Michel Galante

Conductor

Michel Galante is a composer, and conductor whose professional experience has included performances as assistant, guest, and principal conductor with orchestras and ensembles from America, Canada and Europe, conducting in such venues as the Ostrava Days Festival the Sounds French Festival, the Istanbul MIAM Festival, and New York’s Carnegie Hall and Miller Theater. He has conducted the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the Janacek Philharmonic, the City College Orchestra of New York, the Columbia University Orchestra, the Ergo Ensemble, Second Instrumental Unit, Ensemble Courage of Dresden, the Collegium Musicum, the OCNM Contemporary Music Ensemble, the Bach Society Chorus, the Stonybrook Contemporary Chamber Players, and theTimetable Percussion Ensemble, amongst others.

His compositions, which include solo, vocal, chamber, and orchestral works, explore timbre, color, and harmony their primary concerns. In 2002, he was one of twelve composers to be a Stagiere at IRCAM, France’s leading electronic music institution. His awards as a composer include Fulbright, Hertz, and Mellon scholarships, as well as prizes from ASCAP and the Composer’s Guild. He is currently a doctoral candidate in composition at Columbia University.

With the Argento Chamber Ensemble, a professional new music ensemble in New York, he has worked closely with such composers as Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, and Tania Leon, and recorded forthcoming commercial releases of CDs by Tristan Murail and Philippe Hurel.

He has worked extensively with choral/orchestral repertoire: in the 2005-2006 season, he was musical director and conductor of the Columbia University Collegium Musicum. For several seasons with the UC Berkeley Chamber Choir, he worked with conductors Nicholas McGegan, John Butt, Philip Brett, and Gustav Leonhardt. Additionally, he earned his MA in piano performance from the City University of New York, and was a pianist at such important festivals as Tanglewood and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.

As an educator, he has extensive experience with student and youth orchestras: from 2000-2003, he was the musical director and conductor for the City College Orchestra, New York, from 2002-2004, he was the assistant conductor of the Columbia University Orchestra, and recently directed the Collegium Musicum Choir and Orchestra in 2005-2006.