Miller Outdoor Theatre: Beethoven Symphony No. 7

Internationally recognized for his energetic presence, imaginative programming, and compelling musicianship, Vinay Parameswaran is one of the most exciting and versatile young conductors on the podium today.

Highlights of the 2022-23 Season include his debut with the Charlotte Symphony and return appearances with the Nashville Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic orchestras. He also conducted a series of education concerts with the Chicago Symphony. In the 2021-22 Season, he concluded five seasons with the Cleveland Orchestra, where he was assistant conductor from 2018 and promoted to associate conductor in 2021. During this period, he conducted many concerts each season at Severance Hall, Blossom Music Festival, and on tour.

During his three seasons as associate conductor of the Nashville Symphony, Vinay led more than 150 performances, which included his subscription debut with the orchestra in 2016/17, conducting works by Gabriella Smith, Grieg, and Prokofiev. Other highlights have included debuts with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Detroit Symphony, National Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, and Milwaukee Symphony orchestras.

Equally at home in both symphonic and operatic repertoire, Vinay has led performances of Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love with Curtis Opera Theater. In Cleveland, he has assisted Franz Welser-Möst on productions of Verdi’s Otello, Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, and Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos.

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Vinay graduated with honors from Brown University with bachelor’s degrees in music and political science. At Brown, he began his conducting studies with Paul Phillips. He received an artist diploma in conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Otto-Werner Mueller as the Albert M. Greenfield Fellow. He was a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and a recipient of a Career Assistance Award by the Solti Foundation U.S. in May 2021.

A native of Moscow, Russia, Sergei Galperin began violin studies at age five and soon gave his first public performance in the Concert Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

After his studies at the Moscow Conservatory, Sergei received his bachelor and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where he was a full scholarship student in the class of Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang. He earned artist diplomas from Indiana University and Peabody Conservatory.

Sergei made his American solo orchestral debut in 1982 at age 16, playing the Wieniawski Violin Concerto with the Symphony Orchestra of New York at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. He has also performed as a soloist with the Houston Symphony in its Educational and Pops Series, as well as with the Indiana University, Aspen Symphony, and Dallas Festival Orchestras.

As a winner of Artist International auditions, Sergei made his New York solo recital debut in 1988 at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. After winning New York’s National Arts Club Competition in 1987, he was featured in recital on live ABC and PBS news shows. Subsequently, he appeared in recital at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully and Merkin Concert Halls. In 1993, he won an honorable mention award as a finalist of a prestigious Concert Artist Guild competition in New York.

A first violinist of the Houston Symphony, Sergei has served as concertmaster for the Rochester Philharmonic, as well as the Adelaide Symphony in Australia. Before coming to Houston, Sergei was a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony and has worked with the Chicago and Baltimore symphony orchestras; Grant Park, Aspen, and Grand Teton festival orchestras; A. Schneider String Seminar; and Taos Chamber Music Festival. He has toured in Australia, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina, and Europe, including festivals in Lucerne, Berlin, Vienna, Copenhagen, and Edinburgh. In the United States, he has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, in addition to venues in Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Houston, Philadelphia, and many others.

Sergei has served as a faculty member at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, the University of St. Thomas, and the Indiana University School of Music.