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Constantine Kitsopoulos has made a name for himself as a conductor whose musical experiences comfortably span the worlds of opera and symphony, where he conducts in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Royal Albert Hall, and musical theater, where he can be found leading orchestras on Broadway.  Mr. Kitsopoulos is in his sixth year as music director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra and continues as General Director of Chatham Opera, which he founded in 2005.  Most recently, he was appointed Music Director of the 2012 Festival of the Arts BOCA, an extraordinary multi-day cultural arts event for South Florida, as well as Music Director and Conductor of The Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”, the Broadway musical revival featuring Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis opening January 2012. Mr. Kitsopoulos started his 2011/12 season with a Philadelphia Orchestra debut at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and a summer tour of Dream with Me with young singing sensation Jackie Evancho at the Ravinia and Sun Valley festivals, Atlanta Symphony, Dallas Symphony and at the Omaha Holland Performing Arts Center.  In addition, he makes appearances with the New Jersey and Napa Valley symphonies, Little Orchestra Society and returns to

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Constantine Kitsopoulos has made a name for himself as a conductor whose musical experiences comfortably span the worlds of opera and symphony, where he conducts in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Royal Albert Hall, and musical theater, where he can be found leading orchestras on Broadway.  Mr. Kitsopoulos is in his sixth year as music director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra and continues as General Director of Chatham Opera, which he founded in 2005.  Most recently, he was appointed Music Director of the 2012 Festival of the Arts BOCA, an extraordinary multi-day cultural arts event for South Florida, as well as Music Director and Conductor of The Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”, the Broadway musical revival featuring Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis opening January 2012.

Mr. Kitsopoulos started his 2011/12 season with a Philadelphia Orchestra debut at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and a summer tour of Dream with Me with young singing sensation Jackie Evancho at the Ravinia and Sun Valley festivals, Atlanta Symphony, Dallas Symphony and at the Omaha Holland Performing Arts Center.  In addition, he makes appearances with the New Jersey and Napa Valley symphonies, Little Orchestra Society and returns to Indiana University where he conducts Bolcom's A View From the Bridge.

Highlights of the 2010/11 season included debuts with the Dallas, North Carolina, Charlotte and Tucson symphonies, OK Mozart Festival and a reengagement with Calgary Philharmonic.  In recent seasons, Mr. Kitsopoulos made debuts with the Tokyo Philharmonic in Japan and at the Festival of the Arts Boca with the Russian National Orchestra.  He has also led the Baltimore, Colorado, Detroit, Houston, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Pittsburgh and San Francisco symphony orchestras, as well as the Blossom Festival Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra and New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

In the 2010/11 season, Mr. Kitsopoulos conducted the Baldwin-Wallace College’s production of La Bohème and a production of Die Fledermaus at the Indiana University Opera Theater, where he first worked in 2008/09 in a production of The Most Happy Fella. Previous seasons’ operatic highlights include the Dicapo Opera Theatre’s productions of The Merry Widow, Gounod’s Faust and all three versions of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Chatham Opera's debut production of Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, Hong Kong Municipal Opera production of Carmen in both Hong Kong and Beijing, and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at Alice Tully Hall.  He also served as Music Director and created the orchestrations for the world premiere production of Ed Dixon’s Fanny Hill at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut.

Mr. Kitsopoulos has also continued to show his ability and interest in performing new works and conducting a wide variety of genres.  He conducted the Red Bull Artsehcro, an orchestra consisting of students from the top conservatories and university music programs in the country, in a concert at Carnegie Hall featuring a program of world premieres by Raul Yanez and Laura Karpman. 

In addition to his orchestral and classical commitments, Mr. Kitsopoulos is much in demand as a theatre conductor, both on Broadway and nationwide.  Mr. Kitsopoulos was Conductor and Musical Director of the Tony-nominated musical A Catered Affair.  He conducted the Tony-nominated musical Coram Boy and the American Conservatory Theatre's production of Kurt Weill's Happy End, for which he recorded the cast album at Skywalker Ranch.  Other musical theater highlights include serving as Music Director and Principal Conductor of Baz Luhrmann’s highly acclaimed production of Puccini’s La Bohème, conducting the new musical Mambo Kings in San Francisco, serving as Music Director of Frank Wildhorn’s Dracula and Les Misérables and conducting Matthew Bourne’s Broadway production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.

Constantine Kitsopoulos studied conducting with his principal teacher Vincent La Selva, as well as Gustav Meier, Sergiu Commissiona, and Semyon Bychkov.  He studied piano with Marienka Michna, Chandler Gregg, Ed Edson, and Sophia Rosoff.

His first recording – Baz Luhrmann’s production of La Bohème – was released by Dreamworks.  His recording of Happy End, the only English language recording of the work, was released by Ghostlight.  The original Broadway cast album of A Catered Affair was released by P.S. Classics.

For more information, visit www.kitsopoulos.com.

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Reviews

"Constantine Kitsopoulos shapes the score with elastic and fleet assurance, and…is alert to the music’s kaleidoscopic textures."

The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos, this ‘Happy End’ is a respectful effort that will, with any luck, introduce a new generation to a lyricist-composer team that represent one of the more marvelously challenging musical theater sensibilities ever to emerge."

Los Angeles Times

"Conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos effectively drew out the charm, atmosphere and ingenuity of the score, from the perfect songs by Harold Arlen to the music by Herbert Stothart and others that fills in the rest of the picture."

The Baltimore Sun

"The star of this lively version of Puccini’s opera, at least to a classical music lover, is the conductor, Constantine Kitsopoulos. The American maestro… seems to be channeling Arturo Toscanini a good portion of the time… he has picked up on the Italian conductor’s energy, not always audible in big opera houses."

The Oakland Tribune

"Kitsopoulos’ consistently “untempo” musical direction is the result of thought and preparation."

San Francisco Classical Voice

"It was a strings-only ensemble which performed to perfectly timed entrances and exits under the skillful hands of Constantine Kitsopoulos. Not a miscue anywhere."

The Examiner

"Kitsopoulos emphasized the practical and produced a clean and tidy sound. He opened the Manfred Overture by taming it: organizing its chaotic nature with a solid rhythmic foundation. The syncopations and metric twists were anchored by his clear and sharp beat patterns. Kitsopoulos had no problem moving the orchestra through tempo adjustments, and he effortlessly negotiated the work over the dangerous terrain in which it ends; in a disintegration of sound. Kitsopoulos worked well with the soloists… His musicality was always apparent."

The Hartford Courant