Conductors + Repertoire

John Morris Russell’s embrace of America’s unique voice and musical stories has transformed how orchestral performances connect and engage with audiences. As conductor of the world-renowned Cincinnati Pops Orchestra since 2011, the wide-range and diversity of his work as a musical leader, collaborator and educator continues to reinvigorate the musical scene throughout Cincinnati and across the continent. As Music Director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina, Mr. Russell conducts the classical series as well as the prestigious Hilton Head International Piano Competition.

A GRAMMY®-nominated artist, JMR has worked with leading performers from across a variety of musical genres, including Aretha Franklin, Emanuel Ax, Amy Grant and Vince Gill, Garrick Ohlsson, Rhiannon Giddens, Hilary Hahn, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Cynthia Erivo, Sutton Foster, George Takei, Steve Martin, Brian Wilson, Leslie Odom, Jr., Lea Salonga, Mandy Gonzalez, Rick Steves and Bob Weir.

A popular guest conductor, Mr. Russell has worked with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops and the National Symphony of Washington, D.C. He frequently conducts Canadian orchestras including Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver, and has led the orchestras of St. Louis, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Dallas and Minnesota; Utah Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Colorado Symphony and New Jersey Symphony. His work in opera and musical theater includes Cincinnati Opera, where he conducted its first production of Hans Krasá's Brundibár, and the world premiere of Blind Injustice, which was released on CD in 2021. He has also worked with Wolf Trap Opera, New York City Ballet and led semi-staged productions of The Music Man and Ragtime with the Cincinnati Pops.

Since 2014, Mr. Russell has regularly led the National Orchestral Institute + Festival at the University of Maryland, one of the nation’s premiere training orchestras. In 2024 JMR and NOI+F collaborated with Wolf Trap Opera on a production of Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins in a program which was also performed with the Hilton Head Symphony in 2025. Dedicated to sharing the American musical experience with the newest generation, he helped develop and conducted the LinkUP! Educational concert series at Carnegie Hall between 1997-2009, a continuation of the program launched by Walter Damrosch in 1891 and later led by Leonard Bernstein; and has piloted educational programs with the symphony orchestras of Cincinnati, Windsor, and Hilton Head. 

For over two decades, Mr. Russell has led the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s wildly successful Classical Roots program, honoring and celebrating Black musical excellence, which has garnered record-breaking, in-person and online audiences. Featured artists have included Marvin Winans, Alton White, George Shirley, Common, Donald Lawrence and Hi Tek, as well the 150 voice Classical Roots Community Chorus, Nouveau Chamber Players, and hundreds of regional actors, dancers, artists, singers and musicians.

Mr. Russell has contributed seven albums to the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra discography, including 2023’s holiday album JOY!. In 2015, he created the “American Originals Project,” which has won both critical and popular acclaim, and two landmark recordings: American Originals (the music of Stephen Foster) and the GRAMMY® nominated American Originals 1918 (a tribute to the dawn of the jazz age). Other American Originals concerts have included King Records and the Cincinnati Sound with Late Show pianist Paul Shaffer in 2020, honoring legendary recording artists associated with the Queen City, and Harlem Renaissance with renowned jazz pianist Marcus Roberts, to be released in a live recording in Spring 2026. In 2025, JMR served as co-producer and conductor of American Public Television’s Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey carried on PBS stations from coast to coast. During the Pops 2025-2026 season, JMR performs Peter Boyer’s newest work American Mosaic with celebrated actor Martin Sheen. Mr. Russell’s American Soundscapes video series with The Pops and Cincinnati’s CET Public Television has surpassed one million views on YouTube since its launch in 2016.

John Morris Russell served as Music Director of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra between 2001 and 2012 where he conducted over 40 world premieres and recorded the Juno Award-nominated album of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. During his time with the WSO, he was a two-time recipient of Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor’s Award for the Arts. In 2011 the University of Windsor awarded him an Honorary Doctorate and the following year he was named the WSO’s first Conductor Laureate. JMR recently concluded his nine-year tenure as Principal Pops Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, following in the footsteps of Doc Severinsen and Marvin Hamlisch.

John Morris Russell earned degrees from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and Williams College in Massachusetts, and has studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado and the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Hancock, Maine.

