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James Paul, conductor

b i o g r a p h y...........back to roster....up June 2010 James Paul is widely acclaimed as one of North America's most distinguished conductors. Mr. Paul currently holds permanent posts as music director and conductor of the Oregon Festival of American Music and music director of the Oregon Coast Music Festival. After six seasons as principal guest conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival, he took over as artistic director of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in 2006 – the festival’s 50th anniversary season. Next season feature the conductor in return appearances with the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico, and the Louisiana Philharmonic, this time leading an H.M.S Pinafore production. The 2008/09 season brought many return engagements, among them the Louisiana Philharmonic and in Mexico the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico and Xalapa Symphony. Recent highlights included guest-conducting engagements with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, three times with the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic (twice), and Honolulu Symphony. He also conducted the Orquesta Sinfonica National de Mexico on two separate occasions and joined the Oregon Festival of American Music. Other recent engagements brought him to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, and San Diego Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Paul’s illustrious career has included guest appearances with some of the world’s finest orchestras. His London Symphony Orchestra debut at the Barbican resulted in immediate reengagement. His guest appearance with the Cleveland Orchestra was broadcast over National Public Radio. He made his Paris debut with the Orchestre Symphonique Français. He has appeared with nearly every major North American orchestra, including the National Symphony in Washington D.C., the orchestras of Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Houston, Dallas, Seattle, San Antonio, Oakland, Honolulu, and the National Symphony of Mexico. He has also conducted the West Australian Symphony (Perth), Tampere Philharmonic (Finland), Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow, and Orchestre Colonne (Paris). Mr. Paul has also enjoyed return engagements with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Columbus (OH) Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Florida Orchestra, the Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstlerorchester (NTO) of Vienna, and the Singapore Symphony. In recent years he has also appeared in return engagements with the Chicago and Phoenix symphonies; debut performances with the Shanghai Symphony, Mexico's Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Symphony Nova Scotia (Halifax), Vancouver Symphony, Omaha Symphony and the National Orchestra of Costa Rica. During his tenure as music director and conductor of the Baton Rouge Symphony, James Paul brought the orchestra to national acclaim. The Symphony shared the 1983 American Symphony Orchestra League award for most innovative programming with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and was also the only regional orchestra featured on National Public Radio’s Music in America series. In 1984, James Paul founded the Baton Rouge Symphony Chorus. In 1988, during the Baton Rouge Symphony’s 40th anniversary season, Mr. Paul led the orchestra in a triumphant performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall. At the conclusion of his final concerts in February 1998, he was named Conductor Emeritus, the only conductor so honored by the orchestra in its 50-year history. Mr. Paul has served as conducting fellow with the St. Louis Symphony, associate conductor of the Kansas City Philharmonic and Milwaukee Symphony, principal guest conductor of the New Orleans Philharmonic; and as artistic advisor to the Tulsa Philharmonic. Mr. Paul is noted for his critically acclaimed performances of orchestral-choral works such as Vaughn Williams’ Sea Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Britten’s Spring Symphony. In 1997, Mr. Paul recorded Paul Paray’s Joan of Arc Mass and First Symphony with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus for Reference Recordings, which received a Grammy nomination for "Best Choral Performance."A native of Forest Grove, Oregon, Mr. Paul studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Among his many awards is the Serge Koussevitsky Memorial Conducting Prize presented by Erich Leinsdorf at the 1967 Tanglewood Music Festival. b i o......r e v i e w s..... back to roster...up . . . .

