Teddy Abrams
Edward "Teddy" Paul Maxwell Abrams (born May 6, 1987) is an American conductor, pianist, clarinetist, and composer. He is currently Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra and the Britt Festival Orchestra.[1]
Teddy Abrams
Edward Paul Maxwell Abrams
May 6, 1987
Berkeley, California, United States
Conductor/Composer/Instrumentalist
1998-present
Early life and education[edit]
Abrams was born in Berkeley, California, to non-musician parents, and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Abrams is a fourth-generation American. His ancestors immigrated to the US from Russia, Poland, and Hungary.[2] Abrams started improvising on piano at the age of three and began formal lessons at the age of five. At age of eight, Abrams began playing clarinet, in elementary school band, and he developed an interest in conducting, after seeing a San Francisco Symphony performance at age of nine. He began studying conducting and musicianship with Michael Tilson Thomas, the Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, at the age of 12.
Abrams never attended middle or high school. Instead, he took general education courses at community colleges in the Bay Area, including Laney College and Foothill College, from age 11 to 16.[3] He then transferred to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, graduating with a Bachelor of Music at age 18 and studying piano with Paul Hersh and clarinet with David Breeden. In 2005, Abrams entered the Curtis Institute of Music as a conducting major, studying with Otto-Werner Mueller and Ford Lallerstedt. Abrams also studied with David Zinman at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Abrams was the youngest conducting student ever accepted at both Curtis and Aspen.[4]