Rachael Worby - conductor
The American conductor, Rachael Worby, was Music Director and Conductor of the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra in West Virginia from 1986 to 2002, and in recognition of her dedication to the Orchestra has since been named Laureate Conductor, with an annual music scholarship in her name awarded for the first time in May 2003. In 1999 she was appointed Music Director of the Pasadena Pops Orchestra. Her many guest conducting engagements in the USA have included the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Seattle, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, San Diego, Phoenix, Detroit, Arkansas, Utah, Toledo, American Composers and American Symphony Orchestras. Elsewhere she has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata in England, the Adelaide and Queensland Symphony Orchestras in Australia, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfaltz and the Norddeutcher Rundfunk in Germany, The Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra in Romania, The Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, and The Transilvania Symphony Orchestra. Four years ago she created an annual American Music Festival in Cluj, Romania. She performed for the first time in Ireland with the Irish Chamber Orchestra in 1999 and the following year returned for a National Tour in a special programme featuring new works by composers from both Northern Ireland and the Republic. She has recorded Gould’s String Music with the ICO. 2003/4 includes a return engagement to the Barcelona Symphony and her debuts with the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester and the Costa Rica Symphony Orchestra.
Rachael Worby has a strong commitment to working with young people and from 1984-1996 she was Conductor and Music Director for Carnegie Hall’s Youth Concerts. From 1982-85 she was Assistant Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Youth Concerts. Her television appearances include two special programmes she created for the Disney Channel with the Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra: A Tune for a Toon and The Best Bank in the Land for the series ‘Disney’s Young Person’s Guide to Music’, for which she was nominated for an ACE Award.
Born in Nyack, New York, Rachael Worby began playing the piano at the age of five. In addition to classical music she has an extensive background in blues, jazz, rock and folk music. She received her Bachelor of Music in piano from the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam, studied musicology and conducting as a post-graduate at Indiana University and completed her doctoral course in musicology at Brandeis University. She began her professional conducting career as an Exxon/Arts Endowment Conducting Assistant with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra. She has also served on the music history faculties of the New England Conservatory of Music, the Massachusetts (Boston) and Tufts University. In 1994, Rachael Worby was appointed by President Clinton to the National Council of the Arts on which she served for four years.