Conductors

Christopher Warren-Green, Music Director

Currently in his third season as Music Director of the Charlotte Symphony, Christopher Warren-Green returns to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conducts the world premiere of Frank Corcoran's Violin Concerto with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra Dublin. He also returns to the St Louis Symphony, and following his acclaimed debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in December 2011, he was immediately reinvited for the 2012/13 season. Other highlights this season include performances with the Orchestre National de Belgique and his Italian debut with Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali. Warren-Green continues to serve as Music Director of the London Chamber Orchestra, while residing in Charlotte, NC with his family.

Last season he debuted with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Zürcher Kammerorchester, and returned to the Sapporo Symphony, Armenia Philharmonic and London Philharmonic orchestras.

In North America, Warren-Green has also conducted Washington's National Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia and Minnesota orchestras, as well as the Houston, Seattle and Vancouver symphony orchestras, to name a few. Elsewhere, recent seasons have seen performances with Royal Scottish National, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Iceland Symphony orchestras, the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa and the BBC Concert Orchestra.

A regular on the summer festival scene, Warren-Green recently appeared with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the 2012 Three Choirs Festival as well as the Boston Summer Arts Weekend Festival in the same year with trumpeter Alison Balsom. Other festival appearances include the closing concert of the Berlin International Festival with the London Chamber Orchestra, the International Music Festival ‘Chopin and his Europe’ with Sinfonia Varsovia and Maria João Pires, the Menton Festival and the Enescu Festival with the Chamber Orchestra of the Romanian National Radio Society. He frequently collaborates with the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elizabeth in Brussels.

Warren-Green has been personally invited to conduct on many occasions for the Royal Family in the last thirty years. In April 2011, Warren-Green conducted the London Chamber Orchestra during the marriage ceremony of HRH Prince William Duke of Cambridge and HRH Duchess of Cambridge at Westminster Abbey, which was televised to millions worldwide. Other notable occasions have included Her Majesty the Queen’s 80th birthday celebrations at Kew Palace and HRH Prince of Wales’ 60th birthday concert. Warren-Green also conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra for the Service of Dedication and Prayer (celebrating the marriage of HRH Prince of Wales and HRH Duchess of Cornwall) in 2005.

Previous orchestral appointments have included Principal Conductor of the Camerata Resident Orchestra of the Megaron Athens, taking over from Sir Neville Marriner (2004-2009), Chief Conductor of the Nordiska Kammar Orkestern (1998-2005), and Chief Conductor of the Jönköpings Sinfonietta (1998-2001).

Warren-Green has recorded extensively for Sony, Phillips, Virgin EMI, Chandos and Deustche Grammophon, and regularly records with the London Chamber Orchestra for Signum Classics. He is a regular on UK television and radio, and has featured as a mentor on the BBC’s high-profile television series ‘Maestro’.

---

Scott Allen Jarrett, Director of Choruses and Assistant Conductor

Scott Allen Jarrett is Music Director of the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte, the official chorus of the Charlotte Symphony. A resident of Boston, Jarrett travels to North Carolina weekly for rehearsals with the Oratorio Singers, preparing and leading the chorus for their appearances with the Symphony throughout the season.

In Boston, Dr. Jarrett serves as Director of Music at Boston University’s Marsh Chapel, where his appointment includes faculty posts in the School of Theology and in the School of Music. Also in Boston, he is the Music Director of the Back Bay Chorale, one of New England’s leading volunteer choruses.

With the Oratorio Singers, and his ensembles in Boston, Dr. Jarrett will lead performances  during the 2010-2011 season of Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri, the Howells Requiem, Messiah, the Rachmaninoff Vespers, and the Verdi Requiem. Regarded for his interpretations of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Dr. Jarrett will conduct performance of cantatas 34, 170, 171, 62, the Orchestral Suite in B Minor, the Christmas Oratorio, and the St. Matthew Passionthis season in Boston.

A native of Virginia, Scott Allen Jarrett holds degrees from Furman University (Greenville, SC) and Boston University, where he received his masters and doctoral degrees in conducting. As a pianist, Jarrett accompanied rehearsals for the late Robert Shaw during his Boston visits, and served as rehearsal accompanist for the Carnegie Hall Choral Workshop  with Charles Dutoit. He is a member of the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, and a frequent keyboard collaborator with Miami-based Seraphic Fire.

