Conductor Bio
Joshua Weilerstein is the artistic director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne (OCL), where his contract has been extended through the 2020-21 season. He was recently named music director of innovative Boston-based orchestra Phoenix, starting in the 2021-22 season. Weilerstein enjoys a flourishing guest conducting career and has established a number of close relationships in both the U.S. and Europe, including the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Detroit and Milwaukee, the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and Oslo Philharmonic, among others. Praised for his “intense, eloquently moving and spectacularly knife-edge” performances, Weilerstein is highly sought after and respected for his enthusiasm and profound insight from Geraldo to Rouse.
Highlights of Weilerstein’s 2020-21 season include his debuts with the San Francisco Symphony and the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne; return engagements with the Indianapolis Symphony, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Danish National Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Belgian National and Netherlands Philharmonic orchestras, London Philharmonic Orchestra in a live-streamed performance, and three live-streamed programs with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Weilerstein’s recent debuts have included the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, New World Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Over the past six seasons, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne has thrived under Weilerstein’s leadership and cemented its reputation as one of Europe’s leading chamber orchestras. Weilerstein has greatly expanded the scope of the orchestra’s repertoire, and together they have released successful and critically acclaimed recordings, and toured throughout Europe, joined by soloists such as Juan Diego Florez, Lucas Debargue, and Albrecht Mayer.
Born into a musical family, Joshua Weilerstein’s formative experience with classical music was as a violinist on tour to Panama and Guatemala with the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of Boston, where the orchestra performed for thousands of young people who had never heard a live orchestra concert. This sparked a desire in Weilerstein to pursue a career in classical music. While pursuing his master’s degree in violin and conducting at the New England Conservatory, Weilerstein won both the First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Malko Competition for Young Conductors in Copenhagen in 2009. He was subsequently appointed as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, where he served from 2012-2015.
Weilerstein is deeply committed to programming both traditional and contemporary repertoire and endeavors to present music from under-represented composers at each concert. He hosts a wildly successful classical music podcast called “Sticky Notes” for music lovers and newcomers alike, which has been downloaded over two million times in 154 countries. An advocate for easy communication between the audience and the concert stage, Weilerstein welcomes discussion about all aspects of classical music, programming, and the experience of concert-going.