The Solti Foundation U.S. announces 18 Career Assistance Awards for 2025
Evanston, IL – The Solti Foundation U.S. Board Chair Penny Van Horn and Artistic and Awards Committee Chair Elizabeth Buccheri today announced the young conductors who will receive a 2025 Career Assistance Award (CAA) in this, the Foundation’s 25th anniversary year. Among the 18 American conductors, all 36 years of age or younger, are a music director designate of an American orchestra, a founder and Music Director of an American chamber orchestra, a chief conductor of an Austrian orchestra, two Assistant Conductors at German opera companies, multiple Assistant Conductorships, and more. The conductors hold positions throughout the United States, in Austria, France, and Germany, as well as enjoying guest engagements around the globe. Of the 18 awardees, six of the young conductors are receiving recognition by the Foundation for the first time, while others are being acknowledged once again.
Ms. Van Horn stated, “The recipients of the 2025 Career Assistance Awards are a truly motivated group! From opera companies to orchestras, chamber orchestras and posts with universities and other educational organizations, to fellowships and serving as cover conductors for major American orchestras, this year’s applicants truly demonstrate the passion for classical music that our Foundation’s namesake embodied.
“On behalf of The Solti Foundation U.S., I am pleased to congratulate Harris Andersen, Austin Chanu, Michelle Di Russo, Stefano Flavoni, Kyrian Friedenberg, Alden Gatt, Yoona Jeong, Robert Kahn, Gerald Karni, Andrew J. Kim, Donald Lee, William Long, Ian Niederhoffer, Jacob Niemann, Luke Poeppel, Euan Shields, Matthew Straw, and William Garfield Walker. Congratulations!”
Six years after the Foundation opened its doors in 2000, The Solti Foundation U.S. introduced its first Career Assistance Award in recognition of the exceptional quality of the applicants for The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award (also known as the Solti Fellow). Awarded to selected musicians that applied that 2006 season, it has since been awarded yearly, with the number of awards given varying. To date 185 Career Assistance Awards have been distributed.
Ms. Buccheri, who has guided the Artistic and Awards Committee since the Foundation’s beginnings, said, “The Solti Foundation U.S. continues to receive 50 plus applicants of excellent caliber each season, making not only the decision for The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award a detailed process, but the selecting of Career Assistance Award recipients just as exciting a process. It is inspiring to see so many young musicians striving to perfect their craft, and it bodes exceedingly well for the future of conducting.
“This year’s Career Assistance Award recipients are a driven, creative and diverse group of talented individuals, and we look forward to what they do in the future. We were thrilled to have a dozen women conductors apply this year, and hope to see that number grow. The Foundation continues to follow the careers of all our awardees, and to provide information and encouragement. Congratulations to all the 2025 Career Assistance Award recipients!”
From top left to the right: conductors Harris Andersen, Austin Chanu, Michelle Di Russo. 2nd row: Stefano Flavoni, Kyrian Friedenberg, Alden Gatt. Row 3: Yoona Jeong, Robert Kahn, Gerald Karni, Row 4: Andrew J. Kim, Donald Lee, William Long. Row 5: Ian Niederhoffer, Jacob Niemann, Luke Poeppel. Row 6: Euan Shields, Matthew Straw, and William Garfield Walker.
