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Music for me is about discovering its story, traveling its journey and engaging the listener in an unexpectedly arresting experience.”
As a passionate interpreter of the symphonic repertoire John Lidfors has conducted European orchestras such as the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bochumer Symphoniker, the Magdeburgische Philharmonie and the Brandenburger Symphoniker. In 2022 he made his American subscription concert debut in acclaimed jump-in performances with the San Diego Symphony which he has since returned to as a guest conductor. He has also acted as cover conductor on subscription concerts of the Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony and Kansas City Symphony.
Pursuing a special interest in choral-orchestral masterworks he has worked with the RIAS Chamber Choir Berlin, Chorwerk Ruhr, the Berlin Philharmonic Chorus, the Bochum Philharmonic Chorus and the New Mexico Symphonic Chorus. His interpretations of sacred works spanning early and modern masterpieces such as Händel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Honegger’s King David, and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, are marked by a spiritual depth and revelatory power of words elevated by music.
He began his professional career with his appointment as Assistant Conductor of the Bochumer Symphoniker in 2017 before embarking on his conducting path in the USA in 2019. Prior to this he founded the Orchester Ventuno in Germany, a dynamic professional chamber orchestra in the Nuremberg music scene with a mission to reach young audiences.
ORIGINS
Born to American parents in Germany he studied conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and the Berlin University of the Arts. He rounded out his training at the Aspen Conducting Academy, the Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy, and in masterclasses with David Zinman, Jorma Panula, and Johannes Schlaefli. In 2015 he became a fellow of the German Music Council’s mentorship program, the Conductors Forum, culminating in winning the German Choral Conductor's Prize in 2021. In 2022 he became a prize-winner of the 2nd Arthur Nikisch International Conducting Competition.
Mozart: Don Giovanni Overture
A MISSION TO REACH YOUTH
Giving young people access to live orchestral music performance has been a key focus from the beginning of John Lidfors’ career that led him to found the Orchester Ventuno in 2012. In addition to its concert activity in the Nuremberg region he organized outreach visits to elementary schools with interactive performances for hundreds of children. These were regularly met with enthusiastic responses from the students, many of whom had never heard a live orchestra before. His engagement in the local arts scene was recognized with the cultural advancement awards of the Region of Middle Franconia and the City of Fürth in 2016.