Conductor Gary Thor Wedow has established an enviable reputation for dramatically exciting and historically informed performances with opera companies, orchestras, festivals, and choral organizations throughout North America. Opera News has hailed him for his “hot music making” and “convincingly elegant period style.” His debut with the New York Philharmonic conducting Messiah was noted in the New York Times for ‘a fleet, lithe orchestral performance, aptly complemented by the buoyant singing of the chorus.’
Gary Thor Wedow’s engagements in the 2021-2022 season begin with performances of Rameau’s Platée in his return to Des Moines Metro Opera, followed by performances of Giulio Cesare with the Atlanta Opera. He then travels out west to conduct the Santa Fe Symphony in performances of Handel’s Messiah.
A favorite with Seattle Opera audiences, Wedow has also been a frequent guest of Florida Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Arizona Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Portland Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Berkshire Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Saratoga, and the Amherst Early Music Festival, among others. He was for many years associated with New York City Opera.
Choral masterpieces and symphonic repertoire have taken him to the podiums of the New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, The Alabama Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Berkshire Choral International in Massachusetts, New Mexico, California and in Salzburg, and Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society where he was, for many years, Associate Conductor.
Born in LaPorte, Indiana and now a resident of New York City, he has been a member of the Juilliard School faculty since 1994 where he has led performances of L’incoronazione di Poppea, La finta giardiniera, Ariodante and Don Giovanni. Of particular note was the tour of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Juilliard 415 Historical Performance Ensemble that culminated at Alice Tully Hall ‘in a performance that caught fire and magic’ according to the New York Times. His continued championship of young musicians and singers is further exemplified by projects at The Teatro Colón, Wolf Trap Opera, the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. A musical scholar as well as conductor, he has prepared several performing editions of baroque works in collaboration with gambist Lawrence Lipnik. Mr. Wedow studied piano with virtuoso Jorge Bolet at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University and received his Master of Music degree at the New England Conservatory.
Credentials
- Juilliard School faculty
- M. M., New England Conservatory