Alan Gilbert (conductor)
Alan Gilbert (born February 23, 1967) is an American conductor and violinist. He is Principal Conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Music Director of Royal Swedish Opera. He was Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from 2009 to 2017.[1][2]
Alan Gilbert
Early years[edit]
Gilbert was born in New York City.[3][4] He is the son of two New York Philharmonic violinists, Michael Gilbert and Yoko Takebe, both now retired from the orchestra. Growing up in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Gilbert attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in Riverdale, where he was a top student. As a youth, he learned the violin, viola, and piano. His sister, Jennifer Gilbert, also studied violin, and became a professional violinist.[5]
In the 1980s, Gilbert studied music at Harvard University, where he was the music director of the Harvard Bach Society Orchestra in 1988–89.[6] While in Boston, Gilbert also studied with violinist Masuko Ushioda at the New England Conservatory of Music. After obtaining his degree at Harvard, Gilbert studied conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School of Music with Otto-Werner Mueller. In 1994, he won the Georg Solti prize, which garnered him a week's private tutoring with Maestro Solti. Also in 1994, Gilbert won first prize at the International Competition for Musical Performance in Geneva.