John Nelson is recognized on the international scene as one of America’s most eminent conductors. He studied at the Juilliard School in New York, where he received the Irving Berlin Conducting Prize. He has been the Musical Director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Theater of St. Louis, the Caramoor Music Festival in New York and the Chamber Orchestra of Paris. He has also been the Principal Guest Conductor of the National Orchestra of Lyon, Artistic Advisor of the orchestras of Nashville and Louisville, and is presently the Principal Guest Conductor of the National Orchestra of Costa Rica, the country in which he was born to American missionary parents.
In the course of his career he has conducted virtually all the major orchestras in the United States and Canada, including those of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Montreal and Toronto, and also in Europe, where he has conducted all the major London orchestras, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Chamber
Orchestra of Europe, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Orchestre de Paris, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and all the major orchestras in Spain. In Asia he has conducted the New Japan Philharmonic, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the China Philharmonic and the orchestras of Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou. His large repertoire has led him to the world’s great opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Bastille in Paris, the Stuttgart Opera, the Grand Théâtre in Geneva, the Dutch National Opera and the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.
John Nelson is recognized as a great interpreter of the sacred music repertoire. In 1994 he co-founded SOLI DEO GLORIA, an organization based in Chicago that commissions works of sacred music from the world’s foremost composers, such as Christopher Rouse, James MacMillan and Roxanna Panufnik.
Maestro Nelson’s distinguished discography includes Händel’s Semele (Grammy Award 1993), Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict (Diapason d'Or 1992) and highly acclaimed DVDs of Bach’s B minor Mass and St. Matthew Passion, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. He also recorded the complete Beethoven Symphonies and Piano Concertos with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, of which he is Honorary Musical Director.
His latest critically-acclaimed recording of Berlioz’s Les Troyens with Joyce DiDonato and Michael Spyres has been a great recognition of his work and authority as an outstanding Berlioz specialist, crowned by the Gramophone Magazine ‘Opera Recording of the Year’ and also classical ‘Recording of the Year’, among other prizes including the BBC Music Magazine Award for Opera and
the International Opera Award. Following this tremendous success, John Nelson will be returning to Strasbourg Philharmonic, for further recording projects including the Damnation of Faust and Romeo & Juliet, once again with Joyce DiDonato and Michael Spyres.
Further engagements for the 2018/19 season include performances of Massenet’s Werther at the Wuppertal Opera, Le Nozze di Figaro at the San Diego Opera, Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust at the Opéra de Nice, performances with Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in Paris’ Notre Dame and in Geneva’s Victoria Hall, as well as an all Berlioz programme at the Prague Spring Festival to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death.
