Hugh Wolff

Hugh Wolff is among the leading conductors of his generation. He has been named as the next music director of the Orchestre National de Belgique from September 2017. From 1997–2006, Wolff was principal conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra with whom he maintains a close relationship. He has appeared with all the major American orchestras and he is much in demand in Europe, while he is a regular guest conductor with orchestras in Canada, Japan, Korea, Scandinavia and Australia. After graduating from Harvard, he studied composition with Olivier Messiaen and conducted with Charles Bruck and Leon Fleisher. In 1979, he was made associate conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra under Mstislav Rostropovich, later going on to become music director with a number of institutions such as New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He is a frequent conductor at summer music festivals including Aspen, Tanglewood and Ravinia and has an extensive discography. In addition to his performing career, Wolff holds the Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood Director of Orchestras chair at New England Conservatory where he is in charge of four orchestras and teaches graduate students in orchestral conducting.