Artistic Director and Conductor of OPERAlbany! (GA)
Conductor Claire Fox Hillard serves as Music Director of both the Albany Symphony Orchestra and the Meridian Symphony Orchestra.His lifelong interest in opera led to his founding OPERAlbany! in 1995 – he currently serves as both its artistic director and conductor.Prior to his current positions he served as Music Director of the St. Joseph Symphony and the Missouri Western Philharmonia.A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Hillard began piano and violin studies at an early age and made his conducting debut at the age of 18.He has his masters and doctoral degrees from The University of Iowa.Since his European debut in 1994 he has conducted the Karlovarsky symfonicky orchestr, Philharmonic Orchestra Hradec Kralove, and Moravian Philharmonic in the Czech Republic; L’Orchestre Chapelle de Lorraine in Brussels; the Filharmonica “Banatul” and Filharmonica Paul Constantnescu in Romania; the Orquesta Sinfonica de San Pedro Sula in Honduras; the Karkov Philharmonic in Ukraine; the Baltic Philharmonic in Gdansk, Poland; and the National Russian Philharmonic.Among the orchestras he has conducted in this country are the Abilene Philharmonic, the West Shore Symphony, the North Arkansas Symphony, the Tupelo Symphony, the Flagstaff Symphony, the Cobb Symphony, the Quad-City Symphony and the Symphony of Southeast Texas.The Ukrainian News Service observed that “Both ingeniousness and responsiveness were noticed in Hillard’s interpretation…along with the organic combination of relaxation, strictness and consistency.”The Kansas City Star commented “…Maestro Hillard kept a firm command…we were sent away with the energy and excitement that is Mozart’s legacy.”And recently the Abilene Reporter-News said that “…Hillard and the Philharmonic brought passion and purpose to the music.”Hillard has received training from many notable conductors of our time including James Dixon, Leonard Slatkin, Pierre Boulez, Maurice Abravanel, Jorge Mester, and John Barnett. Hillard is the recipient of the American Symphony Orchestra League’s distinguished Helen M. Thompson Award.He has received recognition on multiple occasions from ASCAP for his programming of contemporary music.He has worked directly with such composers as Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Ulysses Kay, Alvin Singleton, Steven Paulus, Ellen Taffee Zwilich, Samuel Jones, and Adolphus Hailstork.
