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Music Director
Alexander Platt, Music Director
 Alexander Platt is forging a unique, adventurous career among American conductors. This summer he made his Canadian debut conducting at the celebrated Banff Music Centre, and in July he made his New York City debut conducting the Brooklyn Philharmonic in Central Park. On Labor Day weekend, as a result of a Rockefeller grant from the New York State Music Fund, he led the world premiere of his own chamber version of David Del Tredici's FINAL ALICE, as part of his role as Music Director of the Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, New York, where he also serves as conductor, curator, and host. In the 2007-08 season, he continues his work as Music Director of the Waukesha Symphony and the Marion Indiana Philharmonic, and also makes his debuts with the Flagstaff Symphony, the Quad City Symphony, and the Lexington Philharmonic - along with a major project with Chicago's famed Auditorium Theatre.
Alexander Platt made his debut with Chicago Opera Theater in 1997, and was appointed Resident Conductor in 2000. Since then he has won international acclaim for his conducting of several of opera's most celebrated and challenging modern masterpieces. He led the hugely successful Chicago premieres of John Adams' NIXON IN CHINA, Tchaikovsky's IOLANTA, and Britten's DEATH IN VENICE and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM; and conducted Robert Kurka's THE GOOD SOLDIER SCHWEIK, with the subsequent world-premiere recording earning raves in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. In 2008/9 Alexander leads the American premiere of a major new opera by Tod Machover and the former U.S. Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky.
Alexander Platt is now entering his second decade as Music Director of both the Waukesha Symphony and the Marion Indiana Philharmonic, and he recently completed a 12-year tenure as Music Director of the Racine Symphony Orchestra. In addition to mining a Europeanrepertory that has ranged from the Beethoven Fifth Symphony to his own acclaimed adaptation of the Grieg/Ibsen Peer Gynt, Alexander has made a sustained commitment to the work of living American composers, leading the world or area premieres of major works by Joan Tower, Libby Larsen, Michael Torke, Daron Hagen, Aaron Jay Kernis and Russell Platt.
Alexander Platt has guest-conducted the Houston, Charlotte, Columbus and Indianapolis Symphonies, the City of London Sinfonia, the Freiburg Philharmonic in Germany, and the Aalborg Symphony in Denmark. In 2006 he made his debut with the Boca Raton Philharmonic, where he was recently named appointed Music Advisor, leading concerts with legendary flute virtuoso James Galway and Cuban jazz master Arturo Sandoval. In 2004 he recorded Scottish masterpieces for violin and orchestra with Rachel Barton and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for Cedille Records. He has also recorded for National Public Radio, the South-West German Radio and the BBC.
Born in New York City, Alexander Platt was educated at Yale College. He then spent three years at King's College Cambridge, where he won high praise for his revival of Britten's OWEN WINGRAVE. During this time he made his professional conducting debut at England's legendary Aldeburgh festival, and spent his summers as a Conducting Fellow at both Aspen and Tanglewood.
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