The Oakville Symphony is thrilled to announce the names of the four guest conductors for the main concert series of the 2021-2022 season, to be held at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts.
Each guest conductor is a short-listed candidate for the position of Oakville Symphony Music Director. Maestro Roberto De Clara will complete his immensely successful 24-year tenure with the Oakville Symphony in June 2021.
Oakville Symphony musicians and patrons are looking forward to the first concert in November 2021 with even greater than usual anticipation after the cancellations resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.
Opening with Mozart Piano Concert #25 and Dvorak Symphony #8, the season will continue with works by Haydn, Brahms, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Stamitz and Tchaikovsky.
The Oakville Symphony also looks forward to welcoming guest soloists Kara Huber (piano), Kendra Grittani (cello), Stephen Sitarski (violin) and Leslie Ashworth (viola).
The new Music Director/Conductor will take up their position with the Oakville Symphony at the start of the 2022-23 season.
Martin MacDonald:
Martin MacDonald will conduct the Oakville Symphony on November 6 & 7, 2021.
Martin MacDonald has served as Resident Conductor and Associate Conductor of Symphony Nova Scotia. He has guest-conducted extensively across Canada, and made recordings for the CBC.
He has been awarded both the Heinz Unger Award and the Jean-Marie Beaudet Award for orchestral conducting.
Martin MacDonald holds a M.Mus. in Orchestral Conducting from McGill University and a B.Mus. in Cello from Memorial University, Newfoundland.
Pratik Gandhi:
Pratik Gandhi, Music Director of the Rouge River Winds and Resident Conductor of the Toy Piano Composers Ensemble, will conduct the orchestra on February 5 & 6, 2022.
Pratik Gandhi served as Assistant Conductor at Symphony on the Bay (now Burlington Symphony Orchestra), and has guest-conducted other orchestras throughout Ontario.
He serves as Vice-Chair of the Concert Band Division at MusicFest Canada, and is a three-time winner of the Ontario Band Association’s Conducting Excellence Award.
Pratik Gandhi holds a M.Mus. in Conducting and a B.Mus. in Music Education from Western University, and is pursuing a Doctorate degree at York University.
Lorenzo Guggenheim:
Lorenzo Guggenheim, Founder and Music Director of the University of Toronto Campus Philharmonic Orchestra, will conduct on April 2 & 3, 2022.
Lorenzo Guggenheim has experience guest-conducting and assisting performances of symphonic repertoire, opera and new music with orchestras in Canada, the United States, Argentina and Chile.
He is about to complete a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Toronto where he was awarded a full scholarship and teaching position.
Lorenzo Guggenheim holds a M.Mus. in Orchestra Conducting from the University of Washington, Seattle, and a bachelor’s from Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, Buenos Aires, both in Orchestral Conducting.
Geneviève Leclair:
Geneviève Leclair, Assistant Professor (Conducting) at Berklee College of Music in Boston, will conduct the orchestra on May 7 & 8, 2022.
Her conducting experience includes many years with the Boston Ballet and as a guest with The National Academy Orchestra of Canada, National Ballet of Canada and the Guelph Symphony Orchestra.
Geneviève Leclair was awarded the 2017 American Prize in Conducting (college/university), and received the Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Award in Orchestral Conducting in 2010.
She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting from Boston University, a M.Mus. and B.Mus. in Flute Performance from Université de Montréal.
