Michael Slon, Conductor

Active as a conductor of choral, orchestral, and operatic repertoire, Michael Slon is currently Conductor of the University Singers, Chamber Singers, and recent Interim Conductor of the Charlottesville & University Symphony at the University of Virginia, where he also serves as Assistant Professor of Music. Recent repertoire with the choruses has included Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, the Brahms Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Bach Cantata 150, Palestrina Missa Brevis, and a range of shorter a cappella and accompanied works. And after substituting on one hour’s notice for a January 2005 performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 1, Mr. Slon has led the Symphony in performances of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, and Copland’s Appalachian Spring. Together with Symphony Executive Director Bill Martin, he also launched the University Singers-CUSO Family Holiday Concerts.

Opera and musical theatre engagements have included a production of Stephen Paulus’s The Three Hermits with Buffalo’s Opera Sacra, Bernstein’s Mass at Indiana University, Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George and Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza with the Heritage Repertory Theatre, and South Pacific and The Magic Flute with the Ash Lawn Opera Festival. In addition, he is active as a guest conductor for honors orchestras and choruses.

Prior to UVA, Mr. Slon served as visiting conducting faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory, and as assistant conductor of Cincinnati's May Festival Chorus, in which roles he prepared and co-prepared choruses for concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. His ensembles have worked with artists including Moses Hogan, Bobby McFerrin, Meredith Monk, and Franz Welser-Möst. Mr. Slon holds degrees from the Indiana University School of Music and Cornell University, where he was named a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He is also a pianist and writer – his first book Songs from the Hill came out in 1998, and he is currently at work on a Leonard Bernstein project.

Sarah Nalls, Accompanist