ADAM TURNER
CONDUCTOR
BIOGRAPHY
Currently in his fifth season as Artistic Director of Virginia Opera (following four seasons as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor), Maestro Adam Turner garners critical acclaim for the breadth of his repertoire, artistic vision, and polished technique. Of his recent performance of Street Scene with Virginia Opera, Opera News hailed the “sensitive conducting” of Adam Turner “who demonstrated an affinity for a score as stylistically diverse as the characters in the plot” and of his conducting of Der Freischütz, Opera News hailed: “Conductor Adam Turner … ensured crackling rhythms as much as lyrical spaciousness, resulting in a performance that felt vital and spontaneous throughout.”
Last season, Turner joined Toledo Opera to lead their production of Il trovatore as well as four productions for Virginia Opera: Das Rheingold, La boheme, Three Decembers, and Le nozze di Figaro; additionally, he lead concert performances of “Classical Broadway” for Portland Symphony Orchestra, a “Music of the Bee Gees” concert for Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and returned to Central City Opera to conduct The Light in the Piazza. This season, Turner will conduct Die Walkure, The Pirates of Penzance, Fellow Travelers, and La traviata, all for Virginia Opera, as well as a concert performance, “Fall Outdoor”. Also this season, Turner will conduct Central City Opera’s production of Kiss Me Kate, in addition to two concerts for Virginia Symphony: “Never Break the Chain”, featuring the music of Fleetwood Mac, and “Broadway Rocks”. [read more...]
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"...Turner believes the best art is born outside of comfort zones..." – Washington Classical Review
Samson et Dalila – “Luckily, Virginia Opera has a conductor/artistic adviser in Adam Turner who absolutely relishes in taking on creative challenges. Turner believes the best art is born outside of comfort zones, in uncharted territory – not only for the audience’s sake, but for the artists’ as well.”
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"… ensured crackling rhythms as much as lyrical spaciousness..." – Opera News
Der Freischütz – “Conductor Adam Turner … ensured crackling rhythms as much as lyrical spaciousness, resulting in a performance that felt vital and spontaneous throughout.”
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"...drawing impressively nuanced playing from the Virginia Symphony every step of the way... ” – Opera News
Sweeney Todd – “For its fortieth anniversary, Virginia Opera slid into Broadway repertoire to deliver a highly satisfying account of Stephen Sondheim’s ever-chilling Sweeney Todd, one of the organization’s strongest ventures of the past decade or so….The chorus sustained a hearty, well-balanced tone. Adam Turner conducted a stylish account of the score, drawing impressively nuanced playing from the Virginia Symphony every step of the way. ”
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"...kept the orchestra sounding high-spirited, and the well-cast chorus energized..." – The Washington Post
HMS Pinafore – “Conductor Adam Turner kept the orchestra sounding high-spirited, and the well-cast chorus — with the men smartly decked out as sailors and the ladies glammed up in park-strolling gowns with parasols — energized with crisp singing and choreography.”
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"...did a marvelous job of leading the company’s orchestra..." – Washington Times
Carousel – “Adam Turner also did a marvelous job of leading the company’s orchestra in an almost perfectly calibrated counterpoint to the company’s singers. The orchestra really had a chance to shine in Act II’s extended ballet sequence as well as in a modified version of this show’s memorable ‘Carousel Waltz’.”