John Mauceri

The distinguished and extraordinarily varied career of John Mauceri has brought him not only to the world’s greatest opera companies and symphony orchestras, but also to the musical stages of Broadway and Hollywood as well as the most prestigious halls of academia.

Mr. Mauceri served as music director (direttore stabile) of the Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy, for three years after completing seven years as music director of Scottish Opera. He is the first American ever to have held the post of music director of an opera house in either Great Britain or Italy. He was music director of the Washington Opera at The Kennedy Center and was the first music director of the American Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall after its founding director, Leopold Stokowski, with whom he studied. For 15 years he served on the faculty of Yale University and returned in 2001 to teach and conduct the official concert celebrating the university’s 300th anniversary.

Most recently he was the music director of the Pittsburgh Opera, a post he assumed in June 2000, and director of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in Los Angeles, which was created for him in 1991 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. He recently concluded his 16th season at the 18,000-seat amphitheatre, where has conducted more than 300 concerts with a total audience of some 4 million people. He now has the title of founding director of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

Mr. Mauceri is one of the world’s most accomplished recording artists and is the recipient of Grammy, Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk, Edison, Emmy, Diapason d’Or, Cannes Classique, Billboard, and four Deutsche Schallplatten awards.  In 1999, Mr. Mauceri was chosen as a “Standard-bearer of the Twentieth Century” for WQXR, the nation’s most-listened-to classical radio station.  According to WQXR, “These are a select number of musical artists who have already established themselves as forces to be reckoned with and who will be the Standard Bearers of the 21st Century’s music scene.” The recipients were chosen for “their visionary talent and technical virtuosity.” In addition, CNN and CNN International chose Mr. Mauceri as a “Voice of the Millennium.” 

Mr. Mauceri became the seventh chancellor of the North Carolina School of the Arts on July 1, 2006. Since then, he has been spreading the news about the School as he has conducted and lectured around the world. Last October, he participated in symposia about Leonard Bernstein at Harvard University. In November and December, he conducted Romeo and Juliet at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Since the first of this year (2007), he has been in Leipzig, Germany, conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra in “The Lord of the Rings” Symphony; in Detroit conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra with Savion Glover; and in New York moderating a roundtable discussion about composer Franz Waxman at the Museum of Modern Art. And he recently lectured about Richard Wagner in Rick Miller's Philosophy class at NCSA.

Remarks to UNC Board of Governors