Joshua Weilerstein
In July 2011, shortly after completing his graduate studies in conducting and violin at the New England Conservatory, the New York Philharmonic appointed Joshua Weilerstein as one of its two assistant conductors. Two years earlier, Mr. Weilerstein, then twenty-one years old, was named the unanimous winner of the 2009 Malko Competition for Young Conductors in Copenhagen. His first-prize honors included a series of engagements with major Scandinavian orchestras, the first of which was the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in June 2009, marking Joshua’s professional conducting debut.
Since then, he has conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Danish National Symphony, the Norrköping Symphony, the Malmö Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others. He also performed as a soloist with the Boston New Music Initiative and as a guest member of A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra. In the 2011-2012 season he made debuts with the Toronto Symphony, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, the Finnish Radio Symphony, the Northern Sinfonia, and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. He also returned to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Danish National Symphony, and the Aspen Music Festival, conducting the Festival Orchestra.
In 12-13, Joshua has re-engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony, the Copenhagen Philharmonic, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and begins his second year as Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic. He also appears with the BBC Symphony, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Winnipeg Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic.
In the summers of 2009 and 2010, Joshua studied with David Zinman at the Aspen Music Festival, where he was awarded the Robert J. Harth Conductor Prize and the Aspen Conducting Prize. He received his dual Master of Music degrees in orchestral conducting with Hugh Wolff, and in violin with Lucy Chapman in 2011.
In 2007 the Símon Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela (SBYO) engaged Mr. Weilerstein as a violin soloist. Shortly after this appearance, the SBYO asked him to join the first violin section for the orchestra’s 2007 American tour with Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, making Joshua the ensemble’s first non-Venezuelan guest member. And in January 2010 Joshua made his guest conducting debut with the SBYO. Currently living in New York, he also serves as concertmaster of Discovery Ensemble, a Boston-based chamber orchestra established by young musicians dedicated to bringing music to children through interactive workshops in schools and community concerts.
