Timothy Wellington Muffitt (born 1961) is an American

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

Biography

Timothy Muffitt was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and began playing the piano at the age of seven, later adding viola and trumpet. He studied music at the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music ...

, training in orchestral direction under the guidance of David Effron, earning a degree in

Doctor of Musical Arts The Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) is a doctoral academic degree in music. The DMA combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization (usually music performance, music composition, or conducting) with graduate-level academic study ...

Musical career

Muffitt has been the

music director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the ...

and conductor of the

Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra The Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1947, is an orchestra located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. The orchestra performs at the Theater for Performing Arts in the Baton Rouge River Center. In 1940, a group of women formed a st ...

since 1999, as well as

and conductor of the

Lansing Symphony Orchestra The Lansing Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is an American symphony orchestra headquartered in Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1929 under the leadership of its first Music Director, Izler Solomon. Since 2006, the orchestra has been headed by Music ...

since 2006. In the past, Muffitt was the associate conductor of the

Austin Symphony Orchestra The Austin Symphony Orchestra is the oldest performing group in Austin, Texas, USA. It was founded in 1911. History The inaugural concert was held on April 25, 1911. Initially, the orchestra consisted of 28 unpaid members and an unpaid conductor. ...

and the artistic director of the

Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is an American orchestra based in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the only full-time, professional orchestra in the Gulf South. The orchestra performs at the Orpheum Theater. The Louisiana Philharmonic O ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

He also appears with other major orchestras throughout the country, including the

Saint Louis Symphony The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is the second-oldest professional symphony or ...

, the Tulsa Symphony, the

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Fra ...

and the Long Beach Symphony. He also recently debuted at the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its disti ...

. Other Muffitt collaborations have been with the symphony orchestras of Houston, Phoenix, Edmonton and Spokane, with the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus Ohio, the

Buffalo Philharmonic The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra located in Buffalo, New York led by Music Director JoAnn Faletta. Its primary performing venue is Kleinhans Music Hall, which is a National Historic Landmark. Each season it pr ...

, the

Virginia Symphony The Virginia Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is an American orchestra administratively based in Norfolk. The VSO performs concerts in various venues in Virginia, including: * Chrysler Hall, Norfolk * The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, Virgin ...

, the Grant Park Music Festival Orchestra of Chicago and the

Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra (HSO) is an American orchestra based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra can be traced back to the early 1930s during the throes of the Great Depression. The orchestra gave its firs ...

. He has worked with important artists and composers such as

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma ('' Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

, Renee Fleming, Dame

Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa , (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a retired New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te ...

, Andre Watts,

Alicia de Larrocha Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle (23 May 192325 September 2009) was a Spanish pianist and composer. She was considered one of the great piano legends of the 20th century. Reuters called her "the greatest Spanish pianist in history", ''Time (mag ...

Pinchas Zukerman Pinchas Zukerman ( he, פנחס צוקרמן, born 16 July 1948) is an Israeli-American violinist, violist and conductor. Life and career Zukerman was born in Tel Aviv, to Jewish parents and Holocaust survivors Yehuda and Miriam Lieberman Zuk ...

Van Cliburn Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. (; July 12, 1934February 27, 2013) was an American pianist who, at the age of 23, achieved worldwide recognition when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 during the Cold ...

Lynn Harrell Lynn Harrell (January 30, 1944 – April 27, 2020) was an American classical cellist. Known for the "penetrating richness" of his sound, Harrell performed internationally as a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with major orchestras o ...

Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman ( he, יצחק פרלמן; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist widely considered one of the greatest violinists in the world. Perlman has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that hav ...

ed i compositori John Cage,

Joseph Schwantner Joseph Clyde Schwantner (born March 22, 1943, Chicago, Illinois) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer, educator and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2002. He was awarded the 1970 Charles Ives Prize. Schwantne ...

, Ellen Taffe Zwilich,

John Harbison John Harris Harbison (born December 20, 1938) is an American composer, known for his symphonies, operas, and large choral works. Life John Harris Harbison was born on December 20, 1938, in Orange, New Jersey, to the historian Elmore Harris Harb ...

Joan Tower Joan Tower (born September 6, 1938)http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2419&State_2872=2&ComposerId_2872=1605 Biography on Schirmer is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded by ''The New Y ...

e Bernard Rands tra gli altri. In January 2019 the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra announced that Timothy Muffitt will leave his position next year. Muffitt will conduct the orchestra until the 2019-20 season, his twentieth season with the organization, and will therefore be appointed Laureate Music Director.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muffitt, Timothy American conductors (music) American male conductors (music) 20th-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American conductors (music) 1961 births Living people Eastman School of Music People from Fairfield County, Connecticut People from Bridgeport, Connecticut 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians