Robert Page Pittsburgh Symphony Director of Special Projects and Choral Activities The 2001-2002 season marks the twenty-second anniversary of Robert Page as Music Director of The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh. During his tenure at the helm, The Mendelssohn has achieved national and international fame as one of the nation’s premier choral ensembles. Named Pennsylvania’s Artist of the Year in 1998, he has been dubbed “a national treasure” by American Record Review. Serving as Assistant Conductor and Director of Choruses of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1971-1989, Page conducted the world-renowned ensemble on many occasions, including national radio and television broadcasts. Since 1989, he has held the title of Director of Special Projects and Choral Activities with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In great demand as conductor of symphony orchestras, opera and music theatre productions, Page has conducted many of the major orchestras of the United States, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Louisiana, Milwaukee, Virginia and San Antonio, as well as the opera companies of Cleveland, Kansas City and Toledo, and Pittsburgh, as well as Opera Carolina. In Europe, he has conducted the Royal Philharmonic Opera Orchestra (London) and the Luxembourg RTL Orchestra at the Echternach Festival. In June 1995 Page conducted the Czech State Philharmonic of Brno and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh in performances of the Beethoven Missa Solemnis in Brno, Prague and Cracow (Poland), and the Budapest Concert Orchestra (MAV) with the Mendelssohn in a performance of the Verdi Requiem in Budapest. In 1997, he conducted the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and American choruses in Carmina Burana in the Czech Republic and Vienna. Again this past summer, the orchestra invited him back to conduct the opening concerts of the Dvorak Festival in Dvorak's home town, in Prague and in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Page’s choirs can be heard on forty discs issued on major labels, including Columbia, London, RCA, Telarc, Decca and Sony Classics. Receiving eight Grammy nominations, Robert Page won Grammy awards for his recordings of Orff’s Carmina Burana (the Cleveland Orchestra) and Catulli Carmina (the Philadelphia Orchestra), a Grand Prix du Disc for Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (the Cleveland Orchestra) and a Prix Mondial de Montreux for his world-premiere recording of the Shostakovich Symphony No. 13, Babi Yar (the Philadelphia Orchestra). The American Record Guide has dubbed him “a national treasure.” Active in the national choral/orchestral scene, Page has served on the choral, festival and overview panels of the National Endowment for the Arts. He is a founding member of Chorus America, the service organization for independent choruses, and served as its president for three years. Page has conducted or has been associated with the world premieres and/or commissions of many major works. These include the first performances in America of the Penderecki Utrenja and the Shostakovich Babi Yar. World premieres include the Penderecki Paradise Lost, an opera jointly commissioned by the Chicago Lyric Opera and La Scala, for which Page (at the invitation of the composer) prepared the Chicago Lyric chorus for performances in Chicago and Milan. With Page at the helm, the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh commissioned An American Oratorio by Ned Rorem, the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia commissioned Turbae by Alberto Ginastera, and the Cleveland Singers commissioned “. . . among the voices. . .” by Bernard Rands. Page conducted the Philadelphia premieres of the Penderecki Passion According to St. Luke, Persichetti Stabat Mater and Te Deum, Poulenc Gloria, Honegger Une Cantate de Noel and La Danse du Morts and the Ligeti Requiem He conducted the Cleveland premieres of the Deluis Mass of Life and Penderecki Passion According to St. Luke. He has presented Pittsburgh with the first performances of William Schuman’s Concerto on Old English Rounds for Viola and Orchestra, the Shostakovich Babi Yar and Leonardo Balada’s Torquemada. At Carnegie Mellon University, Page has the title of Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies. He earned degrees from Abilene Christian University and Indiana University and is the recipient of honorary degrees from Beaver, Quincy, Drury and Seton Hill Colleges as well as his alma mater.