REI HOTODA

2020/21 SPECIAL PROJECTS

About

    Hailed by the Spokesman-Review as being an “inexhaustible dynamo,” Rei Hotoda, now in her third season as Music Director of the Fresno Philharmonic, has appeared as a guest conductor with many of today’s leading ensembles, including the Symphony Orchestras of Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, Detroit, Toronto, Utah, Hawaii, Winnipeg, and Spokane as well as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, among others. Her interpretations of such epic centerpieces of the classical canon such as Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8 and Britten’s War Requiem, make her one of the most sought-after conductors of today. She is a tireless advocate for the music of our time, and most recently conducted the world premiere of Dinuk Wijeratne’s Between Figure and Ground to much acclaim.

   Rei will make several exciting debuts in the 2019/20 season when she appears as guest conductor with the Symphony Orchestras of Louisville, Omaha, and Orlando as well as the National Arts Center in Canada, and 

makes a welcome return to the Hawaii Symphony. Highlights include conducting several symphonies by Beethoven (Nos. 2, 5 and 8)—part of the global celebrations of the composer’s 250th anniversary year—as well George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 and Missy Mazzoli’s River Rouge Transfiguration.

  Rei is equally at home leading the orchestra from the piano as well as from the podium. As an accomplished pianist, she has appeared as soloist conducting from the piano with the Dallas, Edmonton, Utah, and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestras, performing works by Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. In the 2019/20 season, she will conduct the Fresno Philharmonic, where she currently serves as Music Director, from the piano for the first time when she performs Beethoven’s monumental Triple Concerto as part of the orchestra’s Beethoven@250 celebrations.