Gavriel Heine

Conductor

Gavriel Heine is Principal Guest Conductor of the Kharkov Symphony Orchestra (Ukraine), with whom he has conducted over 40 programs to date; he is also Music Director of the Kharkov Chamber Orchestra. On a 2003 tour of Spain, Mr. Heine, the KSO and the Coro de Bahia de Cadiz received rave reviews for their performances of Manuel de Falla’s epic cantata Atlantida, which was broadcast on Spanish television. In 2005, Heine and the Kharkov Chamber Orchestra enjoyed a critically acclaimed tour of Serbia and Montenegro. In 2004 and 2006, Mr. Heine served as conductor for the 7th and 8th International Vladimir Krainev Competitions for Young Pianists (Ukraine). In the field of opera, Mr. Heine holds the position of Assistant Conductor/Chorusmaster of the Center City Opera Theater (Philadelphia) and is currently Assistant Conductor to Valery Gergiev for a new production of Puccini’s Tosca at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia

As a guest conductor, Gavriel Heine has worked with orchestras in Switzerland (Sinfonieorchester Basel), Russia (St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra “Klassika”, Belgorod State Philharmonic Orchestra), India (Calcutta Foundation Orchestra), and Singapore (Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts). Within his native United States, Mr. Heine has conducted the Northern Lights Music Festival Chamber Orchestra (Minnesota), the Shostakovich-100 Chamber Orchestra (New Jersey), the Summer Festival Orchestra at Rowan University (New Jersey), and the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra (Michigan). In 2005, as a finalist for the Philadelphia Orchestra/ American Symphony Orchestra League Conducting Fellowship, Mr. Heine led the Philadelphia Orchestra in rehearsal. This year, Gavriel Heine made his conducting debut with the Haddonfield Symphony at the Tweeter Center in Camden, NJ. The 2006/07 concert season has included return engagements with the Basel Symphony Orchestra (Rudolf Buchbinder, soloist), programs with the Kharkov Symphony Orchestra “Slobozhanskii”, and musical preparation of Tosca and Verdi’s Macbeth for Center City Opera Theater. In July 2007, Gavriel Heine will conduct performances of Marriage of Figaro and Macbeth at the Mariinsky Theater. Upcoming engagements in the 2007/08 season include a debut with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra (Croatia), further performances at the Mariinsky Theater, performances of Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte with Center City Opera, concerts with the Kharkov Symphony Orchestra, as well as serving as conductor for the 9th International Vladimir Krainev Competition for Young Pianists. Mr. Heine has lectured for the “Classical Conversations” series of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (USA) on Bruckner and Shostakovich, and has been a featured guest on “Discoveries from the Fleisher Collection” on WRTI Radio in Philadelphia. Mr. Heine has also served as an adjunct professor at Rowan University (New Jersey).

Born in New Jersey, Gavriel Heine studied the cello at the Moscow Conservatory, Russia, becoming the first ever American to receive a combined Bachelors and Masters degree from that institution. He studied conducting at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Ilya Musin, and also worked extensively under Leonid Korchmar of the Mariinsky Theatre and Kirov Opera. Mr. Heine has an additional Masters degree in Instrumental Conducting from Indiana University, Bloomington.