West Palm Beach, FL (August 26, 2024) – Palm Beach Opera announces the contract extension of
internationally-acclaimed conductor David Stern through the 2026-2027 season with the new title of
Music Director. Maestro Stern has served as Palm Beach Opera’s Chief Conductor since 2015, an
appointment that was made following his impressive musical leadership of the company’s world
premiere of Enemies, A Love Story by Ben Moore and Nahma Sandrow.
Stern made his debut with PBO with Macbeth in 2014, and he has been on the podium for 18 company
productions over the last decade. Regularly praised for the colors he draws from the orchestra and his
supportive collaboration with leading singers, his most recent PBO performance of The Tales of
Hoffmann – a work known as a challenging cornucopia of musical styles – was called “expertly
conducted” by the Palm Beach Daily News.
Throughout his tenure with PBO, Maestro Stern’s position has been sponsored by noted philanthropist
and longtime PBO Board Member Ari Rifkin, and the company is thrilled to announce that Mrs. Rifkin
has made an increased multi-year commitment to Maestro Stern’s position.
According to PBO’s general director James Barbato, “Maestro Stern has been a bedrock of musical
excellence at Palm Beach Opera for more than a decade, and his passionate performances have been
among the company’s most memorable highlights. He has the rare gift of expertise in a wide range of
repertoire from Mozart to Puccini and beyond. Moreover, he is a strong artistic partner who shares our
vision for achieving the very highest standards of the artform and for the growth of this great company.
We look forward to many more years of collaboration with Maestro Stern, and we are very grateful to
Ari Rifkin for her continued support.”
David Stern added, “After 10 years of conducting productions at the Palm Beach Opera, I am thrilled to
be offered the position of Music Director and am looking forward to deepening my attachment to the
PBO company and community. The artistic collaboration with the PBO orchestra and chorus over these
years has been a privilege and a sincere pleasure. I am proud to have been able to work with an
outstanding level of invited soloists as well as the remarkable talents of our resident artist program. The
opera festival we managed to produce during the COVID period showed the tenacity and commitment
of the company, and above all, the conviction that culture remains essential today. I am excited to
collaborate with our new General Director James Barbato in this new era for the company. Under his
leadership I see a bright future for the Palm Beach Opera.”The Palm Beach Opera Orchestra committee remarked, “The Palm Beach Opera Orchestra looks forward
to our continued work with Maestro Stern in the coming years. His commitment to musical excellence
and his dedication to our company over these past 10 years serve as testament to his leadership and the
ongoing successes of the Palm Beach Opera.”
Beyond Palm Beach Opera, David Stern has made an indelible impact on the international music scene,
having served as Music Director at the Israel Opera in Tel Aviv and Opera St Gallen in Switzerland. In
2003, he founded the Paris-based company Opera Fuoco, focusing on historically-informed
performances and the development of young vocalists. Maestro Stern and Opera Fuoco will embark on
a multi-year residency at Opéra de Massy starting in September 2024, featuring works by Boyce, Handel,
Mozart, and Bernstein. Other future projects include a groundbreaking production of Monteverdi’s The
Return of Ulysses with hip-hop choreographer Anne Nguyen in 2027, and Mendelssohn’s version of
Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Bachfest in Leipzig.
Stern’s commitment to young artists is exemplified by his founding of the Académie International d’Art
Lyrique at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 1998. He continues to engage with young artists’ programs
worldwide, including regular collaborations with the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute. This season,
he will also serve as guest conductor for the DEMOS project in St Quentin en Yvelines, a French
adaptation of the El Sistema youth music program.
David Stern’s extensive discography includes rare operas and concertos, such as Giovanni Simone Mayr’s
L’amor conjugale and Medea in Corinto, JC Bach’s Zanaïda, and Kurt Weill’s Lady in the Dark. His
orchestral engagements feature performances with the Royal Danish Opera Orchestra, the Vienna
Symphony, and the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston, among others.
Maestro Stern is a graduate of Yale College and the Juilliard School, and is the son of famed violinist
Isaac Stern.
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