BIOGRAPHY

American conductor Geoffrey Larson is the founding Music Director of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra. At home on both the symphonic and operatic stage, he serves as Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master of Berkshire Opera Festival. Geoffrey's adventurous, multi-genre projects have harnessed the storytelling power, rich variety, and universal relevance of orchestral and operatic music to engage new audiences.

In December 2021 Geoffrey was awarded second prize in the International Orchestral Conducting Competition “UAL” in Spain, after competing with 126 conductors from 26 countries. He was also named a semifinalist in the Arthur Nikisch International Conducting Competition and a finalist in the Lanyí International Conducting Competition. He has conducted orchestras such as the South Bend Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Bainbridge Symphony, Northwest Mahler Festival, National Radio and Television Orchestra of Albania, and Pleven Philharmonic (Bulgaria).

In the world of opera, he has collaborated with artists such as Tamara Wilson, Sebastian Catana, Caroline Worra, and Daniel Belcher. Working closely with baritone Sherrill Milnes, he served as Assistant Conductor for Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Estates Theatre in Prague, the site of the work’s premiere. He recently collaborated with soprano Laquita Mitchell and members of the Seattle Symphony for a new staging by Music of Remembrance of Tom Cipullo’s opera Josephine. His other opera credits include Puccini's La bohème, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Chabrier’s L’étoile, Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied, and Verdi’s La Traviata, Rigoletto, and Falstaff.

With a deep commitment to the music of our time, he has given the premieres of numerous works and has collaborated with composers such as Gabriel Prokofiev, Erberk Eryılmaz, Nancy Galbraith, Reza Vali, and Leonardo Balada. Passionate about equity of access and increased inclusion in classical music, Geoffrey’s performances with the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra each feature works by composers of under-represented groups, such as women and people of color.

Geoffrey is currently completing a doctoral thesis at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music under the mentorship of Arthur Fagen and Thomas Wilkins. He has served as Assistant Conductor of IU Opera and Ballet Theatre, working with David Neely, Kevin Murphy, and Walter Huff. He previously studied with the late Robert Page at Carnegie Mellon University, where he conducted performances and recording sessions of the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic. His recording with the Carnegie Mellon Contemporary Music Ensemble appears on NAXOS Records.

Geoffrey has participated in master classes at London’s Royal Academy of Music at the personal selection of George Hurst, and he studied at the Pierre Monteux School under the tutelage of Michael Jinbo. During a concentrated half year of study in Vienna, Austria, he studied harmony with Gerold Gruber at Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien and opera conducting with Wolfgang Harrer. He has benefited from additional studies with Nicolás Pasquet, Rodolfo Saglimbeni, Carl St. Clair, Peter Erös, Ronald Zollman, and Michael Christie.