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Constantine Kitsopoulos

Constantine Kitsopoulos has made a name for himself as a conductor whose musical experiences comfortably span the worlds of opera and symphony, where he conducts in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Royal Albert Hall, and musical theater, where he can be found leading orchestras on Broadway.

Kitsopoulos was named music director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra this September and conducted his first concert as music director on Nov. 17, 2006. He continues as general director of Chatham Opera, which he founded in 2005. This season Kitsopoulos will also make his debut with the Blossom Festival Orchestra, Hartford Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. He conducted DiCapo Opera Theatre's production of The Merry Widow in October 2006. In December he conducted and produced Chatham Opera's debut production, Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors. In February Kitsopoulos began rehearsals for Coram Boy which is set to open on Broadway in April 2007.

This past season Kitsopoulos launched Chatham Opera with a master class given by Regina Resnik. He also initiated Chatham Opera's introduction to opera series, "Opera 101." He conducted the Red Bull Artsehcro, an orchestra consisting of students from the top conservatories and university music programs in the country, in a concert at Carnegie Hall featuring a program of world premieres by Raul Yanez and Laura Karpman. Kitsopoulos conducted the Queens Symphony and continued his association with the New York Virtuosi Chamber Symphony. He also made his debut with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. This past summer he conducted American Conservatory Theatre's production of Kurt Weill's Happy End and recorded the cast album at Skywalker Ranch.

The 2004-05 season displayed Kitsopoulos’s ability and interest in performing new works and conducting a wide variety of genres. He returned to the New Jersey Symphony to conduct John Goberman’s brand new “Gotta Dance!” program, as well as Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf for the symphony’s family concert series. In June 2005 he conducted New Jersey Symphony’s Summer Parks Concerts. He also made his debut with the Madison Symphony, conducting “A Night at the Oscars.” Orchestral highlights of past seasons include conducting appearances with the Annapolis Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, New York Virtuosi Chamber Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and a complete performance of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

In 2003-04, Kitsopoulos conducted DiCapo Opera Theatre’s production of Gounod’s Faust and all three versions of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of its premiere. More operatic highlights included the Hong Kong Municipal Opera production of Carmen in both Hong Kong and Beijing, and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at Alice Tully Hall. Kitsopoulos also served as Music Director of the world premiere production of Ed Dixon’s Fanny Hill at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, where he created the production’s orchestrations as well.

Kitsopoulos conducted the new musical Mambo Kings” in San Francisco in May 2005. He was Music Director and Principal Conductor of Baz Lurhmann’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème, which he most recently conducted in Los Angeles to rave reviews. Other musical theater highlights include serving as Music Director of Frank Wildhorn’s Dracula and Les Misérables in 2001-02 and conducting Matthew Bourne’s Broadway production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.

Kitsopoulos studied conducting with Vincent LeSelva, as well as Gustav Meier, Sergiu Commissiona, and Semyon Bychkov. He studied piano with Marienka Michna, Chandler Gregg, Ed Edson, and Sophia Rosoff.

His first recording – Baz Luhrmann’s production of La Bohème – was released by Dreamworks in 2002.

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