Gil Rose

Conductor Gil Rose has been a passionate advocate for new music, particularly by American composers, and he has a special interest in modern opera. Rose is best known for founding the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Born in Pittsburgh in October of 1964, Rose studied at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Carnegie Mellon University. In 1996, Rose founded the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, a group dedicated to the commissioning, performance, and recording of new works. The orchestra, based in Boston’s Jordan Hall, has commissioned more than 20 works and played the world premieres of over 75. After making nearly three dozen recordings for other labels, the orchestra founded its own label, BMOP/sound, in 2008; Rose serves as the executive director. He has also conducted the Netherlands Radio Symphony, the American Composers Orchestra, and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. From 2003 to 2012, Rose was the artistic director of Opera Boston, a company that performed both standard repertoire and contemporary works. With that group and with the Opera Unlimited Festival, he led the world premieres of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Madame White Snake by Zhou Long, Toussaint Before the Spirits by Elena Ruehr, and the U.S. premiere of Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America, as well as regional premieres of Adès’ Powder Her Face, Harbison’s Full Moon in March, and Hindemith’s Cardillac. In 2013, Rose founded Odyssey Opera, which focuses on staging rarely performed and new operas. Rose has received several Grammy nominations for recordings with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, including winning the award for Best Opera Recording in 2020 for Tobias Picker: Fantastic Mr. Fox. He has conducted the premiere recordings of the works of dozens of the world’s most prominent composers in a notable variety of styles, including Louis Andriessen, William Bolcom, and Lukas Foss, among many others. Rose remained active during the COVID-19 pandemic, issuing three full-length opera recordings with the BMOP: Norman Dello Joio's The Trial at Rouen, Samuel Barber's Medea, and Anthony Davis' X - The Life and Times of Malcolm X. The year 2022 also saw the release of Gail Kubik: Symphony Concertante and John Corigliano: To Music under Rose’s direction. By that time, his recording catalog comprised more than 75 albums. ~ Stephen Eddins