Hugh Wolff [www.HughWolff.com] is among the leading conductors of his generation.  He has appeared with all the major North American orchestras including those of Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Cleveland, Toronto and Montréal.  Wolff is much in demand in Europe, where he has conducted the London Symphony, the Philharmonia orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Munich Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic and the Bavarian and Berlin Radio Orchestras. He is a regular guest conductor with orchestras in Japan, Scandinavia and Australia and a frequent conductor at summer music festivals including Aspen, Tanglewood and Ravinia.

Wolff was Principal Conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra (1997-2006), and maintains a close relationship with that ensemble. He led the orchestra on tour in Europe, japan and China and appeared at the Salzburg, Rheingau, and Mozart Würzburg Festivals. The Sunday Times wrote of their recording of George Antheil’s Symphonies Numbers 1 & 6, ‘the Frankfurt Radio SO under Wolff dazzles throughout.’

Wolff was Principal Conductor and then Music Director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (1988-2000), with whom he recorded twenty discs and toured the United States, Europe and Japan.  Of this partnership, the New York Times wrote: ‘The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Hugh Wolff, has developed an effortlessly polished sound...Wolff shapes his interpretations with impeccable taste.’

A conductor whose interests span Baroque performance practice and the championing of new works, Wolff was music director of the New Jersey Symphony (1986-1993) and music director of Chicago's Grant Park Music Festival (1994-1997). He began his career in 1979 as associate conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra under Mstislav Rostropovich. Wolff has an extensive discography including a complete set of Beethoven symphonies with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, music from the Baroque to the present and new works of John Corigliano, John Harbison, Aaron Kernis, Edgar Meyer, and Mark-Anthony Turnage. He has collaborated on CD with Mstislav Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Dawn Upshaw, Jennifer Larmore, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and jazz guitarist John Scofield. Three times Grammy Award nominated his recording of the Barber and Meyer Violin Concertos with Hilary Hahn for Sony Classical, along with the disc of Antheil Symphonies Numbers 1 & 6, won a 2001 Cannes Classical Award.

Born in Paris in 1953 to American parents, Wolff spent his early years in London and Washington DC.  After graduating from Harvard, Wolff returned on a fellowship to Paris, where he studied conducting with Charles Bruck and composition with Olivier Messiaen.  He then continued his studies in Baltimore with Leon Fleisher. Wolff and his wife, Judith Kogan, have three sons and live in Boston.

May 2013