. r e v i e w s...........back to roster....up Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev — San Diego Symphony “For the Haffner … the effect was a marvelous, rich 19th-going-on-20th-century sound that reminded this listener of the superb performances of Bruno Walter. And Paul brilliantly achieved Mozart’s directions for playing the last movement ‘as fast as possible.’ You would have thought the SDS was a world-class touring ensemble playing the piece for the 20th time in a row.” sandiego.com “… the work [Haydn’s The Creation] is compelling and full of drama, as revealed in the sympathetic reading by guest conductor James Paul.” Dayton Daily News “Paul, who became Grant Park’s principal guest conductor in 1999, the same year Carlos Kalmar arrived as principal conductor, is one of those solid musicians who prizes thoughtfulness over flash. Over the seasons, conductors like Paul give audiences a fresh view of a musical universe they might have thought they knew quite well. Paul’s devotion to English composers and works for chorus and orchestra, an eye for worthy morsels like Milhaud’s ‘Suite Francaise,’ not to mention his ability to draw the best from the Grant Park musicians, has enlivened the festival’s programming since his debut decades ago.” Chicago Sun-Times “Paul did not so much beat time as sculpt sound into a shimmer in the air.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “The first half of the program was performed by chamber chorus and chamber orchestra, and Paul'’ thoughtful direction used these reduced forces artfully.” Columbus Dispatch “…owing to Paul’s leadership and to the fine players in the orchestra…it [Three Places in New England] was an outstanding account of an American masterwork… Paul’s leadership once again was outstanding. He paced the music well and let it speak clearly without pulling it out of shape.” Register-Guard “Paul and the orchestra shaped it beautifully, from the somber, restrained passion of the opening cello line to the more serene, exalted quiet of the final pages.” Chicago Sun-Times “In total command of the orchestra, Paul unfolded the sound and the fury with rigor and authority (not to mention body English). This was the sort of gutsy, illuminating performance the Fourth deserves.” Chicago Tribune “Paul seemed particularly fond of the Enigma Variations and led the orchestra in artistic, personalized interpretations. His large, animated baton strokes were distinct and sensitive to the moods of the music.” Omaha World-Herald “Paul led an excellent performance that was at once passionate and controlled, with the complex textures well balanced.” Register-Guard “Preparing such a tricky program to so high a degree of polish and brilliance on the customary five rehearsals, means Paul knows how to rehearse and quickly reach a musical consensus with the musicians, utter strangers to each other before 10 a.m. last Sunday….The concert began with Handel’s Overture to Ottone and Schubert’s Sixth symphony. Paul dictated brisk tempos and clear short strokes in the Handel, and livened up the adagio sections with the halting rhythm known as double-dotting — all gratefully received stylistic devices of 18th century music.” Chronicle-Herald (Nova Scotia) “Paul carefully controlled the orchestra, putting every detail in proper balance… His sure sense of timing let the musical drama unfold naturally, building to strong climaxes…” Virginian-Pilot “One learns something new at any performance of the ‘The Rite of Spring.’ As conductor James Paul pointed out, it is a work of unfathomable riches. As he demonstrated in his remarks and in his interpretation, Paul has internalized the piece at a deep level of artistic understanding.” Register-Guard “The veteran conductor’s command was impressive. His manner was vigorous and aggressive; his beat, clear and insistent; his vision, large and complete. Barber never had a more dynamic champion.” Register-Guard “Paul’s performance of the work Thursday night was truly spellbinding…” Baton Rouge “Electrifying performances…were delivered under the guest baton of James Paul…” Phoenix Gazette “Paul was totally in charge of both the triumphant outpourings…It was a performance to be treasured.” Buffalo News “James Paul brought energy and precision to the task of directing these forces in the often wild music. He was equally adept in the quite different challenges of the program’s first half…” Washington Post “James Paul, who led the National Symphony and the Oratorio society of Washington in an outstanding performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Wolf Trap last night, deals with rhythm as well as any conductor in memory. He found rhythmic patterns that rarely emerge from this familiar score, and brought them out without artifice or distortion. His reading of the Ninth was illuminated by the revelation of an underlying rhythmic coherence…Paul and the music took off in a wild dash to the final cadence that was exciting and dramatic and that brought the audience, cheering, to its feet.” Washington Post b i o.......r e v i e w s back to roster...up ..

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