James Lowe
Conductors
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Manager: Damon Bristo
Management Territory: Worldwide
“Unlike so many Broadway and regional productions that alter the sound of classic shows with reduced or synthesized orchestral parts, the 37 members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra, under the fine baton of conductor James Lowe, gloriously play Robert Russell Bennett's full original orchestrations for "Oklahoma!" Just experiencing the vibrancy of a full string section filling out a lush Rodgers waltz tune like "Out of My Dreams" is something to truly cherish.” —Scott Morgan, Chicago Daily Herald, May 7, 2013 - 'Oklahoma!' at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
“There have been a few Utah Opera productions in which the Utah Symphony’s performance alone would justify the ticket price, and this is one of them. The orchestra is as much a character in "Florencia" as the Amazon River. Catán’s lush and inviting score, with its generous use of marimba and other percussion, creates a vivid sound picture of the jungle. James Lowe conducted the Utah Symphony in a performance bursting with color and life.” —Catherine Reese Newton, Salt Lake Tribune, January 19, 2013 - 'Florencia en el Amazonas' at Utah Opera
About
A leading conductor of opera and musical theater, James Lowe makes his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as conductor of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! in the 2012 – 2013 season. He also debuts at the Glimmerglass Festival leading Lerner & Loewe's Camelot and returns to Utah Opera to conduct Daniel Catan's Florencia en el Amazonas. Mr. Lowe will appear in concerts with the Jacksonville Symphony, Memphis Symphony and the Modesto Symphony.
Most recently, Mr. Lowe served as the Music Director of the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Cole Porter's . . . Anything Goes starring Sutton Foster and Joel Grey and is also nominated for a Grammy Award (Best Broadway Album) as co-producer and conductor of the cast recording. Additionally, he is Music Supervisor for the First National Tour of this Roundabout Theatre Company production. With members of the original cast, he has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, CBS Early Show, and A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor.
Mr. Lowe was recently seen conducting performances of the Broadway revival of Gypsy starring Patti LuPone. He toured the United States as Music Director of the acclaimed Cameron Mackintosh / National Theatre production of My Fair Lady and conducted the First National Tour of Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza. Mr. Lowe has appeared in concert with Sir Elton John, conducting his own orchestrations and choral arrangements of Elton’s classic songs, as well as with singer-songwriter Randy Newman. He accompanied legendary lyricist and writer Betty Comden in a performance featuring his own arrangements of Comden and Green songs and his arrangements of Gershwin songs have been performed by renowned mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato in recitals at Lincoln Center and Wigmore Hall.
At Houston Grand Opera, he conducted the world premiere production and subsequent revival of The Little Prince, an opera by Academy Award-winning composer Rachel Portman. At HGO he has also led Carmen, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Jake Heggie’s The End of the Affair (world premiere production), as well as the HGO Studio production of Copland’s The Tender Land. Mr. Lowe made his Pittsburgh Opera Center debut with Jonathan Dove’s Flight and he led Sweeney Todd at Wolf Trap Opera. He conducted Mark Adamo’s Little Women at Lyric Opera Cleveland in a production directed by the composer and he has been seen at the Houston Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, and Dayton Opera.
As Associate Conductor at Houston Grand Opera for several seasons, he served as cover conductor, principal pianist, and coach on many productions, including the world premiere of Mark Adamo’s Lysistrata. Mr. Lowe assisted on the world premieres of Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree and Tod Machover’s Resurrection, playing keyboards on the recordings of those operas. He can also be heard as keyboardist on HGO’s popular recording of Adamo’s Little Women. He has been on the music staff of New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Virginia Opera and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and served as Resident Conductor and Chorus Master at the Ash Lawn Opera Festival. He appeared onstage as the Tavern Pianist in Santa Fe Opera’s 2001 production of Wozzeck.
As a pianist, Mr. Lowe performed as soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and has given recitals, including several world premieres, at such venues as the Aspen Music Festival, the Chautauqua Institute, the University of Texas San Antonio New Music Festival, and the University of Colorado Artsweek Festival in Boulder. He was the Music Director of the Butler Opera Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He taught Keyboard Literature and piano at Syracuse University and he served on the piano and musical theater faculty at the Hochstein Music School in Rochester. He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan, with additional studies at the Aspen Music School and the Aspen Opera Theater Center.
(Updated May 2013)
