PETER BAY (conductor), Music Director and Conductor of the Austin Symphony Orchestra in Texas, is the Music Advisor and Conductor of the Hot Springs Music Festival.
In addition to his position at the Austin Symphony, which he has held since 1998, Bay is Music Director of the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon and has served since 2005 on the Hot Springs Music Festival’s Advisory Board.
His guest conducting appearances include the National, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, Baltimore, New Mexico, New Jersey, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia, West Virginia, Colorado, Hawaii, Jacksonville, Richmond, Alabama, Arkansas, Canton, Eugene, Springfield, Bochum (Germany), Carinthian (Austria), Lithuanian National Symphonies, the Minnesota and Algarve (Portugal) Orchestras, the Louisiana, Buffalo, Rhode Island, Tulsa, Fort Wayne and Reno Philharmonics, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Eastman and Aspen Opera Theaters, and the Theater Chamber Players of the Kennedy Center.
Summer music festival appearances have included Aspen (CO), Music in the Mountains (CO), Grant Park and Ravinia (IL), Round Top (TX), OK Mozart (OK) and Skaneateles (NY).
Previous positions held by Mr. Bay include Music Director of the Erie Philharmonic, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Breckenridge Music Festival (CO) and four different conducting posts with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Richmond Symphony in Virginia.
Bay and the Richmond Symphony recorded the US premiere performance of Britten’s “The Sword in the Stone” for Opus One Records. His most recent recording, “Voices,” features the percussion group NEXUS, with the Rochester Philharmonic, and can be found on the Nexus CD label.
A native of Washington, DC, Mr. Bay is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the Peabody Institute. In 1994, he was one of two conductors selected to participate in the Leonard Bernstein American Conductors Program. He was also the first prize winner of the 1980 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Young Conductors Competition and a prize winner of the 1987 Leopold Stokowski Competition sponsored by the American Symphony Orchestra in New York.
He is married to American soprano Mela Dailey, with whom he has a young son, Colin.
Assistant Conductor applicants:
The Assistant Conductor position has been filled for the 2012 Season.
Please submit a high-quality North American-format DVD, CD-ROM or VHS of a recent rehearsal (15-minute maximum) and performance (15-minute maximum) viewed from a close, front-view perspective. Video must be labelled with name, contact information, and repertoire index, and submitted by postal mail.
The Assistant Conductor will be expected to provide his or her own scores to all orchestral and conducted chamber music at the Music Festival.
