The Next Chapter
Six years ago, we set out to transform the concert hall experience. To make it more welcoming, more social, more accessible. We would do it through our music making, through our programming, through our community partnerships, through our relationships with each of you.
For seven seasons, we’ve been pushing the boundaries of how we fulfill these ambitions. Raising a glass to celebrate each new experiment in evolving the classical concert. Returning time and time again to our goal of an ever-widening circle of music lovers. All the while being inspired by our organizational namesake to invite continual rebirth in our approach and vision.
Now it’s time for our biggest step yet…
Conductor Joshua Weilerstein will join Phoenix as
Music Director in our 2021–22 season.
A sought after talent in the United States as well as abroad, Josh has served as Artistic Director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne since 2014. He was Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic from 2012–15, and has a flourishing guest conducting career, regularly conducting the world’s top orchestras, such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit and Milwaukee, London Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Finnish Radio Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and the BBC Philharmonic, among others.
“Welcoming Joshua Weilerstein to the Phoenix family is the biggest news we have shared since launching the orchestra in 2014. Josh is an impeccable musician who combines his leadership as the Artistic Director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne with a flourishing career conducting here in the States. He comes to the table with well-established relationships with many of our musicians and has always been aligned with Phoenix’s missions of creating accessible experiences around Western classical music, presenting and commissioning new music, and building a more diverse future for our art form. Our musicians are universally brimming with the anticipation of getting to work with him next year, and I join our audiences in eagerly anticipating their first concert together during Phoenix’s 2021 - 2022 Season.”
- Matthew Szymanski, Executive Director
A classmate of several founding members of Phoenix at New England Conservatory, Josh has had strong connections to the organization since its inception. He shares our commitment to fostering a warm, welcoming atmosphere for veteran concertgoers and newcomers alike, and to ensuring audiences hear contemporary and unfairly neglected historic composers alongside traditional repertoire. In 2017, with the mission of giving listeners an inside look at the world of classical music he launched Sticky Notes, a podcast featuring interviews with the top artists of today, in-depth looks at specific pieces from the repertoire, and deep dives into each era of classical music. Today episodes of Sticky Notes have been downloaded over two million times in 154 countries.
"I could not possibly be more thrilled to become Phoenix's new Music Director. Phoenix’s core values of innovation, the breaking down of barriers, and the pure joy of reveling in this beautiful art form are ones that I share wholeheartedly. Working with this kind of dynamic, motivated, and extraordinarily talented ensemble is something every conductor dreams about. It is especially exciting to be returning home to Boston to lead a group that is on the vanguard of the orchestral world, and I can’t wait to get started."
- Joshua Weilerstein, Music Director
Josh will be working closely with Executive Director Matt Szymanski and General Manager Christina Dioguardi to plan the next chapter in the Phoenix evolution. Recording projects, commissions, and bigger and better Boston shows are all on the horizon. We couldn’t be more excited to introduce Josh to Phoenix fans, in three concerts in the 2021–22 season, beginning with his first concert leading the orchestra in January 2022.