CHARLESTON CONDUCTOR JOSEPH YOUNG TO MAKE HIS SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA DEBUT WITH THE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA WEDNESDAY, MAY 28 AT 8 P.M.
CHARLESTON, SC (May 21, 2014)—Charleston-raised conductor Joseph Young will make his Spoleto Festival USA debut conducting the Festival Orchestra’s Concerto for Orchestra concert onWednesday, May 28 at 8:00 p.m. in the College of Charleston Sottile Theatre. The program features Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, John Adams’s Doctor Atomic Symphony, and Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. Mr. Young replaces Joana Carneiro who has withdrawn for personal reasons.
In February, Mr. Young, who is 31, was named the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s assistant conductor and Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra music director, prestigious posts he will take up in June. In April, he was named a recipient of the 2014 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award. He recently concluded his tenure as resident conductor of The Phoenix Symphony and previously spent a season as the American Conducting Fellow of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
“I am excited to make my debut at the Spoleto Festival,” Mr. Young said. “It’s a festival I have witnessed while growing up in the Lowcountry and this opportunity to conduct the Festival Orchestra is truly an honor. For it to be in my home town makes it a very special event for me.”
A graduate of Goose Creek High School, Mr. Young studied trumpet and music education at the University of South Carolina. His conducting career received a high-profile boost in 2007 when he was named the first recipient of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra-Peabody Conducting Fellowship that provided full tuition at the Peabody Institute, from which he graduated in 2009. From 2007–2009 he worked extensively with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra where his responsibilities included leading the orchestra in numerous education and outreach concerts and assisting Music Director Marin Alsop.
Recent engagements have included the Colorado Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música. In 2013, Mr. Young was a semi-finalist in the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg, Germany.
In addition to his Festival concert appearance, Mr. Young is the assistant conductor on the Spoleto Festival USA’s new production of Janáček’s Kát’a Kabanová that opens Saturday, May 24.
“We are extremely excited by the serendipity of this opportunity for Joseph and believe it will take a page in the Festival’s proud history of featuring rising artists,” says John Kennedy, Resident Conductor and Director of Orchestral Activities.
The 38th season of Spoleto Festival USA opens this Friday, May 23 and runs through June 8, 2014, in Charleston, SC. For more information, please visit spoletousa.org or call 843.579.3100.
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