“Michael Stern has been named Music Director of the National Repertory Orchestra (NRO), a longstanding and prestigious performing and educational summer festival in Breckenridge, Colorado for professional musicians, ages 18-29,” writes Laurie Niles in Tuesday’s (1/12) Violinist.com. “Stern is currently conductor and music director of the Kansas City Symphony and Stamford Symphony in Connecticut, as well as the founder and artistic director of the Iris Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee. He follows Carl Topilow, who served as the NRO’s music director for 42 years and will now take the role of Music Advisor…. Stern often appeared as a guest conductor with the NRO, most recently conducting Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique in 2018 with the group. He will be just the third music director in NRO’s 61-year history. In 2020, NRO had planed a ‘60th Anniversary Diamond Concert Season,’ but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 89 young musicians who had been scheduled to come to Colorado were invited to return in summer 2021. In place of the normal festival, the organization gave some 40 free, socially distanced outdoor alumni string quartet pop-up concerts and 27 virtual masterclasses and seminars over the summer.”
Change font size
