| Byung Rhee |
| Conductor |
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| Maestro Rhee completed his final season as
Associate Conductor with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, where he has
led concerts with world renowned soloists including Emmanuel Ax,
Garrick Ohlsson, and Glenn Dicterow. Maestro Rhee’s talent has
been recognized throughout the industry as one of America’s most gifted
young conductors. He was presented with the Bruno Walter Memorial
Foundation Award, an annual program to highlight the importance of
assistant conductor positions as essential mentoring and learning
experiences for emerging conductors. Mr Rhee recently led the
Tennessee Philharmonic in a program including Scheherazade and the
Saint-Saens Cello Concerto. He is a frequent guest conductor of
the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra. The American Symphony
Orchestra League presented Byung in its National Preview of Conductors
with the Jacksonville Symphony. He appeared with the Amarillo
Symphony, and is under consideration to become their new Music Director. Guest-conducting engagements also include the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the Southwest Florida Symphony, Korea’s prestigious Korean Broadcasting Symphony (KBS), the Tae-Jeon City Philharmonic, the Chungnam State Philharmonic Orchestra (where he was Music Director/Conductor for three years before his Nashville appointment), and the Lautus Chamber Orchestra, which he founded in New York City in October 1995. Also active as an opera conductor, Maestro Rhee has directed performances of Hansel and Gretel with the Nashville Opera Company, and Carmen and Tosca with the New Jersey State Opera, where he assisted veteran Maestro Alfredo Silipigni. In addition, he has conducted performances of The Nutcracker with the Huntsville Ballet and Symphony. Highlights of recent seasons with the Nashville Symphony include an A&E live broadcast of their Fourth-of-July Concerts, and the annual Beethoven Festival, which has since become an annual event. On July 4, 2004, 2005, and 2006 Maestro Rhee led the orchestra in a live broadcast for NBC’s Great American Country, a program featuring country stars Sarah Evans, Phil Vassar, and the Oakridge Boys. Korea's Central Daily Newspaper named him Musician of the Year, and his numerous successful performances in his native country led to the creation of a television program called "Byung-Hyun Rhee's Classical Music Tale" produced in conjunction with the K.B.S. Orchestra. Byung was named a finalist at Yale University for a Conducting Fellowship and placed Third in the Freedman Conducting Competition for Young American Conductors. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. 3/1/09 |