Carlos Kalmar

Principal Conductor

Principal Conductor

Carlos Kalmar is the Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival and Music Director of the Oregon Symphony. Mr. Kalmar was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, to Austrian parents. He studied conducting with Karl Österreicher at the College for Music in Vienna, and won First Prize at the Hans Swarowsky Conducting Competition in Vienna in June 1984. From 1987 to 1991 he was chief conductor of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, and general music director and chief conductor of the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra between 1991 and 1995. From 1996 through 2000, Carlos Kalmar was the general music director of the Opera House and Philharmonic Orchestra in Dessau, Germany. Between 2000 and 2003, he was principal conductor and artistic director of the Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna. Equally in demand as a guest conductor, Kalmar travels the world appearing with all the world’s most important orchestras.

Cedille Records just released its fifth and sixth recordings with Carlos Kalmar and the Grant Park Orchestra: Royal Mezzo: Jennifer Larmore Recital featuring works by Barber, Berlioz, Ravel, and Britten; and Symphony in Waves: Music of Aaron Jay Kernis. His recordings for other labels include CDs with the Jeunesse Musicales World Orchestra (Alban Gerhardt, cello soloist) and Vienna’s Tonkünstler Orchestra for Austrian National Radio.

Kalmar fondly remembers his first appearance at the Grant Park Music Festival in 1998. “I was asked to conduct Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto with John Browning, the man for whom the work was written. I was a little awestruck working with this famous artist whose signature work is a modern masterpiece, but the Orchestra so impressed me with its incredible work ethic and flexibility. I was taken aback at the speed and commitment with which they worked.”

Ten years after Carlos Kalmar’s first appearances at the Grant Park Music Festival, he is still breaking ground with his world class Orchestra and Chorus. Ever curious about newer and American works, Kalmar seems to balance that passion with a real commitment to timeless interpretations of the core standard repertory. “Grant Park is the most special place I know of. We have traveled artistically very far together and I can recall so many amazing musical experiences with these fantastic musicians.”