2 02 1 G R A N T PA R K M U S I C F E S T I VA L
CARLOS KALMAR
Artistic Director & Principal Conductor Carlos Kalmar has been Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival since 2000, and was named Artistic Director in 2011. Under Kalmar’s leadership, the Grant Park Music Festival has become one of the world’s preeminent classical music festivals, and his role has been essential in shaping its artistic vision. In May 2021, Kalmar was named Director of Orchestral and Conducting Programs and Principal Conductor of the Cleveland Institute of Music. He previously served as music director of the Oregon Symphony for nearly 20 years, and served as the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Spanish Radio/Television Orchestra and Choir in Madrid as well as the Music Director for the Hamburg Symphony, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, Vienna’s Tonkünstler Orchestra, and the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau, Germany. Kalmar The position of Artistic keeps an active schedule conducting in concert Director and Principal Conductor is partially halls and opera houses around the world. Carlos underwritten by a generous Kalmar is Uruguayan-Austrian and lives in the gift from Sage Foundation. United States.
CHRISTOPHER BELL Chorus Director
Christopher Bell has served as Chorus Director of the Grant Park Chorus since 2002 and conducts the orchestra and chorus for several concerts each summer. During his tenure, he and the chorus have been recipients of the coveted Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence given by Chorus America, as well as glowing reviews from both critics and audiences alike. In 2013, Bell won the Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art. Largely responsible for the formation of the National Youth Choir of Scotland in 1996, he has been its Artistic Director ever since. Between 2007 and 2018 Bell was chorus director of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, and between 2018 and 2020 he was Artistic Director of the Washington The position of Chorus. Bell was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Chorus Director is Music from the Royal Conservatoire in Scotland in partially underwritten 2012 in recognition of his contribution to performing by a generous gift from Joyce Saxon. arts in Scotland. In 2015, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Aberdeen.
