Biography
American conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong is the Music Director of two orchestras, the Eugene Symphony in Oregon and the Santa Rosa Symphony, performing at the Green Music Center in Northern California. The press has described him as a “fast rising talent in the music world” with “the real gift” and recognized his dynamic performances, fresh programming, deep commitment to commissioning and performing new music as well as to community outreach. Mr. Lecce-Chong has already appeared with orchestras around the world including the San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and Hong Kong Philharmonic and collaborated with top soloists including Renée Fleming and Itzhak Perlman.
In spring 2019, Mr. Lecce-Chong debuted in subscription concerts with the San Francisco Symphony. The San Francisco Chronicle described it as “first rate” praising the “vitality and brilliance of the music-making he drew from members of the San Francisco Symphony.” Other subscription debuts included the Colorado Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic and Xi’An Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Lecce-Chong’s also returned to conduct the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Milwaukee and San Diego Symphony. The 19/20 season marks his debut with the New York Philharmonic as part of the legendary Young People’s Concert Series.
Following the paths of renowned Music Directors of the Eugene and the Santa Rosa Symphonies including Marin Alsop, Giancarlo Guerrero and Jeffrey Kahane, Mr. Lecce-Chong has made his mark with the two orchestras introducing a series of new music and community initiatives. In 2019, the orchestras announced Mr. Lecce-Chong’s “First Symphony Project” commissioning four major orchestral works by young composers – Matt Brown, Gabriella Smith, Angélica Negrón and Michael Djupstrom – to be performed over the next four seasons accompanied by multiple composer residencies and community events. In Eugene, he has reinitiated family concerts and presented a number of innovative projects such as an original multimedia performance of Scriabin’s compositions engaging light and color. With the Santa Rosa Symphony, he has launched the first opera-in-concert series at the Green Music Center, beginning with the 20/21 season.
During his successful tenures as Associate Conductor with the Milwaukee Symphony under Edo de Waart and the Pittsburgh Symphony under Manfred Honeck, Mr. Lecce-Chong also dedicated his time to opera, building his credentials as staff conductor with the Santa Fe Opera and conducted Madama Butterfly at the Florentine Opera with the Milwaukee Symphony.
Mr. Lecce-Chong is the recipient of several distinctions, including the prestigious Solti Foundation Award. Trained also as a pianist and composer, he completed his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music with Otto-Werner Mueller after attending the Mannes College of Music and Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy. He has had the privilege of being mentored and supported by celebrated conductors including Bernard Haitink, David Zinman, Edo de Waart, Manfred Honeck, Donald Runnicles and Michael Tilson Thomas.
Recent News
Francesco Lecce-Chong and Eugene Symphony Renew Music Director Contract
Francesco Lecce-Chong and the Eugene Symphony Association have extended the Music Director’s contract through at least the 2022/23 season. “Francesco will be one of our great ones,” said Search Committee chair Roger Saydack, referring to the orchestra’s past...
Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong Earns Acclaim for San Francisco Symphony Debut
Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong earned critical acclaim for his San Francisco Symphony subscription debut. The concerts, on 6 – 8 June, featured works by Mozart, Verdi and Elgar. Soloist David Fray performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K....
Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong to Make San Francisco Symphony Debut featuring pianist David Fray
American conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong will make his San Francisco Symphony debut on June 6 - 8 at Davies Symphony Hall. Lecce-Chong, Music Director of both the Eugene and Santa Rosa symphonies, will lead a programme featuring David Fray performing Mozart’s Piano...
Reviews
“Francesco Lecce-Chong, the young American conductor…made a first-rate debut with the San Francisco Symphony…There was no mistaking the vitality and brilliance of the music-making he drew from members of the San Francisco Symphony. He’s got a firm but flexible rhythmic control that allows him to shepherd an orchestra at top speed without losing a bit of precision, and he can shape big instrumental textures with a robustness and grace that is inspiring to behold. Perhaps best of all, Lecce-Chong seems to be a resourceful and imaginative programmer.”
“Lecce-Chong has the real gift. He’s going to be a fast-rising talent in the music world.”
Under its vibrant new music director, Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Santa Rosa Symphony offered a nearly perfect afternoon of Mozart (Symphony No. 40) and Mahler (Symphony No. 4).
-San Francisco Classical Voice
“Lecce-Chong left no doubt that the magic of his debut [with the Santa Rosa Symphony] was no fluke. Even without a romantic warhorse like Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, he proved his mettle by pouring new life into Mozart’s tragic Symphony No. 40 and artfully molding the pacing and phrasing of Mahler’s idyllic Symphony No. 4.”
– The Press Democrat
“Lecce-Chong’s concern for the Viennese style was particularly important with the last piece, Richard Strauss’s Suite from Der Rosenkavalier. Many American orchestras have difficulty with Viennese phrasing… In 15 years observing the orchestra, I’ve never heard the ESO perform with a true Viennese phrasing, melody somehow joyous and bittersweet, leaning here and there on melodic motives and chromatic lines. But on this night, Lecce-Chong brought Vienna to Eugene. Conducting from memory, he led his musicians with apparent ease, shaping lines, balancing timbres and cuing entrances with precision. There were lovely Viennese moments when he expanded a phrase’s rhythm, then pulled it back in. This was the conductor’s real interpretation of the work, not merely a reading from an orchestra he had just met.”
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