Valentina Peleggi has been Music Director of the Richmond Symphony (Virginia, USA) since the 2020-2021 Season and recently renewed her contract to Summer 2028, having already revitalized the orchestra’s artistic output. While focusing on developing the orchestra’s own sound she has also launched new concert formats, joined national co-commission partnerships, started a three-year composer-in-residence program, launched conducting masterclasses in collaboration with the local universities, and championed neglected composers from diverse backgrounds. During the pandemic she sat on the jury of the first virtual Menuhin Competition hosted by the Richmond Symphony.

In 2025-2026, Peleggi returns to the Pacific Symphony and makes her Australasian debut with the Tasmanian Symphony and New Zealand Symphony, championing works by Puccini, Verdi and Rossini. Peleggi’s past guest appearances in North America have included the Chicago, Dallas, Baltimore, New World, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Colorado and Vancouver symphonies and at the Grant Park Music Festival. In Europe, she has previously conducted the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ulster Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Liege Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony, Nuremberg Symphoniker, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Norrkoping Symphony, Orchestra della Toscana, Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano and Arena di Verona orchestras; she has also conducted at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.

Opera (especially bel canto) is a vital part of Peleggi’s activity. In May 2025 she debuted at Opera de Rouen and in Paris at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees with Rossini’s Semiramide, and in 2026 she will return to Opera North to lead the production of The Marriage of Figaro at the Opera North. She has previously conducted Le Comte Ory with the Philharmonia Orchestra at Garsington Opera and Rigoletto at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, and made her Opéra de Lyon debut with Piazzola’s Maria de Buenos Aires. Whilst a Mackerras Fellow at English National Opera in 2018 and 2019 she conducted a wide range of repertoire including Carmen and La Bohème.

2021 saw the release of her first CD, featuring a cappella works by Villa Lobos in a new critical edition for Naxos guest edited by Peleggi and performed by the São Paulo Symphony Chorus, where she returned in 2023 to conduct an a cappella concert. While acting Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Chorus, she was concurrently Resident Conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Music Director (responsible for Italian repertoire) of the Theatro São Pedro in São Paulo.

The first Italian woman to enter the conducting programme at the Royal Academy of Music of London, she graduated with Distinction and was awarded the DipRAM for an outstanding final concert, as well as numerous other prizes, and was recently honoured with the title of Associate. She furthered her studies with David Zinman and Daniele Gatti at the Zurich Tonhalle and at the Royal Concertgebouw masterclasses. She won the 2014 Conducting Prize at the Festival International de Inverno Campos do Jordão, was awarded a Bruno Walter Foundation Scholarship at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California, and received the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship 2015-2017 under Marin Alsop.

Peleggi holds a Master in Conducting with Honours from the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome, and in 2013 she received the Accademia Chigiana’s highest award, going on to assist Bruno Campanella and Gianluigi Gelmetti at Teatro Regio di Torino, Opera Bastille Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Teatro Regio di Parma and Teatro San Carlo. She also assisted on a live worldwide broadcast and DVD production of Rossini's Cenerentola with the Orchestra Nazionale della RAI. From 2005 to 2015 she was the Principal Conductor and Music Director of the University Choir in Florence and remains their Honorary Conductor, receiving a special award from the Government in 2011 in recognition of her work there.

Peleggi is passionate about the arts and holds a Master in Comparative Literature.

Grammy Award-winning conductor David Alan Miller has established a reputation as one of the leading American conductors of his generation. Music Director of the Albany Symphony since 1992, he now also serves as Artistic Advisor to the Sarasota Orchestra. Through exploration of unusual repertoire, educational programming, community outreach and recording initiatives, he has reaffirmed the Albany Symphony’s reputation as the nation’s leading champion of American symphonic music and one of its most innovative orchestras. He and the orchestra appeared twice at “Spring For Music,” the festival of America’s most creative orchestras at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, and in 2018 at The Kennedy Center’s “Shift Festival”.  Other accolades include Columbia University’s 2003 Ditson Conductor’s Award, the oldest award honoring conductors for their commitment to American music, the 2001 ASCAP Morton Gould Award for Innovative Programming and, in 1999, ASCAP’s first-ever Leonard Bernstein Award for Outstanding Educational Programming.

Recent guest appearances include the Tucson and Hawaii Symphonies, Sacramento and Buffalo philharmonics, the American Youth Symphony Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute + Festival, Vietnamese National Orchestra in Hanoi, Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival and Portugal’s Estoril Festival. Frequently in demand as a guest conductor, Mr. Miller has worked with most of America’s major orchestras, including the orchestras of Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco, as well as the New World Symphony, the Boston Pops and the New York City Ballet. In addition, he has appeared frequently throughout Europe, Australia and the Far East as guest conductor. He made his first guest appearance with the BBC Scottish Symphony in March, 2014.