The 2025 Awardees, in alphabetical order:
Harris Andersen, 24
Harris Andersen currently serves as Assistant Conductor of Frost Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Frost Repertory Orchestra at Miami’s Frost School of Music. He served as Assistant Conductor for the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra (New York) and Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra (Michigan) for the 2022-2023 season as well as Cover Conductor for Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Recipient of a 2025 Conducting Fellowship with South Korea’s Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, he traveled to Seoul in February, working with the orchestra under Music Director Jaap van Zweden, becoming a Finalist and conducting at Lotte Concert Hall in the closing public concert. Maestro Andersen has received additional training via the 2024 Riccardo Muti Opera Academy, (Tokyo, Japan), the 2024 George Enescu Conducting Workshop (Bucharest, Romania), and the Pierre Monteux Festival and School (Hancock, Maine), where he served as Assistant Conductor/Violinist in 2024 and 2023. Anderson was also a Conducting Scholar at Greensboro, North Carolina’s Eastern Music Festival in 2022. In May 2025, Andersen graduated from the Frost School of Music, University of Miami, with a Master of Music, Orchestra Conducting. A trained pianist and violinist, Andersen served as a collaborative pianist at the University of Miami and at Florida International University, and violinist in the Symphony of the Americas and Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra while earning his Master’s degree. He holds a Bachelor of Music, Piano and Violin Performance, from Ithaca College, where he studied piano with Charis Dimaras, and violin with Calvin Wiersma. Conducting teachers include Gerard Schwarz, Cristian Măcelaru, Kenneth Kiesler, Hugh Wolff, and Grant Cooper. Andersen is a recipient of a 2025 Career Assistance Award from The Solti Foundation U.S.
Austin Chanu, 31
American conductor Austin Chanu recently concluded his tenure as Assistant Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Recent and past guest engagements include The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he co-led a project to restore, rebuild, and elevate the underperformed works of American composer William Grant Still; led the world premiere of a newly restored edition of Still’s Wood Notes that he helped create, and conducted Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, and appearances with Filharmonica Banatul Timișoara, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, and Butler County Symphony Orchestra. Chanu recently placed 3rd in the Korean National Symphony Orchestra International Conducting Competition where he also was awarded the orchestra prize. Maestro Chanu holds a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the Eastman School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music in Music Composition from the USC Thornton School of Music. He served as a teaching artist and conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association's Associate Composer Program, as well as a Conducting Fellow at the 2022 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, where he studied with conductor Cristian Măcelaru. Previously, Chanu served as Music Director for the Los Angeles Music and Art School, where he conducted and developed the artistic direction for the youth orchestra, choirs, and jazz band, where he was able to draw on his Latino heritage to foster representation for the predominantly Latinx students and families in the program through select repertoire. Chanu is a three-time recipient of The Solti Foundation U.S.’s Career Assistance Award (2023, 2024, 2025).
Argentinian Italian conductor Michelle Di Russo is Music Director Designate of The Delaware Symphony Orchestra and will begin her tenure with the 2025-26 season. Also Associate Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony, this summer she will be a 2025 Conducting Fellow with the Aspen Music Festival and School and a conductor for the Roche Young Commissions at Lucerne Festival Academy as part of a two-year project where she previously attended as a Fellow. She recently completed a three-year tenure as Associate Conductor of North Carolina Symphony. Upcoming guest engagements include concerts at the Czech Republic’s Prague Summer Nights. Recent season highlights include guest conducting debuts with Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, Toledo Ballet and Fort Worth Symphony, as well as a return to the Delaware Symphony and serving as cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic. Prior guest engagements include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Portland Symphony, and Knoxville Symphony. Di Russo is a former Dudamel Fellow with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Conducting Fellow of the Verbier Festival, mentee of the Taki Alsop Fellowship, a Freeman Conducting Fellow of Chicago Sinfonietta’s Freeman Fellowship program, a Fellow of Lucerne Festival Academy, The Dallas Opera Hart Institute, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and a Joel Revzen Fellow of the Napa Valley Festival. She is a former recipient of the American Austrian Foundation/Faber Young Conductors Fellowship, selected by members from the Vienna Philharmonic. A native of Argentina with Italian roots, Di Russo holds a Doctoral Degree in Orchestral Conducting from Arizona State.
