Constantine Kitsopoulos has made a name for himself as a conductor whose musical experiences comfortably span the worlds of opera and symphony, where he conducts in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Royal Albert Hall, and musical theater, where he can be found leading orchestras on Broadway. Mr. Kitsopoulos is in his sixth year as music director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra and continues as General Director of Chatham Opera, which he founded in 2005.
Highlights of his 2010-2011 season include debuts with the Dallas, North Carolina, Charlotte and Tucson symphonies and reengagements with the Detroit Symphony and Calgary Philharmonic. He will also be conducting opera productions including La Bohème at Baldwin-Wallace College and Die Fledermaus in a reengagement with Indiana University.
In the 2009-2010 season, Mr. Kitsopoulos appeared with the Baltimore, Detroit, New Jersey, Hartford and Columbus symphonies and Westchester Philharmonic. He made highly successful debut performances in Japan with the Tokyo Philharmonic and with the Russian National Orchestra at the Festival of the Arts Boca. In recent seasons, he has led the Colorado, Elgin, Houston, Madison, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Santa Barbara and Virginia symphony orchestras. Additional engagements include the Blossom Festival Orchestra, New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, National Arts Centre Orchestra and a complete performance of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
In the 2008-2009 season, Mr. Kitsopoulos conducted the Indiana University Opera Theater’s production of The Most Happy Fella. Previous seasons’ operatic highlights include the Dicapo Opera Theatre’s productions of The Merry Widow, Gounod’s Faust and all three versions of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Chatham Opera's debut production of Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, Hong Kong Municipal Opera production of Carmen in both Hong Kong and Beijing, and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at Alice Tully Hall. He also served as Music Director and created the orchestrations for the world premiere production of Ed Dixon’s Fanny Hill at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut.
Mr. Kitsopoulos has also continued to show his ability and interest in performing new works and conducting a wide variety of genres. He conducted the Red Bull Artsehcro, an orchestra consisting of students from the top conservatories and university music programs in the country, in a concert at Carnegie Hall featuring a program of world premieres by Raul Yanez and Laura Karpman.
In addition to his orchestral and classical commitments, Mr. Kitsopoulos is much in demand as a theatre conductor, both on Broadway and nationwide. Mr. Kitsopoulos was Conductor and Musical Director of the Tony-nominated musical A Catered Affair. He conducted the Tony-nominated musical Coram Boy and the American Conservatory Theatre's production of Kurt Weill's Happy End, for which he recorded the cast album at Skywalker Ranch. Other musical theater highlights include serving as Music Director and Principal Conductor of Baz Luhrmann’s highly acclaimed production of Puccini’s La Bohème, conducting the new musical Mambo Kings in San Francisco, serving as Music Director of Frank Wildhorn’s Dracula and Les Misérables and conducting Matthew Bourne’s Broadway production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.
