Artists

• Dima Slobodeniouk

  Conductor

  Dima Slobodeniouk has become one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation, praised for his exhilarating approach and energetic leadership by musicians and audiences alike. He works with the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra, in addition to the New York Philharmonic.

  In the 2023–24 season Slobodeniouk has been invited to make his debuts with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC, and Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra. He returns to the London Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie, and Berlin Radio Symphony orchestras. He appears with the Vienna Symphony and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and returns to the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, where he served as music director until 2022. He opened the 2023–24 season with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Tanglewood, returns to lead the ensemble later in the season, and appears with the Seattle Symphony next spring.

  An acclaimed recording artist, his recent recordings include Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Nicolas Altstaedt on Alpha, for which he received an ICMA Award. On BIS, he released an album of music inspired by the Finnish folk epic Kalevala, the works of Kalevi Aho with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra (2018 BBC Music Magazine Award), and another featuring Aho’s Sieidi and Fifth Symphony. For Ondine, he recorded works by Perttu Haapanen and Lotta Wennäkoski with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

  Slobodeniouk studied with the Ukrainian violinist Olga Parkhomenko at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, from which he graduated in 2001. There he also studied conducting with Leif Segerstam, Jorma Panula, and Atso Almila. From 2016 to 2021 he was principal conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of the Sibelius Festival. He was music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia from 2013 to 2022, with which he built an extensive and highly acclaimed media library of live concert recordings. A passionate believer in widening opportunity, he started a conducting initiative while at the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, providing aspiring conductors podium time with a professional orchestra and the opportunity to work with him on selected repertoire.

  Learn more about Dima Slobodeniouk

• J’Nai Bridges

  Mezzo-Soprano

  Two-time Grammy Award–winning American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges graces the world’s top opera and concert stages. A leading figure in classical music’s shift toward conversations of inclusion and racial justice, she was announced as one of the Kennedy Center’s NEXT 50 cultural leaders in 2022.
  
  The 2023–24 season spotlights Bridges in the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s Intelligence, in which she appears as Lucinda at Houston Grand Opera. In addition to her New York Philharmonic subscription debut in these performances of Julia Perry’s Stabat mater, she appears with the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestra singing Berlioz’s Romeo et Juliette. She returns to The Metropolitan Opera in John Adams’s El Niño, conducted by Marin Alsop, and appears in one of her signature roles, Bizet’s Carmen, at Hamburg Staatsoper. Her recital engagements over the season begin with a performance alongside Latonia Moore at San Diego Opera and continue at Modlin Center of the Arts, at the University of Richmond, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art; more will be announced throughout the season.

  
  Learn more about J’Nai Bridges

• The Dessoff Choirs
       Malcolm J. Merriweather, director

   

  The Dessoff Choirs, one of the leading choruses in New York City, is an independent chorus with a reputation for pioneering performances of choral works from the Renaissance through the 21st century. Founded in 1924 by Margarete Dessoff, Dessoff is celebrating its centennial over the 2023–24 and 2024–25 seasons with programs that reflect music from the Choirs’ rich history as well as move forward into the next 100 years with new collaborations and commissions.

  
  Learn more about The Dessoff Choirs
       Malcolm J. Merriweather, director