Carlo Kalmar
(c) Michael Jones
The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) has announced that Austrian-Uruguayan conductor Carlos Kalmar, 63, has been named Director of Orchestral and Conducting Programs and Principal Conductor. Kalmar will begin his conducting and teaching duties as Director Designate on July 1, 2021.
Musicians from CIM’s orchestras welcomed Kalmar with musical fanfare today as the Institute introduced him to students, faculty, Trustees, Governing Members and community dignitaries.
In April, Kalmar stepped down from leading the Oregon Symphony after 18 years as its Music Director. He continues to serve as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival, a position he has held since 2000.
Kalmar began violin studies at age six. At age fifteen, he enrolled at the Vienna Academy of Music where his conducting teacher was Karl Österreicher. In 1984, he won first prize in the Hans Swarowsky Conducting Competition in Vienna. Kalmar has been music director of the Hamburger Symphoniker (1987–91), the Stuttgart Philharmonic (1991–95), and the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau. He was principal conductor of the Tonkünstlerorchester, Vienna, from 2000 to 2003.
