Updated at 11:05 a.m., Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Honolulu Symphony names Delfs as principal conductor
By Loren Moreno
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Delfs, who conducted the Honolulu Symphony in a Halekulani MasterWorks concert in October, succeeds Samuel Wong, who resigned as music director in June 2004, a post he had held since 1995.
"Andreas Delfs is a groundbreaker in the symphonic world — he balances standard repertoire with innovative programming and we expect his leadership will grow our concert-going base," said Jeffrey Minter, chairman of the symphony board, in a news release.
"His experience making music around the globe fits well into the cosmopolitan nature of Honolulu's music community."
Born and raised in Germany, Delfs has been with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for 10 seasons and helped it become the first American orchestra to offer live recordings via the Internet. He began the orchestra's Classical Connections concert series, which allowed audiences to participate in a less formal concert format. The Milwaukee orchestra also became the first from the U.S. to play in Cuba.
A prodigy of sorts, Delfs began studying music at the age of 5. At the age of 17 he became the conductor of the Flensburg Stadttheater. He attended the Hamburg Conservatory and The Juilliard School of Music and spent several years as the resident conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