Mr. Miller received a Grammy Award in January, 2014 for his Naxos recording of John Corigliano’s Conjurer, with the Albany Symphony and Dame Evelyn Glennie. His extensive discography also includes recordings of the works of Todd Levin with the London Symphony Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon, as well as music by Michael Daugherty, Kamran Ince and Michael Torke for London/Decca, and of Christopher Rouse and Luis Tinoco for Naxos. His recordings with the Albany Symphony include discs devoted to the music of John Harbison, Aaron J. Kernis, Roy Harris, Morton Gould, Don Gillis, Peter Mennin and Vincent Persichetti on the Albany Records label.

A native of Los Angeles, David Alan Miller holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from The Juilliard School. Prior to his appointment in Albany, Mr. Miller was Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. From 1982 to 1988, he was Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony, earning considerable acclaim for his work with that ensemble. Mr. Miller lives with his wife and three children in Slingerlands, New York.

Marin Alsop is one of the foremost conductors of our time and a powerful and inspiring voice. She is the first woman to serve as the head of major orchestras in the United States, South America, Austria and Great Britain. A “formidable musician and a powerful communicator,” and a “conductor with a vision” (The New York Times), Alsop is internationally recognized for her innovative approach to programming and audience development, for her deep commitment to education, and for championing the importance of music in the world. She is also the first and only conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.

The 2025-2026 Season marks Alsop’s third as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony; her third as Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra; and her second as Principal Guest Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra. She is also Chief Conductor of the Ravinia Festival, where she leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s annual summer residencies.

To promote and nurture the careers of fellow women conductors, Alsop founded the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship in 2002. The fellowship has grown into a global platform for identifying and empowering extraordinary women conductors by providing intensive coaching, mentorship, and financial support throughout their careers. Today, all 36 award winners are working to ensure a more equitable future for classical music through their artistry and advocacy. Among them, they hold over 30 music director or chief conductor positions around the world.

Building on her long association with Carnegie Hall, Alsop is a Perspectives artist across 2025-2026. She joins an elite group of top performers across disciplines who share their philosophies through a curated series of events. Alsop’s expansive series invites the Philharmonia Orchestra with soloist Alexandre Kantorow; as well as America at 250 programs with The Philadelphia Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic, and with The Juilliard Orchestra, she leads an evening featuring a world premiere by Joan Tower. Alsop undertakes additional education projects in connection with Weill Music Institute.

In October 2025, Alsop opens The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 125th Anniversary Season with the world premiere of John Adams’ The Rock You Stand On, a new work dedicated to her. The concert also reunites her with pianist Yunchan Lim, whose Cliburn Competition-winning performance of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto—with Alsop on the podium—was named one of the “Top 10 Classical Performances of 2022” by The New York Times. In the spring, she embarks on a U.S. tour with The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Other season highlights include concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall—where she opens the America 250: A Musical Journey festival with Wynton Marsalis’ Liberty (Symphony No. 5)—and performances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, including the world premiere of a work for soprano and orchestra by Kathryn Bostic. She also joins the Houston Symphony, with concertmaster Yoonshin Song as soloist, and conducts West Side Story at Washington National Opera.

International performance highlights include Alsop’s return to Japan on tour with the Polish National Radio Symphony and pianist Hayato Sumino. She leads the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in concerts with soloists Claire Huangci, Bruce Liu and Maria Ioudenitch, conducts the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and leads the Philharmonia Orchestra with Alisa Weilerstein performing Gabriela Ortiz’s cello concerto Dzonot.

Last season, Alsop made her long-awaited Berlin Philharmonic debut. She made history as the first female conductor of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms and was the first American to guest conduct it three times.

In 2021, Alsop assumed the title of Music Director Laureate and OrchKids Founder of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. During her 14-year tenure as Music Director, she led the orchestra on its first European tour in 13 years, released multiple award-winning recordings, and conducted more than two dozen world premieres. She also founded OrchKids, the orchestra’s groundbreaking music education program for Baltimore’s most under-resourced youth. In 2019, after seven years as Music Director, Alsop became Conductor of Honour of Brazil’s São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP). She was Music Director of California’s Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music for 25 years, leading 174 premieres. In 2025, she was named Honorary Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, where she served as Chief Conductor for six years.

