Artistic Leadership
William Boughton, Music Director and Principal Conductor
Mr. Boughton came to the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in 2007, bringing with him his reputation as one the foremost English conductors of his generation. In 1980 he founded the English Symphony Orchestra, and for more than 25 years as its Artistic and Music Director and Principal Conductor, he developed the orchestra’s repertoire to include music ranging from baroque and classical works to contemporary compositions. In his last season there, to celebrate its silver anniversary, Mr. Boughton led the ESO in a season-long cycle of the nine Beethoven Symphonies. He has made more than sixty highly regarded recordings, most for Nimbus Records, several of which have reached the top ten in the U.S. charts.
Mr. Boughton has guest-conducted leading orchestras from San Francisco to Helsinki and has worked with outstanding soloists on the international circuit, including Nigel Kennedy, Emanuel Ax, and Radu Lupu. From 1986—93, he served also as Artistic and Music Director of the Jyvaskyla Sinfonia in Finland, and during his tenure there audiences grew by over 60 percent. Under his leadership, the orchestra toured Estonia and Sweden and made recordings of works by Sibelius.
Widely known as an advocate of contemporary British music, Mr. Boughton has commissioned works from such composers as Peter Sculthorpe, John Joubert, and Anthony Powers, and he was chosen to conduct commemorative celebrations of composers Sir Michael Tippett and Nicholas Maw. His close friendship with the late Yehudi Menuhin led to his conducting the ESO at Menuhin’s Memorial Service in Westminster Abbey as well as other memorial concerts around the world with the Sinfonia Varsovia. In 1993, Mr. Boughton was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Coventry University.
Mr. Boughton has been instrumental in founding and directing significant English music festivals, notably the Malvern Festival held in the autumn in Worcestershire and the Wyastone Summer Series. The Wyastone series has become one of the U.K.’s most significant annual music events, broadcast in part by the BBC. In 2004, Mr. Boughton led the first Elgar Festival in Malvern, whose sold-out performances were received with enormous enthusiasm.
Gerald Steichen, Associate Conductor
With a career that ranges from symphony to opera, Broadway musicals to chamber music, Gerald Steichen has established himself as one of America's most versatile young conductors.
Through the years Maestro Steichen has conducted the Boston Pops, the New York Pops, and the Utah Symphony, where he led both pops and classical concerts. Internationally, he has conducted the Tokyo City Symphony, the Norwegian Radio Symphony, and has led the opening concert of Germany’s Braunschweig Festival.
A gifted pianist, Steichen performed on stage for the New York City Opera's celebrated productions of Porgy and Bess and Carmina Burana. He also appeared on Broadway as “Manny, the Accompanist” in the Tony Award-winning Master Class. He toured nationally as the associate conductor of The Phantom of the Opera, The Secret Garden, and Peter Pan.
Steichen’s conducting skills and love for opera eventually led him to a staff position with the New York City Opera. He made his Lincoln Center debut at the New York State Theatre, conducting performances of La Boheme. Pursuing his passion for education, Steichen has also spent eighteen years with the “Meet the Artist” series at Lincoln Center as conductor, clinician, and pianist.
Mr. Steichen is a native of Tonkawa, Oklahoma and holds degrees from Northern Oklahoma College, Oklahoma City University, and the University of Southern California. He was selected for the prestigious Merola Program at San Francisco Opera, and spent a summer at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.
In the summer of 2008, Jerry was appointed Music Director of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra.