---

Ernest Pereira, Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestras Music Director

The Symphony Guild of Charlotte Endowed Chair and Conductor of the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestras, Dr. Ernest Pereira has vigorously improved and expanded the two ensembles over the past twenty years, leading the CSYO in performances at Charlotte’s Festival in the Park and Summer Pops at Symphony Park, as well as the prestigious venues of Piccolo Spoleto in Charleston, SC, and Carnegie Hall in New York, NY. He has guest conducted the Charlotte Civic Orchestra and has appeared on several local chamber music series as either a violinist or conductor. For a number of years, Dr. Pereira was featured at the Charlotte Symphony’s annual Youth Festival, conducting the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra as well as the combined professional and youth orchestras.

He currently co-directs, with Dr. Paul Nitsch, the Fun with Chamber Music program for youth at Queens University of Charlotte. Students from his orchestra and private teaching studio have gone on to major in music at noted conservatories and universities, including the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, University of Texas at Austin, the Yale School of Music, the Peabody Institute at the Johns Hopkins University, Oberlin College, North Carolina School of the Arts, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Vanderbilt University.

A native of South Africa, Dr. Pereira received his early training in violin in Pretoria from Walter Mony and Alan Solomon and holds Teacher and Performer Licentiates from the University of South Africa. He studied in this country with David Cerone, graduating as valedictorian from the Cleveland Institute of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1981 and a Master of Music degree in 1982. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Texas in 1987, studying with Vincent Frittelli. Dr. Pereira served as Concertmaster of both the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra as well as the University of Texas Orchestra and conducted the University of Texas String Project Orchestra. Since 1985, Dr. Pereira has been a member of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared frequently as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States, South Africa, and Namibia and has soloed with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and the Charlotte Civic Orchestra. He believes strongly in educating young musicians and maintains an active and successful violin studio.

---

Albert-George Schram, Guest Conductor

Albert-George Schram returns for his thirteenth season to conduct the Charlotte Symphony. In addition, he has led the Symphony’s highly acclaimed Summer Pops at SouthPark in June of each summer since 2001 and opened the Symphony’s new permanent summer home at Symphony Park in June 2002.

Under his leadership, the Charlotte Symphony has collaborated with such outstanding musical artists as Art Garfunkel, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Dianne Reeves, Olivia Newton-John, Bernadette Peters, José Feliciano, the Four Tops, Kathy Mattea, the United States Naval Academy Men’s Glee Club, Michael Feinstein, The Temptations, and the late Ray Charles.

Schram, a native of the Netherlands, has served as the Nashville Symphony’s Resident Conductor since the 2006- 07 opening season of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. He is responsible for programming and guest artist selection for the Bank of America Pops series, as well as building and maintaining that series' audience base. In addition, he leads select classical, education, and other special concerts throughout the season.

He also has served as Staff Conductor of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra in Ohio since 1979 and has become an audience favorite for all series, including Classical subscriptions, Pops, and summer season concerts.

Schram was Music Director and Conductor of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra from 1994 to 2000. From 1990 to 1996, Schram served as Resident Conductor of the Louisville Orchestra, and he was appointed Resident Conductor of the former Florida Philharmonic Orchestra beginning with the 2002/03 season.

In 2008 Schram was invited to conduct the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of Bolivia in La Paz and the Orquesta Sinfónica Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina. Other foreign conducting engagements have included the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul in live televised concerts, Korea’s Taegu Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra der Allgemeinen Musikgesellschaft Luzern in Switzerland, among others. He has made return appearances in his native Holland to conduct the Netherlands Radio Orchestra and the Netherlands Broadcast Orchestra.

In the United States, his guest appearances include the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Spokane Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Nashville Symphony, Shreveport Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Lubbock Symphony, Allentown Symphony, Mansfield Symphony, and Ballet Metropolitan, among others.

Schram’s studies have been largely in the European tradition under the tutelage of Franco Ferrara at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy; Rafael Kubelik in Luzern, Switzerland; Abraham Kaplan in Seattle, Washington; and Neeme Järvi in Hilversum, Netherlands. He received the majority of his initial training at the Conservatory of The Hague in the Netherlands. He later moved to Canada to undertake studies at the Universities of Calgary and Victoria. His training was completed at the University of Washington where he earned the Doctorate of Musical Arts. During his studies, he frequently conducted the orchestral, festival, and choral ensembles of those universities.

Schram resides in Florida with his wife Debbie and their children Natalia, Galen, and Gabriel. And please call him George!

---

View full calendar>                                       
VIEW CLASSICS POPS KNIGHTSOUNDS LOLLIPOPS SUMMER