Joshua Weilerstein is music director of the Orchestre National de Lille and chief conductor of the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. Acclaimed for performances that balance clarity, energy and emotional depth, he is a compelling advocate for both the classical canon, the music of today and forgotten composers of the past.
In his second season in Lille, Weilerstein leads a wide-ranging series of concerts with a particular focus on French music, featuring works of Ravel, Franck, Lili Boulanger, Barraine, Dutilleux, Saint-Saens, Tailleferre and Offenbach. He also welcomes Noah Bendix-Balgley, first concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic, in a program that pairs Bendix-Balgley’s klezmer-inspired concerto Fidl Fantazy with Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony.
In Aalborg, he completes his two-year exploration of Brahms’ symphonies, and focuses on other late Romantic giants such as Mahler and Zemlinsky. Elsewhere in 25/26, he returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Proms and Bridgewater Hall with the BBC Philharmonic, and the Vancouver, Gothenburg, and City of Birmingham Symphony orchestras. He also makes his debut with the Israel Philharmonic.
Weilerstein has conducted many of the world’s top orchestras, including in recent seasons, the Staatskapelle Dresden, Bavarian Radio Symphony, London Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony and New York Philharmonic. He regularly collaborates with leading soloists such as Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Vilde Frang and Matthias Goerne. In 2015-2021, he was artistic director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, with which he recorded the complete Beethoven symphonies and a disc of 20th and 21st century works by Ives, Ethel Smyth, William Grant Still and Caroline Shaw.
Born into a musical family, Weilerstein believes his commitment to classical music was inspired by his experience on a youth orchestra tour to Central America, during which he performed for audiences that had never heard a live orchestra. He studied violin and conducting at the New England Conservatory; in 2009, he won both the first and audience prizes at the Malko Competition in Copenhagen. He later served as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic in 2012-2015.
In 2017, inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s passion for making classical music accessible, Weilerstein launched the podcast “Sticky Notes,” which now reaches listeners in 190 countries and has been downloaded more than 7 million times.
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
