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About Us: Meet the Conductors
William Henry Curry | Resident Conductor
The Governor and Mrs. J. Melville Broughton Chair
William Henry Curry enters his eighteenth season with the North Carolina Symphony in 2013/14. Maestro Curry serves as the artistic director for the Rex Healthcare Summerfest Series and all North Carolina Symphony summer programs. He has also served as music director of the Durham Symphony Orchestra since 2009.
A native of Pittsburgh, Maestro Curry started conducting and composing music at age 14. His first major appointment was at age 21, when he was named assistant conductor of the Richmond Chamber Orchestra. He also served as resident conductor with the Baltimore Symphony and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Maestro Curry was appointed associate conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony in 1983, a post he held until 1988, the same year he was named winner of the Leopold Stokowski Conducting Competition and performed in Carnegie Hall.
Maestro Curry has conducted over forty orchestras, including appearances with the Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, National, Detroit, Denver, American, Atlanta, Shreveport and San Diego Symphonies, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Israel Camerata Jerusalem Orchestra, as well as the orchestras of Indianapolis, New Jersey, Bangkok and Taiwan and with the New York City Ballet in their famed Balanchine production of The Nutcracker.
Opera engagements include the Houston Grand Opera, Chicago Opera Theater and New York City Opera. In 2009/10, at the invitation of the U.S. Department of State, Maestro Curry spent two weeks in Taiwan presenting master classes in conducting and leading concerts of American music. His final performance was filmed and shown throughout the country on Taiwan’s Public Television Service. He has conducted the Charlotte Symphony and North Carolina Dance Theatre's production of The Nutcracker in multiple performances during the past two seasons.
Maestro Curry is also a composer, and his works have been played by many of America’s finest orchestras. The Indianapolis Symphony premiered his work Eulogy for a Dream. The late William Warfield of Porgy and Bess fame narrated the North Carolina premiere to an enthusiastic audience and critical acclaim in January 2002.
A native of Pittsburgh, Maestro Curry started conducting and composing music at age 14. His first major appointment was at age 21, when he was named assistant conductor of the Richmond Chamber Orchestra. He also served as resident conductor with the Baltimore Symphony and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Maestro Curry was appointed associate conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony in 1983, a post he held until 1988, the same year he was named winner of the Leopold Stokowski Conducting Competition and performed in Carnegie Hall.
Maestro Curry has conducted over forty orchestras, including appearances with the Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, National, Detroit, Denver, American, Atlanta, Shreveport and San Diego Symphonies, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Israel Camerata Jerusalem Orchestra, as well as the orchestras of Indianapolis, New Jersey, Bangkok and Taiwan and with the New York City Ballet in their famed Balanchine production of The Nutcracker.
Opera engagements include the Houston Grand Opera, Chicago Opera Theater and New York City Opera. In 2009/10, at the invitation of the U.S. Department of State, Maestro Curry spent two weeks in Taiwan presenting master classes in conducting and leading concerts of American music. His final performance was filmed and shown throughout the country on Taiwan’s Public Television Service. He has conducted the Charlotte Symphony and North Carolina Dance Theatre's production of The Nutcracker in multiple performances during the past two seasons.
Maestro Curry is also a composer, and his works have been played by many of America’s finest orchestras. The Indianapolis Symphony premiered his work Eulogy for a Dream. The late William Warfield of Porgy and Bess fame narrated the North Carolina premiere to an enthusiastic audience and critical acclaim in January 2002.
