Chelsea Gallo

conductor

Labeled a “rising star” within the conducting world (Associated Press), conductor Chelsea Gallo has been praised for her ability to “lead the orchestra with grace and fiery command” (Michigan Daily). Her conducting style has been described as “fully in control… stylish, skillful, and attentive” (Dallas News). Gallo is principal guest conductor of the Orlando Philharmonic and resident conductor of The Florida Orchestra. She is the recipient of a 2022 Sir Georg Solti Career Assistance Grant and was a 2022 Hart Conducting Fellow with the Dallas Opera. This season, she returns to the New York Philharmonic to serve as an assistant conductor.

Gallo has conducted leading orchestras and opera companies including the Dallas Opera, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Virginia Symphony, Opera Orlando, Toledo Symphony, Hartford Opera, Missouri Symphony, Marigny Opera, and Slovak Sinfonietta, among others. Recent and upcoming highlights include debuts with the Bozeman Symphony, Sewanee Music Festival, New Mexico Philharmonic, Catapult Opera (NYC), Jackson Symphony, Lancaster Symphony, and the Youngstown Symphony. 

An advocate of music by living composers, Gallo gave the Michigan premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Helix, the American premiere of Michael Gordon’s Bassoon Concerto, and the world premiere of the ballet A Streetcar Named Desire by Tucker Fuller. Her opera debuts have included productions of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Verdi’s La traviata, and Shuying Li’s Who Married Star Husbands. Devoted to expanding the reach of classical music, Gallo has collaborated with a variety of organizations, businesses, and companies, including The Walt Disney Company™, The New York Yankees™, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Lincoln Motor Company™. 

Gallo studied conducting in Vienna, Prague, and Banská Štiavnica with Leoš Svárovský and the late Maksimilijan Cenčić. In Vienna, she studied piano with Giorgi Latsabidze and violin with Barbara Gorzynska. Gallo holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in orchestral conducting from the University of Michigan. She has attended festivals and master classes with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle and Daniel Barenboim.