Bio
GEORGE HANSON, conductor
As symphony and opera conductor, pianist, recording artist, television host, educator, community leader, fundraiser and passionate spokesman for the arts, George Hanson is helping shape the changing role of the modern music director. Since taking the helm at the Tucson Symphony in 1996, Hanson has raised the profile of the orchestra, establishing it as the flagship organization in Southern Arizona’s cultural life. In 2008 Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords presented George Hanson with a “Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition” for his “outstanding and invaluable service to the community.”
In 2012, Hanson begins a three year tenure as Artistic Director of the Sunriver Music Festival in Oregon. His recent and upcoming guest conducting appearances include a production of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Mecklenburg State Opera, concerts in Pforzheim and Leipzig, and his South American debut with the Bogota Philharmonic. Last season he joined his TSO musicians as solo pianist, conducting Mozart’s piano concerto No 21 from the keyboard.
In seven years as General Music Director of the Wuppertal Symphony and Opera in Germany, Hanson oversaw nearly 50 opera productions. Of Hanson’s Don Giovanni, the Rundschau wrote “The success of the evening was due primarily to the conducting of George Hanson. The phrasing with the singers was nuanced and differentiated, perfectly balanced with the orchestra.”
Hanson made his widely acclaimed international debut at the age of 28, with first prizes at the Budapest International Conducting Competition and shortly thereafter at the Stokowski Competition in New York. Since then he has led nearly 100 orchestras and operas, including the New York Philharmonic, the Radio orchestras of Berlin and Hamburg, Berlin’s Komische Opera and Vienna’s Kammeroper, the Warsaw Philharmonic, Mexico’s National Symphony, and the orchestras of Johannesburg, Osaka and Seoul. Recent American debuts include Phoenix, Indianapolis and Charlotte.
Hanson made six recordings with Wuppertal; the first was praised by Henry Fogel in FANFARE Magazine as “a recording of extraordinary importance…one of the year’s 5 best.” Hanson’s last recording there received the ECHO Klassik award, second only to the Grammy in international importance. STEREOPLAY magazine said Hanson had the Wuppertalers sounding “as if they were the Berlin Philharmonic.”
This season Hanson adds Midori to an extraordinary range of artists with whom he has shared the stage—from Lang Lang, Yo Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Peter Serkin, Nadja Salerno- Sonnenberg, Andre Watts, and Emmanuel Ax, to Tony Bennett, and Dizzy Gillespie. His work in the recording studio with the rock group R.E.M. brought Hanson “Triple Platinum” recognition.
Known for his lively pre-concert chats, Hanson is a popular speaker, addressing the educational and economic importance of music and the arts. He hosts a television program, “Arte,” profiling Arizona artists.
Hanson served as assistant to Leonard Bernstein. He was Resident Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony, and assisted Kurt Masur at the New York Philharmonic. He received his formal training at the Vienna Academy of Music, the Curtis Institute, Indiana University and Concordia College.
George Hanson and his wife Petra reside in Tucson with their three sons—James, Max and Victor.
December 2011
Biography
KMI