Stefano Flavoni, 31
Stefano Flavoni is the Assistant Conductor of Staatsoper Hamburg and the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg. He has served as Assistant Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, Cover Conductor for the New York Philharmonic and Baltimore Symphony, Associate Conductor of both the Lakes Area Music Festival and American Modern Opera Company, as well as Assistant Conductor for the Bayerische Staatsoper’s production of Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre. Flavoni has assisted such conductors as Kent Nagano, Manfred Honeck, Jane Glover, Michael Tilson Thomas, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Herbert Blomstedt. Highlights of the upcoming 2025-26 season includes serving as Assistant Conductor on works such as Falstaff, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Maria Stuarda, and Madama Butterfly. Flavoni’s 2024-25 season included such works as Tristan und Isolde, Elektra, Ariadne auf Naxos, Boris Godunov, and Orff's Trionfi. An advocate for contemporary music, in Hamburg, Flavoni has served as second conductor on two notable world premieres: Unsuk Chin's new opera Die dunkle Seite des Mondes, and Jörg Widmann's new work Cantata in tempore belli. He has collaborated with such acclaimed vocalists as Stuart Skelton, Simon O'Neill, Iréne Theorin, Alexander Tsymbalyuk, Julia Bullock, Davóne Tines, and Anthony Roth Costanzo. As a pianist, he has performed in recital with such vocalists as David Portillo, Dashon Burton, and Avery Amereau, as well as on harpsichord at the Bayerische Staatsoper with John Holiday at their 2024 summer opera festival. He is a three-time recipient of a Career Assistance Award from The Solti Foundation U.S. (2023, 2024, and 2025).
Assistant Conductor of the Ensemble intercontemporain at the Philharmonie de Paris through 2026, American Canadian conductor Kyrian Friedenberg came to international attention as the winner of the Neeme Järvi Prize 2022 at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival. 2024-25 season highlights include his subscription debut with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, a return to l’Orchestra della Toscana to close the Festivale Sagra Musicale Umbra Perugia, New Year’s concerts with l’Orchestre National de Metz, and an Elizabeth Buccheri Opera Residency at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Verdi’s Rigoletto. With the Ensemble intercontemporain, he assists Pierre Bleuse in the Grand Soir Edgard Varèse leading the first rehearsals of Varèse’s Amériques and Arcana, and then in Boulez’s Répons for the opening of the Boulez Centenary celebrations at the Philharmonie de Paris. With l’Orchestre National de France, he assists Matthias Pintscher for the Festival Présences. Friedenberg’s upcoming 2026 debut with Les Violons du Roy will feature works by Corelli and Handel (both conducted from harpsichord), and Respighi, and Rota, and his December 2025 debut with l'Orchestre National d'île de France will feature works by Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, and Khatchaturian. Guest engagements include the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, l’Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, the Sinfonie-Orchester Biel Solothurn, l’Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, the Moravska Filarmonica, and l’Orchestre des Lauréats du Conservatoire. Friedenberg holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano and Organ Performance from Canada’s McGill University and entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 2020 where he has been mentored by Alain Altinoglu. He is now studying Maestro al cembalo and Baroque Conducting with his mentor Leonardo García-Alarcón at the Haute École de Musique de Genève. Friedenberg’s work has been recognized with two Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards (2024, 2025).
Alden Gatt, 36
Alden Gatt is currently Kapellmeister for the Frankfurt Opera. He is also an award-winning accompanist and coach. In addition to his work with Frankfurt Opera, he has recently guested as both Conductor and as Assistant conductor for Santa Fe Opera, and as Assistant Conductor for The Dallas Opera in the past two seasons. This season, for Frankfurt Opera, Gatt conducted revivals of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf's Doctor & Pharmacist and in 2025-26 will lead the premiere of Harrison Birtwistle's Punch and Judy. Past performances of note include conducting the company's first ever Frankfurt performances of Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba and a revival of Die Zauberflöte. Gatt has been on the music staff at many prestigious opera houses, including the Berlin State Opera, the Vienna’s Theater an der Wien, Opera Leipzig, San Francisco Opera, and The Dallas Opera. He has worked alongside such renowned conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Simone Young, Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle and Emmanuel Villaume. As a collaborative pianist with many well-known artists, including Isabel Leonard and Wallis Giunta, Gatt has appeared in such venues as Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, WNYC’s Greene Space, the Messiaen Festival, and in Leipzig’s historic Mendelssohn House as part of the prestigious Bach Festival. During his three seasons as vocal coach at Opera Leipzig, Mr. Gatt conducted and performed with the world-renowned Gewandhaus Orchestra. Gatt is the recipient of numerous awards as a pianist and pianist accompanist for singers. Fluent in French, Italian, German, and Mandarin Chinese, Mr. Gatt holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied solo piano with Barry Snyder.
