GCTYO conducts worldwide search for new Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor
3 finalists will each conduct 1 concert cycle during the 2024-25 season
By Beth Ulman, Executive Director
August 6, 2024
GCTYO announced an opening for Philharmonic Conductor in May and received applications from all over the world, including China, Venezuela, France, Italy, Estonia, and across the U.S. At the close of the first round of the competitive process, GCTYO invited several people to work directly with students at rehearsals. The level of talent demonstrated by each applicant is a testament to the reputation GCTYO has established within the music community.
Here are the finalists in order of the concerts they will conduct:
Born in Kraków, Poland, Patrycja Pieczara made her debut with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra in 2011. Since then, she has appeared as a guest conductor with prestigious international orchestras such as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.
From 2016 to 2023, Ms. Pieczara served as an Assistant Professor at the Polish leading Music Academy in Kraków, where she was also the chief conductor of the Music Academy Symphony Orchestra, guiding over 200 students annually.
Her extensive experience with youth orchestras includes collaborations with the Kraków Youth Philharmonic, L’Orchestre Atelier Ostinato in Paris, the Estonian Youth Orchestra, and youth ensembles affiliated with the Royal Academy, Royal College, and Trinity College of Music in London.
Ms. Pieczara has also conducted the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic in Białystok, the Rzeszow Philharmonic, the Częstochowa Philharmonic, and the Beethoven Academy Symphony Orchestra in Poland. Internationally, she has conducted the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Ankara and The Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra in Turkey, the Lviv Philharmonic in Ukraine, the Orchestra of the Swan in the U.K., the Oaxaca Symphony Orchestra in Mexico, the Slovakian Philharmonic in Kosice, and the Pärnu City Orchestra in Estonia.
Ms. Pieczara’s training includes studies with Neeme and Paavo Järvi at the Järvi Summer Festival in Estonia, Helmut Rilling at the International Bach Academy Stuttgart, and Mark Stringer at the Internationale Sommerakademie Wien. As an assistant conductor, she worked with Sir Neville Marriner, Maestro Krzysztof Penderecki, Jean Pascal Tortelier, Andrey Boreyko, Tadeusz Strugała, and Gabriel Chmura.
Huadong Lu will be with GCTYO from March to May and will conduct the May Concert. Mr. Lu currently resides in China and New York.
Mr. Huadong Lu grew up in Guangzhou, China. Upon graduation from the Guangzhou Conservatory of Music, he was a violinist with the Guangzhou Symphony until he came to the U.S. in 1990 with a full scholarship to study at Kent State University, Ohio. He graduated with two master’s degrees in music performance and education.
Mr. Lu started his teaching career in 1993. He taught in public schools and colleges and directed youth orchestras in the U.S., Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Guangzhou, China. His orchestras have consistently earned the highest rankings in state contests and festivals and have been selected to perform at State Music Educators Conferences in Nebraska and South Carolina. Mr. Lu has conducted concerts with his youth and high school orchestras throughout Europe and Asia. Mr. Lu is an active violinist and performs regularly with professional orchestras.
This coming season promises to be an exciting year of learning and great music-making for all GCTYO students!
For more information, visit gctyo.org or contact Executive Director Beth Ulman at 203-293-8447 or email executivedirector@gctyo.org.
Please consider making a donation to GCTYO to help bring high quality music education to as many young musicians in greater Connecticut as possible.
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From Connecticut Magazine, February 2024
Connecticut conductor inspires students in youth orchestra that sparked his own career
Christopher Hisey never lost his connection to the youth orchestra he joined barely out of elementary school some 38 years ago
Christopher Hisey, Music Director of Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestras (GCTYO) in Fairfield
All photos from Rock Zhang / Contributed
Connecticut’s Maestro Christopher Hisey will tell you he doesn’t remember a time when music wasn’t a part of his life. As one of the region’s most sought-after music educators, he’s known for his motivational and passionate approach.
And he balances a seemingly endless number of musical programs and projects. Besides his role as the music director of Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestras (GCTYO) in Fairfield, he’s also chairman of the Performing Arts Department, as well as Director of Orchestras and Chamber Music at Greens Farms Academy, a K-12 independent prep school in Westport, where he has taught for more than 20 years. He is the music director and founder of Fairfield County’s American Chamber Orchestra, and is the music director and founder of the Connecticut Philharmonic, a professional orchestra featuring Connecticut artists — to name a few.
Hisey’s prestigious musical career has taken him around the world and back, conducting with orchestras in Bulgaria, Russia, Mexico, China and the U.S., with such notable musicians as Sir James Galway, Tim Janis, Jackie Evancho and many others.
But through it all, Hisey never lost his connection to the youth orchestra he joined barely out of elementary school some 38 years ago — a group he credits as a haven for a talented yet shy kid who was bullied and felt no kinship among his schoolmates in his love for Classical music. He says playing the viola with GCTYO, (then known as the Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestras), was one of the many times when music helped him through a difficult situation. And now at age 50, Hisey is marking his 16th year as music director of GCTYO and conductor of its premier Principal Orchestra.
Take us back to your middle school days when you first joined GCTYO. How did the organization make a difference in your life?
I can’t even begin to tell you how music has saved my life in so many different ways, in particular when I was in middle school; that was not a particularly happy time in my life. I was bullied quite a bit. I had some friends but I didn’t have a lot, at least not in school.
But when it came time to get up Saturday morning and go to GCTYO, that’s where my friends were. And it didn’t matter that it was early on a Saturday morning. The fact that we were able to get together and play some incredible music and then put it on stage and perform it, it was an amazing experience. I know without question that any number of GCTYO students, now, feel the same way. For them, it’s a time to come together with people who share a love for music and the arts, but more than that, it’s a place where they can just be themselves.
You’ve also founded several music programs in Connecticut. Can you tell us about those?
I founded the American Chamber Orchestra in 2003. Just before we founded it, I was the music director for a production of Ruddigore, which is a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. The orchestra and I had so much fun together that we wanted to continue making music after the production was over — The American Chamber Orchestra was born.
A similar thing happened with the Connecticut Philharmonic. I was asked by a close friend to put an orchestra together to do The Nutcracker with the students from Norwalk Metropolitan Youth Ballet. I hired a group of professional musicians, and we had a blast doing those shows for two years — so much so that we wanted to keep making music after it was over. The Connecticut Philharmonic was born.