Scottish born conductor Stewart Robertson thrives on a wide range of musical interests. He has become particularly associated with the music of Mozart, Beethoven, and Britten and his close involvement with new music has led to him having conducted over 100 orchestral and operatic world premieres. Maestro Robertson is Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Atlantic Classical Orchestra in Florida and has been recently named Music Director Emeritus of Glimmerglass Opera in recognition of the phenomenal musical growth the company has achieved under his direction over the last two decades.
Maestro Robertson gained his early experience in opera at the opera houses of Cologne and Zurich and at Scottish Opera, where he was Music Director of the touring company. Subsequently he became Music Director of the San Bernardino Symphony and the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, where he was champion of new music and a frequent broadcaster on National Public Radio. Additionally, he has enjoyed two highly successful periods as Artistic Director of Opera Omaha and Music Director of Florida Grand Opera in Miami.
Equally at home in opera and the concert hall, Robertson has led performances with orchestras as diverse as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra, Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Mecklenburg Staatskapelle, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Sicily Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Nacional of Mexico, the North German Philharmonic, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Highlights include performances at the Lille Festival in France with the Orchestra of Maastricht, Igor Oistrakh, soloist, and at the Concertgebouw with the Ukraine State Philharmonic. He has also led this orchestra both in Kiev and on tour in Holland and has recorded with them symphonies of Shostakovich, and Prokofiev. Recently Robertson made a highly successful debut with the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra and the chorus of the Maggio Musicale Florence conducting the closing concert of the 2009 season of Italy’s famed Festival of the Nations in Citta di Castello, Umbria
In the realm of opera Maestro Robertson’s appearances include New York City Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the companies of Montreal, Detroit, Philadelphia, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Dusseldorf, the Norwegian National Opera, the Jesi Festival in Italy, the Wexford Festival and Opera Ireland in Dublin.
Robertson’s performances with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Ukraine State Philharmonic and Glimmerglass Opera can be heard on the Chandos, Naxos, New World and Verdi/ EMI labels while his recording of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett’s opera The Mines of Sulphur was recently nominated for a Grammy Award. His world premiere recording of David Carlson’s Anna Karenina with the St. Louis Symphony has recently been released on the Signum label, and his interpretation of Puccini’s La Boheme at the Puccini Festival in the composer’s hometown of Torre del Lago gained the unique distinction of becoming the first performance of the work by a non-Italian conductor to be released by the Festival as a commercial DVD. In the USA Robertson’s performances have been televised by PBS on both the “Great Performances” and “Live from Lincoln Center” series.
Future plans include return engagements with the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic and Orchestra London, Canada, the Savonlinna Festival in Finland, the opera companies of Arizona and Fort Worth, a production of Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen in Dublin and a return to Glimmerglass Opera for Copland’s Tender Land.
He has recently received much attention for his innovative work with the Atlantic Classical Orchestra, an orchestra based in Florida but drawing its personnel from throughout the USA. Robertson and the Atlantic Classical Orchestra have developed a style of programming that is rich in its variety along with a presentational format that is both informative and audience friendly. Robertson’s lectures and seminars have become an integral feature of the Atlantic Classical Orchestra and contributed to the orchestra having doubled its concert attendances over the last three seasons. Flying in the face of the current recession and under Robertson’s direction, the Atlantic Classical Orchestra has embarked on a period of dynamic growth. Future plans include tours to Italy and the UK, commercial recording projects and the establishment of a chamber music festival on Florida’s Treasure Coast.
A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Mr. Robertson is a graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music. He studied piano with Denis Matthews, conducting with Otmar Suitner at the Mozarteum, Salzburg and with Hans Swarowsky in Vienna. He is married with two children and he and his wife Meryl are, as a diversion from professional activities, attempting, perhaps ill-advisedly, but nevertheless enthusiastically, to restore a castle in Argyll, Scotland where planning is also underway for an intimate chamber music festival.
