PHOENIX – The Phoenix Symphony Association and Virginia G. Piper Music Director Michael Christie announced today that Assistant Conductor Joseph Young has been appointed as Resident Conductor with the start of the 2011/12 Season. The appointment comes with a two-year extension of Young’s contract with the Symphony, through the 2012/13 Season.
“With this appointment, The Phoenix Symphony recognizes Joseph’s rapidly evolving talent and intensifies its commitment to him,” Christie said. “He has shown great skill and creativity in helping build the dynamic rapport our orchestra has with its audience and I look forward to this next period of enhanced collaboration,” he added.
As Resident Conductor, Young’s duties will expand to include program development and conducting for the Family Series; conducting all 14 Symphony for the Schools performances; and a leading role in development of the Education Programs which serve 65,000 children in the Valley. Beginning with the 2011/12 Season, APS Pops Series audiences will come to know his personality and energy as he leads half of the programs through the year. In the same season, US Airways Classic Series audiences will witness his passion as he closes the year with Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra in May 2012.
“I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to expand my role with The Phoenix Symphony and I look forward to sharing my passion for orchestral music with our Pops and Family concert goers as well as school children throughout the Valley,” Young said.
Joseph Young joined The Phoenix Symphony earlier this season after leaving Buffalo Philharmonic as the American Conducting Fellow. He recently was chosen as one the nation’s top emerging conductors for his talent, experience and his potential to lead an American orchestra. Young was one of six conductors to participate in the 2011 Bruno National Conductor Preview. His accomplishments have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and the Arizona Republic. Additionally, Young has won numerous awards including the 2008 Sir Georg Solti Foundation Career Grant for young conductors. He was also a finalist for the Conductors Guild’s Thelma A. Robinson Award. In the summer of 2010, he participated as one of eight conductors selected from an international pool of candidates in the Jorma Panula International Master class in Porto, Portugal.
For more information about The Phoenix Symphony visit www.phoenixsymphony.org.
The Phoenix Symphony’s 2010/11 Sponsors are US Airways, APS, Target and The Arizona Republic.