Bio
George Manahan has had an esteemed career, embracing everything from opera to the concert stage, and the traditional to the contemporary. He also works with young musicians as Director of Orchestral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music and guest conductor at the Curtis Institute of Music and Merola Opera Program. George is the 2012 winner of the Ditson Conductor’s Award, the oldest award honoring conductors for their support of American music. Previous recipients include James Levine, Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Ormandy, and Alan Gilbert. He also served as Music Director of New York City Opera, Portland Opera, American Composers’ Orchestra, and the Richmond Symphony, and was honored four times by the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP) for his commitment to new music.
George’s guest appearances include the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and the symphonies of Atlanta, San Francisco, Hollywood Bowl, and New Jersey, where he served as acting Music Director for four seasons. He is a regular guest with the Music Academy of the West and the Aspen Music Festival and has also appeared with the opera companies of San Francisco, Philadelphia, Seattle, Chicago, Santa Fe, St. Louis, Paris, and more.
His many television appearances include productions of La bohème, Lizzie Borden, and Tosca on PBS. Live from Lincoln Center’s telecast of New York City Opera’s production of Madama Butterfly under his direction won a 2007 Emmy Award. George’s wide-ranging recording activities include the premiere recording of Steve Reich’s Tehillim for ECM; recordings of Edward Thomas’s Desire Under the Elms, which was nominated for a Grammy; Joe Jackson’s Will Power; and Tobias Picker’s Emmeline. He has conducted numerous world premieres, including Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne, Charles Wuorinen’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, David Lang’s Modern Painters, Hans Werner Henze’s The English Cat, and Terence Blanchard’s Champion.
He received his formal musical training at the Manhattan School of Music and was appointed to the faculty of the school upon his graduation, at which time The Juilliard School awarded him a fellowship as Assistant Conductor with the American Opera Center. Mr. Manahan was chosen as the Exxon Arts Endowment Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony and he made his opera debut with the Santa Fe Opera, conducting the American premiere of Arnold Schoenberg’s Von Heute Auf Morgen.