Alsop’s discography comprises more than 200 titles, featuring music from the standard repertoire and by contemporary composers. Her 2024 album with John Adams’ City Noir was nominated for a GRAMMY Award. Her latest album is Abstractions, featuring music by Anna Clyne (Naxos). 

Other recent releases include a live account of Candide with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; a Kevin Puts collection with the Baltimore Symphony; and, with the Vienna RSO, a Margaret Brouwer collection, a complete Schumann symphonic cycle and world premiere recordings of two concertos by Malek Jandali. In 2021, Alsop and The Philadelphia Orchestra released a live recording of highlights from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. The 2020 recording of Clyne’s cello concerto DANCE, with soloist Inbal Segev and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alsop, has garnered over 12 million plays on Spotify.

In 2025, Alsop received the Golden Baton Award, the highest accolade conferred by the League of American Orchestras. In 2019, she received the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award. She also served as the 2021-2022 Harman/Eisner Artist-in-Residence of the Aspen Institute Arts Program, and 2020 Artist-in-Residence at Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts. In collaboration with YouTube and Google Arts & Culture, she developed and spearheaded the “Global Ode to Joy,” a crowd-sourced video project to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday in 2020.

The Conductor, a feature documentary about Alsop’s life, debuted at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival. It has been broadcast on PBS and screened at festivals and in theaters worldwide. The Conductor was nominated for an Emmy for Best Arts and Culture Documentary and received the Naples International Film Festival’s Focus on the Arts Award. The Conductor is available on Apple TV, Google Play, iTunes, Prime Video and Vimeo.

Alsop is the Director of the Graduate Conducting Program at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and holds honorary doctorates from Yale University, Johns Hopkins University and The Juilliard School. 

Daniel Hege is widely recognized as one of America’s finest conductors, earning critical acclaim for his fresh interpretations of the standard repertoire and for his commitment to creative programming. He served for eleven seasons as the Music Director of the Syracuse Symphony and in June 2009, was appointed Music Director of the Wichita Symphony. He held the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Tulsa Symphony from 2015–2021, and in May 2018 was appointed to the position of Music Director of the Binghamton (NY) Philharmonic.

Additional positions include a five-year tenure with the Baltimore Symphony where he held the titles of Assistant, Associate and Resident Conductor; Associate Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony; Assistant Conductor of the Pacific Symphony; Music Director of the Encore Chamber Orchestra in Chicago; and Music Director of the Chicago Youth Symphony, where he was twice honored by the League of American Orchestras for innovative programming.

In addition to programming and conducting the subscription concerts in Wichita, Mr. Hege has conducted a number of cutting-edge concerts, including Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle with the legendary Samuel Ramey in the title role and sets by the glass sculptor Dale Chihuly; and semi-staged productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel and South Pacific in collaboration with the Music Theatre Wichita. He is also active in Wichita as a lecturer and prepares the pre-concert talks for each of his classical programs.

Daniel Hege has guest conducted the Detroit, Seattle, Indianapolis, Oregon, Colorado, San Diego, Columbus and Phoenix symphonies, as well as the Calgary Philharmonic, among others. International engagements include performances with the Singapore Symphony and the St. Petersburg Symphony at the Winter Nights Festival. Mr. Hege has also worked with the Syracuse Opera with which he led productions of Madame Butterfly, La Traviata, Tosca and Don Pasquale. Past and upcoming guest conducting engagements include appearances with the Rochester, Buffalo, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Naples Philharmonics; the Louisville, Sarasota and Florida Orchestras; and the Houston, Edmonton, Pacific, Puerto Rico, Hartford, Stamford, Omaha, Madison, Tucson, Spokane and Springfield, MA symphonies.

A much sought after mentor and educator by many of America’s orchestral training programs for highly talented young musicians, Daniel Hege has conducted at the Texas Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, National Repertory Orchestra, Brevard Music Festival, Aspen Festival and School and the National Orchestral Institute + Festival at the University of Maryland where he returns in June 2026.

Daniel Hege received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1987 from Bethel College, Kansas where he majored in music and history. He continued his studies at the University of Utah, where he received a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting, founded the University Chamber Orchestra and served as Assistant Conductor of the University Orchestra as well as the Music Director of the Utah Singers. He subsequently studied with Paul Vermel at the Aspen Music Festival and School and in Los Angeles with noted conductor and pedagogue Daniel Lewis.

A native of Colorado, Mr. Hege is proud of his Native America Heritage; he is Nez Perce, a member of the Colville Confederated Tribes, and his grandfather, Boyd Eagle Piatote, was a jazz musician and composer.