New faculty leader will serve as designate
during 2024-25 school year, assume full responsibilities in 2025-26
season
HOUSTON, May 14, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Following an exhaustive international search,
the Shepherd School of Music at Rice
University is pleased to announce that Emmy Award-winning
and Grammy-nominated conductor Miguel
Harth-Bedoya will join the faculty as distinguished resident
director of orchestras and professor of conducting. Beginning his
tenure as designate in the 2024-25 school year, Harth-Bedoya will
assume full responsibilities overseeing the Shepherd School's
preeminent orchestral programs in the 2025-26 season.
"We anticipate an era of transformative
orchestral experiences for our students," said Dean Matthew Loden.
"Under Miguel's direction, we anticipate an era of
transformative orchestral experiences for our students," said Dean
Matthew Loden. "He is the ideal
leader, bringing a fresh, collaborative artistic sensibility to the
school for students and faculty alike."
Boasting a decades-long international career, Harth-Bedoya
brings a wealth of experience to the Shepherd School. He previously
served as chief conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and
music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, where he
remains music director laureate. His posts have included leadership
positions with the Auckland Philharmonia, Eugene Symphony, Lima
Philharmonic and the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall, and
he currently serves as the Mary Franks Thompson Director of
Orchestral Studies at Baylor
University. This fall, he will make a highly anticipated
debut at the Metropolitan Opera, leading Osvaldo Golijov's acclaimed opera
"Ainadamar."
In his Shepherd School position, Harth-Bedoya will be
responsible for curating repertoire, conducting orchestral
ensembles, training conductors at the undergraduate and graduate
levels and attracting top-tier students. With a fervent commitment
to nurturing young artistry and a track record of impactful
leadership roles worldwide, Harth-Bedoya brings a unique and
internationally recognized artistic vision and pedagogy to the
institution.
"I'm thrilled and honored to join the Shepherd School as
distinguished resident director of orchestras," Harth-Bedoya said.
"Throughout my career, I've championed the development of the next
generation of musical talent. The chance to do that at such a
renowned institution is truly exciting. Together, we'll inspire and
challenge each other to excel and create unique and transformative
opportunities to prepare musicians for the 21st century."
Houston music lovers will have
a chance to see Harth-Bedoya in action with the Shepherd School
Symphony Orchestra April 25, 2025.
This spring performance is one of many that will celebrate the
school's 50th anniversary. Full details of the 2024-25 concert
season will be shared this summer.
Harth-Bedoya succeeds Larry
Rachleff, who led the Shepherd School orchestras for more
than 30 years before his passing in 2022. In the interim, the
program has benefited from the leadership of a roster of
internationally renowned guest conductors, including Robert Spano, Hans
Graf, William Eddins,
Lidiya Yankovskaya, Giancarlo Guerrero, Andrew Grams, Patrick
Summers and alumnus Cristian MÄcelaru.
"The Shepherd School's appointment of Harth-Bedoya sends a clear
message: Rice is not only training musicians; it is shaping the
future of orchestral leadership," Rice Provost Amy Dittmar said.
Click here for more detailed information about Harth-Bedoya
and the Shepherd School.
About Rice
University
Located on a 300-acre forested campus
in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the
nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice
has highly respected schools of architecture, business, continuing
studies, engineering, humanities, music, natural sciences and
social sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public
Policy. With 4,574 undergraduates and 3,982 graduate students,
Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1.
Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and
lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for
lots of race/class interaction, No. 2 for best-run colleges and No.
12 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated
as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal
Finance. In 2022, Rice opened a research campus in Paris's Le Marais district, the Rice Global
Paris Center, where it hosts more than 50 research conferences per
year in the fields of the arts, humanities, sciences and
engineering.
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SOURCE Rice University