Kirshbaum Associates Signs Conductor Marcelo Lehninger

The Brazilian-born conductor has joined the Kirshbaum roster for worldwide management

Conductor Marcelo Lehninger has been signed to the Kirshbaum Associates for worldwide representation, joining its roster of artists such as Midori, Pavel Haas Quartet, and VC Artist Zlatomir Fung.

Recently appointed Artistic Director of the Bellingham Festival of Music, Lehninger has served as Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony since 2016 — he will hold this post until 2030. In 2018, he brought the Grand Rapids Symphony to Carnegie Hall, which was the orchestra's first performance at the prestigious venue in 13 years.

Previously, he served as Music Director of Los Angeles’ New West Symphony, where he received the Helen H. Thompson Award for Emerging Music Directors from the League of American Orchestras. He also served for five years as Assistant and then Associate Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

As a guest conductor, he has led major orchestras across the U.S., plus has appeared with the Toronto, Winnipeg, and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphonies, the Calgary and Hamilton Philharmonics, and the Symphony Nova Scotia. 

Before embarking on his conducting career, Lehninger studied violin and piano. He is a graduate of the Conductors Institute at New York’s Bard College, where he studied conducting with Harold Farberman and composition with Laurence Wallach. His other mentors included Kurt Masur, Mariss Jansons, Leonard Slatkin, and Roberto Tibiriçá. 

In 2008, he was selected by Masur to be awarded the first Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Scholarship sponsored by the American Friends of the Mendelssohn Foundation. He also served as Masur’s assistant with the Orchestre National de France during their residency at Vienna’s Musikverein.

“I’m honored to join the roster of Kirshbaum Associates, one of the most respected artist management and PR agencies,” Lehninger posted on Facebook. “Shirley Kirshbaum and Jason Belz will represent me worldwide, and I am excited about this collaboration.”