Make It Big! Episode 6 - David Leibowitz (New York Repertory Orchestra)

Make It Big!

Celebrated for his innovative programming and exciting performances, conductor David Leibowitz has achieved international acclaim for his work on the concert, opera, and ballet stage. Mr. Leibowitz is the Music Director/Conductor and founder of the award-winning New York Repertory Orchestra. Some recent highlights of his tenure there have been a fully staged production of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio and a landmark performance of Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 3. As an avid fan and champion of today’s music he has commissioned, worked with, and performed local and world premieres by some of today’s most important composers; such as Paul Moravec, Lowell Liebermann, Harold Farberman, Stephen Dembski, John Schwabe, Salvador Brotons, Michael Shapiro, and Steven Rosenhaus. From 2003-2013, Mr. Leibowitz held the post of Principal Conductor with the Massapequa Philharmonic Orchestra and has recently been guest conductor of the New York Opera Exchange, conducting performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, and Verdi’s La Traviata. He is currently on the conducting faculty of the Westchester Summer Vocal Institute and the International Opera Institute at the Maud Powell Music Festival. For many years, Mr. Leibowitz was on the conducting staff of the Rome Festival Opera (Italy), leading opera, ballet, and concert performances, and was the Orchestra Director of the Siena (Italy) Summer Music Festival. in 2012 he led the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Orchestra and Chorus in a critically acclaimed performance of the Mozart Requiem. Throughout the United States and Europe, he has directed such ensembles as the Pleven Philharmonic (Bulgaria), the Orchester Pro Arte (Vienna), Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Bach Festival Orchestra (Princeton, NJ), and the University of Wyoming (Laramie) Symphony Orchestra. In the New York City area, he has conducted the Astoria Symphony, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Greenwich Village Orchestra, Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, Centre Symphony Orchestra, New York Festival Singers, Litha Orchestra, and the Music at St. Paul’s Series at Columbia University. He has also worked with the Dance Theater of Harlem. A dedicated music educator, Mr. Leibowitz conducted the Third Street Philharmonia at the Third Street Music School Settlement in New York City from 2003-2006 and from 2009-2012 he was the Orchestra Director at the City College of New York. He has worked as a conductor and coach with many other student and youth orchestras, including the the orchestras of Brooklyn College, the InterSchools Orchestra of New York, and the Gemini Youth Orchestra. In 2011, Mr. Leibowitz was an award-winner of the American Prize in Orchestral Conducting and the American Prize in Orchestral Programming. He was given the “Gift to New York City” award from the Omega Ensemble of New York for his ongoing contributions to the musical life of New York City and is on the Board of Directors of the Conductors Guild, an international service organization of over 2,000 members, devoted to the advancement of the art of conducting and to serving the artistic and professional needs of conductors. Mr. Leibowitz received his Master of Arts degree in Performance Practice, Summa Cum Laude, from the City University of New York’s Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. His main studies were in performance, musicology, and composition. He was awarded a teaching fellowship and was named a Presidential Scholar of the University. OUTRO MUSIC: Dimitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 10, mvt. 2, performed by the New York Repertory Orchestra, conducted by David Leibowitz, Oct. 18, 2014