THE VIEW FROM THE PIT

KAZEM ABDULLAH
American conductor Kazem Abdullah currently lives in Nürnberg, Germany. He was Music and Artistic Director of the City of Aachen, Germany from 2012 to 2017. During his tenure, he succeeded in reaching newer and diverse audiences through innovative programming and moving out of the concert hall, and into atypical venues. In addition to exploring new venues to bring concerts to audiences and experimenting with juxtapositions of styles in non-traditional concert formats, he also performed over 25 operas and collaborated with musicians such as Johannes Moser, Lise de la Salle, Angela Gheorghiu, Augustin Haedelich, and Midori.

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VISWA SUBBARAMAN
American conductor Viswa Subbaraman recently served as the Artistic Director/Music Director of the Skylight Music Theatre in Milwaukee. During his tenure at the Skylight, he has expanded the company’s repertoire and placed it at the forefront of the industry in producing contemporary opera and reimaging traditional works. His most recent production was Thomas Ades’ Powder Her Face, directed by Robin Guarino, which was declared “a triumph for Skylight’s artistic leader” (urbanmilwaukee.com) and he was praised for his “sublime control of this music, and the singers” (broadwayworld.com).

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JUDITH YAN
Judith Yan is a Canadian conductor, born in Hong Kong. Equally adept at opera, symphony, and ballet, she has held Staff Conductor positions at San Francisco Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and National Ballet of Canada. An enthusiastic supporter of new works, she has recently led 3 critically-acclaimed world-premieres: for Seattle Opera, Jack Perla and Jessica Murphy Moo’s An American Dream, for Opera on the Avalon, John Estacio and Robert Chafe’s Ours, and for West Australian Ballet, Krzysztof Pastor’s Dracula. As a conductor of symphony, she served 8 seasons as Artistic Director of Guelph Symphony Orchestra, leading over 60 performances for the company with repertoire ranging from Baroque to the 21st Century. As a conductor for ballet, she has led over 90 performances for the National Ballet of Canada, from classic repertoire such as Giselle and The Nutcracker, to modern masterpieces such as Kylian’s Soldier’s Mass, Balanchine’s Symphony in C, and Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet. Since 2010, she is the Music Director of Opera on the Avalon, where she has led over 15 productions, with repertoire from Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini, to Britten, Heggie, and Adès.

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