Markand Thakar
Co-director of the Graduate Conducting Program
B.M. (Composition), The Juilliard School; M.A. (Music Theory), Columbia University; D.M.A. (Orchestral Conducting), Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Fulbright Fellowship at Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory of Music in Romania. Principal conducting studies with Sergiu Celibidache. Other studies: Gustav Meier, Max Rudolf, and Peter Perret. Music director, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and Baltimore Chamber Orchestra; principal conductor, Duluth Festival Opera. Formerly assistant conductor, New York Philharmonic; associate conductor, Colorado Symphony Orchestra; music director, Great Lakes National Festival of Musical Arts; music director, Music at Penn's Woods. Performances with New York, Long Island and Illinois philharmonics; National, San Antonio, Columbus, Fort Worth, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Alabama, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Knoxville, Richmond, Colorado Springs, Windsor (Ontario), Wichita, Portland (Maine), Lansing, Illinois, Kalamazoo, Maryland, Annapolis, Ann Arbor, East Texas and Florida West Coast symphony orchestras; National Chamber Orchestra; Cleveland Chamber Symphony; Romanian State Philharmonics of Constantsa, Satu Mare, Sibiu and Tirgu Muresh; Aspen, Eastern and Brevard music festivals. Recordings for Naxos with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. Formerly regular commentator for NPR's Performance Today. Author of Looking for the "Harp" Quartet: An Investigation into Musical Beauty (University of Rochester Press 2011) and Counterpoint: Fundamentals of Music Making (Yale University Press, 1990).
