James Gaffigan:
Biography

James Gaffigan is in his second season as an assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, having been appointed to these posts by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst in June 2003. As assistant conductor, Gaffigan assists Welser-Möst, participates in the planning and conducting of education concerts, conducts Christmas concerts, and serves as cover conductor for Severance Hall subscription concerts and Blossom Festival concerts.

Gaffigan made his Cleveland Orchestra debut at the Blossom Festival in August of 2002, conducting a performance of Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy as part of a collaboration between The Cleveland Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival and School. During the summers of 2000-2002, he was a conducting fellow at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, which is directed by David Zinman. In 2002, Gaffigan was the recipient of the first Robert Harth Conducting Award at Aspen. During the summer of 2003, he attended Tanglewood as a conducting fellow. In September 2004, Gaffigan was one of two first prize winners at the Sir Georg Solti International Conductors' Competition, the finals of which took place in Frankfurt, Germany.

Gaffigan served as music director of his first opera production, Mozart's Così fan tutte, in the spring of 2003. He conducted six performances of the opera at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where he was enrolled in the graduate conducting program. During the fall of 2002, Gaffigan took part in Synergy, a program organized by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the American Symphony Orchestra League. As part of this program, he premiered a new work with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the guidance of Esa-Pekka Salonen. Next, Gaffigan covered a series of concerts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with guest conductor André Previn. Also in the fall of 2002, Gaffigan conducted a regional tour with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he led the Houston Symphony in rehearsal for Hans Graf during the 2002-03 season.

Gaffigan is a native of New York City, where he began musical studies at the LaGuardia High School of Music and Art, and in the Juilliard Preparatory Division. His undergraduate degree is from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he worked closely with Boston Philharmonic conductor Benjamin Zander and received the first Benjamin Zander Conducting Fellowship, which played a key role in Gaffigan's emergence as a young conductor. In May 2003, Gaffigan received his graduate degree in conducting from Rice University, where he studied with Larry Rachleff. Gaffigan also has studied conducting with Frank Battisti, Jorma Panula, and Robert Spano.