ELIZABETH ASKREN
CONDUCTOR
BIOGRAPHY
Praised for “inspiring virtuosic achievements from the pit” (Opera Today) and “palpable happiness” (Le Monde) from the artists with whom she collaborates, Elizabeth Askren empowers musicians around the world as a conductor, educator, and cultural activist.
Askren’s musical leadership is described by La Croix as “present on each line, each silence.” An OPERA America 2024 Opera Grant winner, Askren performs regularly with leading opera houses and orchestras throughout North America and Europe, including The Dallas Opera, with which she enjoys a privileged relationship as a guest conductor, master teacher, and creative producer, and Hawaii Opera Theatre, of which she is the company's first ever Principal Guest Conductor.
Askren is the Music Director of composer Paola Prestini and poet Brenda Shaughnessey’s Sensorium Ex, a Ford Foundation-funded multi-modal arts project exploring issues at the intersection of AI, disability, and the human voice. Aiming to pioneer new approaches to creating opera in the 21st century, Sensorium Ex is produced by VisionIntoArt and Beth Morrison Projects and enjoys support from presenting partners The Kennedy Center, National Sawdust, The Shed, and The Washington National Opera.
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CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"... precision to the millimeter, the agility, the dynamics…” – ForumOpera.com
The Turn of the Screw – “The precision to the millimeter, the agility, the dynamics, the colors are there and contribute to the emotion of the listeners: infinite details are perceptible, which we discover with delight. The baton of Elizabeth Askren, discovered on this occasion, is as attentive to the stage as to the pit, and demonstrates a constant exigency. Britten's rich orchestration, his colorist art, and his dramatic sense are magnified.”
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"... Askren led a glittering account..." – Opera News
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – “Conductor Elizabeth Askren led a glittering account of Britten's translucent score.”
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"... a revelatory reading of Britten’s multi-faceted, difficult to categorize score..." – Opera Today
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – “Elizabeth Askren conducted a revelatory reading of Britten’s multi-faceted, difficult to categorize score. From the first haunting string glissandi, Maestra Askren elicited a haunting effect that soon morphed from the ‘spiritual’ fairy realm to the ‘spirited’ human scape and beyond, to the Music Hall sensibilities of the Mechanicals. Britten was a master orchestrator, and Askren inspired virtuosic achievements from the pit, from seamless ensemble playing to exposed, characterful solos, all beautifully rendered.”
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"... captured the score’s magic..." – Wall Street Journal
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – “Elizabeth Askren’s conducting captured the score’s magic.”
REPRESENTATIVES
Vice President | Classical & Creatives
Agent | Classical & Artist Promotion
Operations & Finance Manager