Jed Gaylin
Jed Gaylin was born to Ned and Rita Gaylin on August 13, 1963 in Chicago, Illinois. He moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland in 1968, and grew up there. He enrolled at Oberlin College studying piano with Lydia Frumkin as well as physics, graduating as an elected member of Pi Kappa Lambda (MusicAL honors society) as pianist (1985) and conductor (1986). For two years, he played piano in restaurants and bars in New York City and Cleveland, developing an interest in jazz and vintage American popular song. He also conducted the Cleveland Institute of Music Preparatory Orchestra, and taught piano there. From 1988-1991, he attended the Peabody Conservatory to study conducting with Frederik Prausnitz, with a full teaching assistantship in ear training, earning his doctorate in 1995. Peabody awarded him the Presser Music Award in 1991 to conduct in Russia and Poland, and further his exploration of late Soviet period composers little known beyond the iron curtain. His doctoral paper explored the music of such composers as Sofia Gubaidulina, Giya Kancheli before they became popular in the US, as well as lesser known composers such as Nikolai Sidelnikov and more established composers (Alfred Schnittke, Rodion Shchedrin).
In 1992, Gaylin was appointed as the first Music Director of the Loudoun Symphony, a post he held till 1997. Also in 1992 he was named Resident Conductor of Hopkins Symphony Orchestra. He married poet/essayist Lia Purpura and they settled in Baltimore where they currently reside with their son. Gaylin was named Music Director of Hopkins Symphony Orchestra in 1993, a position at Johns Hopkins University he maintains today. In 1995 Gaylin was one of four Conducting Fellows at Aspen Music Festival.
In 1997 Gaylin was appointed Music Director of the Bridgeton Symphony, which has grown in stature and quality and his direction and was renamed the Bay-Atlantic Symphony in 1998 to reflect its regional significance. Concurrently, Gaylin became increasingly known in Europe as a guest conductor, having directed the Pomorska Filharmonia and Lodz Philharmonic in Poland, the Gnessin Institute Orchestra and Moscow Chamber Symphony, the Academia of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona repeatedly, the Sibiu State Philharmonic in Romania where he was Principal Guest Conductor, and the Bucharest National Radio Orchestra. Other guest appearances include Orvieto Festival Orchestra in Italy, The National Film and Radio Philharmonic in Beijing, the Shanghai Conservatory Orchestra abroad, as well as numerous orchestras in North America. He has developed a close association with Baltimore's chamber opera company Opera Vivente, performing annually since 2006.
Television and radio broadcasts include National Public Radio’s “Weekend Edition," Voice of America throughout Europe and the former Soviet Union, Bucharest Radio Orchestra, and the National Radio and Film Philharmonic in Beijing, as well as Public Television and National Public Radio affiliate broadcasts in both New Jersey and Maryland.
Awards and honors include a Conducting Fellowship Aspen Music Festival, National Endowment for the Arts grant, membership in Pi Kappa Lambda (musical honors), and the Presser Music Award.
Gaylin is known for passionate and distinctive performances, his ability to synthesize and shape large musical structures with great sweep and conviction, as well as a great attention to nuance and phrasing. His repertoire is varied, with emphasis on Mozart and through post-Romantics, as well as contemporary composers. Gaylin has maintained a particularly close association with composer Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez as well as James Grant. He has commissioned and conducted the premiers of more than 50 works.
References
- Knisel, Lorenda. "Motion Meets Music With the Body as an Instrument." The Current of Northfield, Linwood and Somers Point. 23/01/2008. http://jedgaylin.com/images/BayAtlanticReview.jpg
