Emil de Cou
NSO @ Wolf Trap Festival Conductor
This summer Emil de Cou begins his 4th season as NSO @ Wolf Trap Festival Conductor. We’re fortunate to have Emil as our host for all of this season’s National Symphony Orchestra concerts, and he’ll be on the podium for five of this summer’s performances.Emil made his Wolf Trap debut in 2000, and since then he has conducted a wide variety of concerts from The Planets with Leonard Nimoy and Murder and Mayhem at the Opera to evenings with Renee Fleming, Joshua Bell, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and Sir James Galway, as well as the premiere of the Wizard of Oz with live orchestra and film. In 2007 he conducted Fantastic Planet: A Symphonic Video Spectacular, presented in collaboration with NASA with the first ever downloadable real-time podcast tour of the works and images.
Emil de Cou was born in Los Angeles and divides his time between Washington, DC and his home in San Francisco, California. Besides being an old movie buff, he also acts as a musical consultant to NASA – fulfilling, in part, a childhood dream of working for the nation's space agency.
Emil has conducted the NSO throughout the DC area as well on tour in seven states as part of the American Residency Program, has led numerous education performances, and conducts the annual Labor Day Weekend Capitol Concerts on the west lawn of the US Capitol. His 2007-08 season included concerts with Renée Fleming, a program of Spike Lee's film music with Terrence Blanchard and the Kennedy Center Orchestra, and guest engagements with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra, the Boise Philharmonic, and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
Recent highlights include his acclaimed all-Russian subscription program with the National Symphony Orchestra, his Carnegie Hall debut as guest conductor for the New York Pops, and a gala tribute to Beverly Sills at Lincoln Center with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and a stellar roster of soloists. He also led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in The Wizard of Oz at the Ravinia Festival.
Emil has been guest conductor with many major orchestras throughout North America, including the symphony orchestras of Detroit, Montreal, Philadelphia, Houston, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Columbus, and many others. He has conducted the Boston Pops, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Kennedy Center Orchestra, the orchestra of Chicago's Lyric Opera, and the New World Symphony, and was principal pops conductor of the San Francisco Symphony.
He was the acting music director of the San Francisco Ballet until 2000, and as conductor of the American Ballet Theatre he collaborated with Mikhail Baryshnikov. He has conducted orchestras all over the world, including the English Chamber Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Scottish National Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Polish Radio Orchestra, Royal Danish Opera Orchestra, Palermo Opera Orchestra, Mexico City Symphony, and the national orchestras of Argentina, Holland, and Romania.
Recording highlights include a performance of the ballet Othello (music by Elliot Goldenthal) with the San Francisco Ballet for PBS Great Performances, the score for which was recorded by Mr. de Cou for Varese Sarabande. Emil has also recorded Debussy Rediscovered for Arabesque, including the world premiere recording of his own reconstruction of the original 1887 version of Printemps-Suite Symphonique for wordless chorus and orchestra. A champion of American music, Emil has edited and performed several unpublished works by Charles T. Griffes including the world premiere recording of The Kairn of Koridwen, issued by Koch International.
