Robert Spano

American conductor, pianist and composer Robert Spano was born in Conneaut, Ohio on 7 May 1961 and grew up in a musical family in Indiana. He studied at the Oberlin Conservatory and then at the Curtis Institute, where his teachers included German conductor Max Rudolf.

He was an assistant conductor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1990-93) and music director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (1996-2004). From 2001 until 2021 he was music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, with which he made many recordings.

He was head of the conductor training programme at Tanglewood (1998-2002). He directed Tanglewood's Festival of Contemporary Music (2003 and 2004).

Since 2022 he has been music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

He has also conducted Seattle Opera and New York Metropolitan Opera. and is active as a pianist, particularly in chamber music. He also composes, in his time off from performing.

 

A selection of articles about Robert Spano

Jerome Rose - In the build-up to New York's International Keyboard Institute and Festival, Richard Meszto writes about the festival's founder

A Useful Survey - Thomas May's 'The John Adams Reader', reviewed by Mike Wheeler

CD Spotlight. A Resounding Hurrah - Corigliano sets Dylan, recommended by Howard Smith. 'Titanic, zealous stuff.'

No Stone Left Unturned - A book about the business of conducting, explored by Paul Sarcich