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Michael Butterman
Principal Conductor for Education and Outreach
The Louise and Henry Epstein Family Chair
Michael Butterman is making his mark as a model for today’s conductors with his commitment to creative artistry, innovative programming, and true engagement of audiences and communities with which he works. Now in his tenth season as the RPO’s Principal Conductor for Education and Outreach – the only position of its kind in the United States – Mr. Butterman is also Music Director for both the Boulder Philharmonic and Shreveport Symphony orchestras. Beginning in the fall of 2009, he will assume the additional post of Resident Conductor for the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.
Also in-demand as a guest conductor, Michael recently has appeared with the symphonies of Detroit, Houston, Colorado, Oregon, Kansas City, Hartford, San Antonio, Syracuse, New Mexico, Spokane, Santa Fe, Mobile, and Quad City, as well as the Louisiana Philharmonic, Pensacola Opera, and Asheville Lyric Opera. Summer appearances include Tanglewood, the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado, and the Wintergreen Music Festival in Virginia.
Butterman gained international attention as a diploma laureate in the Prokofiev International Conducting Competition and as a finalist in the prestigious Besançon International Conducting Competition. As the 1999 recipient of the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship, he studied at Tanglewood with Robert Spano, Jorma Panula, and Maestro Ozawa, and shared the podium with Ozawa to lead the season’s opening concert. In 1997, he was sponsored by UNESCO to lead the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Moldova in a concert of music by great American masters.
From 2000 to 2007, Michael held the post of Associate Conductor for the Jacksonville Symphony in Florida. For six seasons, he also served as Music Director of Opera Southwest in Albuquerque, N.M. Prior to joining the Jacksonville Symphony, he was Director of Orchestral Studies at the LSU School of Music for five years, and was Principal Conductor of the LSU Opera Theater. Previously, Michael held the post of Associate Conductor of the Columbus Pro Musica Orchestra, and served as Music Director of the Chamber Opera, Studio Opera, and Opera Workshop at the Indiana University School of Music. For two seasons, he was also the Associate Music Director of the Ohio Light Opera, conducting more than 35 performances each summer.
At Indiana University, Butterman conducted a highly acclaimed production of Leonard Bernstein’s little-known 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a series of performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., receiving unanimous praise from such publications as the New York Times, Washington Post, Variety, and USA Today. He subsequently was invited to New York at the request of the Bernstein estate to prepare a performance of a revised version of the piece.
Michael’s work has been featured in five nationwide broadcasts on public radio's Performance Today, and can be heard on two CDs recorded for the Newport Classics label.
For more information about Michael Butterman, visit www.michaelbutterman.com.
