience member
“Redmond produced excellent musical results from the symphony and his address to the audience was charming—knowledgeable and entertaining.”
—WSS chorus member
“I was very impressed by [Tim’s] overall musicianship. I also really loved the way he treated the orchestra.”
—WSS orchestra member
“I felt like I was in good hands all week.”
—WSS orchestra member
“I particularly liked [Tim’s] conducting style … Considering his 3 curtain calls at the concert, I would say the audience concurred.”
—WSS board member
“I felt like everyone on stage was 100% committed to making music together. The performance was electrifying.”
—WSS audience member
About Timothy Redmond
Timothy Redmond conducts opera and concerts throughout Europe and the United States. He is the Music Director of the Cambridge Philharmonic and is a regular guest conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras (RPO). In addition, he is Professor of Conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Redmond is well-known as a conductor of contemporary music and has a particular association with the music of Thomas Adès. Since working closely with the composer for the premiere of The Tempest at Covent Garden, he has conducted critically acclaimed productions of Powder Her Face for English National Opera, the Royal Opera House, and St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre. He recently gave the Hungarian premiere of Totentanz, the Irish premiere of Living Toys, and assisted the composer for the New York premiere of The Tempest at the Metropolitan Opera. Recent highlights have included debuts with orchestras in Canada, Romania, Serbia and Turkey, a tour to China with the RPO, West Side Story for the Bath Festival and the 2014 LSO BMW Open Air Classics concert at which he conducted for 10,000 people in Trafalgar Square.
Redmond studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester University and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. He furthered his studies in masterclasses with George Hurst, Ilya Musin, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Pierre Boulez and as an assistant to Elgar Howarth, Valery Gergiev and Sir Colin Davis. For more information please visit timothyredmond.com.
