Classical Music News

Chicago's Grant Park Music Festival Names New Artistic Leader

October 2, 2024

3 MIN READ

Giancarlo Guerrero, who is presently completing a 16-year tenure as Music Director of the Nashville Symphony, will step into the role

Founded in 1935, the annual Grant Park Music Festival is hosted in Millennium Park, Chicago. Hundreds of thousands of audience members from across Chicago and from further afield attend the festival's free concerts every year.

The festival recently announced that six-time GRAMMY Award-winning conductor Giancarlo Guerrero will serve as its new Artistic Director and Principal Conductor. Guerrero's appointment is effective immediately, and he will program all ten weeks of the festival's 2025 season — of which he is likely to conduct four weeks himself.

Guerrero was selected for the post following a three-year search for the successor to Carlos Kalmar, who has been the Festival's Principal Conductor since 2000 and became its Artistic Director in 2011. The festival's board of directors voted unanimously in his favor.

During his 16-year tenure as Music Director of the Nashville Symphony, Guerrero premiered more than two dozen new works and released 22 commercial albums. He also founded the orchestra's Composer Lab & Workshop for young and emerging composers.

Currently Music Director Designate of the Sarasota Orchestra, Guerrero was previously music director of the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic in Poland. He has also been principal guest conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra Miami Residency and the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, music director of the Eugene Symphony, and associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra.

"We are thrilled to welcome Giancarlo Guerrero to Chicago to lead what is regarded as the United States’ most important free classical music institution," said Paul Winberg, President and CEO of the Grant Park Orchestral Association. "Giancarlo is not only a brilliant conductor with a stellar reputation; he has a history of curating programs that are exciting, surprising and inventive."

"It is also clear that our musicians are tremendously excited about working with him, and that his concerts last summer sparked palpable energy from our audiences. It is a joy to listen to the music he conducts. The Grant Park Music Festival is highly anticipated by Chicagoans each year; we are confident that our future is in excellent hands with Giancarlo at the podium."

"From the moment I first walked onto the stage of the glorious Pritzker Pavilion, and looked out at the sea of people — a snapshot of the entire city of Chicago — it was immediately apparent what a gift the Grant Park Music Festival is to the community," Guerrero said.

"I felt such a natural, easy connection with these incredible musicians — including both the stellar orchestra and the spectacular chorus. I recognized sparks flying, musically speaking, from my first interactions with them from the podium. These musicians, hailing from orchestras and opera companies from the region and throughout the world, are really the best of the best."