Yoona Jeong, 33
Yoong Jeong is the first female Asian conductor appointed Assistant Conductor of both the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra and the Reno Chamber Orchestra. Her other current and previous roles include Music Director of the Slippery Rock University Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the University of Texas University Orchestra, and Assistant Conductor of the Austin Symphony Orchestra. Jeong has collaborated with professional orchestras including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Paris Mozart Orchestra, Pärnu City Orchestra, and Armenian State Symphony Orchestra. With the Pittsburgh Symphony, she assisted Manfred Honeck, Christoph Eschenbach, and Byron Stripling, and worked alongside guest artists such as Lang Lang and Ray Chen. With the Dallas Symphony, she served as a cover and Assistant conductor under Fabio Luisi and worked with Augustin Hadelich. With the Butler Opera Center, she assisted James Conlon for Eugene Onegin and the world premiere of Tzu-Chin Hsu’s Audition Fever. She also conducted at the Pärnu Music Festival, Princeton Festival, Medomak Music Festival, and Pierre Monteux School Music Festival. She was featured in the documentary “Symphonic Sketches,” which was recognized at various film festivals. Yoona Jeong is the recipient of a 2025 Career Assistance Award from The Solti Foundation U.S. She won First Prize at the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra Conducting Competition and the Best Interpretation Prize at the 17th Khachaturian International Competition. In 2024, she was one of 14 conductors selected from 197 applicants across 47 countries for the La Maestra Paris International Conducting Competition. She was also invited to the renowned Järvi Academy to study with Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, and Kristjan Järvi, and Leonid Grin, as well as the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music to study with Cristian Măcelaru.
Robert Kahn, 32
Assistant Conductor at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia since 2022, Dutch American conductor Robert Kahn enjoys a career on both the symphonic and operatic stages. In addition to his current post, Kahn also regularly serves as cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic. During the 2024-25 season, Maestro Kahn led a production of Così fan Tutte with the Academy of Vocal Arts, served as cover conductor for Opera Philadelphia’s production of Don Giovanni, and made his subscription debut with the Marin Symphony (California). He also recently served as cover conductor to Jaap van Zweden with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In summer 2024, he toured Vail and Asia as cover conductor with the New York Philharmonic. Recent and past engagements include the Rochester Symphony and Mannes School of Music, and the opera houses ON SITE OPERA (New York), Music On Site, Academy of Vocal Arts (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and Overtone Industries. Kahn holds a Master’s degree and Professional Studies Diploma from the Mannes School of Music, and a double Bachelor’s degree from John Hopkins University & Peabody Conservatory. Kahn was a Glimmerglass Festival Young Artist Assistant Conductor (2023 and 2022), and as the recipient of a Julius Rudel Conducting Award, served a 2015-2019 Residency with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, where he served as conductor for a children’s concert and donor appreciation concert, and as Assistant Conductor for JoAnn Falletta and guest conductors. Kahn was awarded a Conducting Fellowship at the Curtis Institute of Music from 2019 - 2022, where he was mentored by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and is a recipient of two Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards (2022 and 2025).
Conductor Gerald Karni has established an international career with engagements across Europe and the United States. Recent highlights include performances with the Hamburger Camerata at the Elbphilharmonie, Mozartfest Augsburg, Traunsteiner Sommerkonzerte, the Sibiu Philharmonic, and leading the New York Philharmonic Ensembles in the world premiere of Melinda Wagner’s Elegy Flywheel at Merkin Hall. Other appearances include the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Lucerne Symphony, Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester, and the Verbier Festival and Chamber Orchestras. In May 2024, Karni stepped in on short notice to debut with the Belgrade Philharmonic, leading Strauss’ Don Quixote with cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, Debussy’s Iberia, and Márquez’s Danzón No. 2. Since 2015, Karni has played viola with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim, whom he considers his greatest mentor. A Conducting Fellow at the 2022–23 Verbier Festival, he assisted Sir Simon Rattle, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Gianandrea Noseda, and Klaus Mäkelä. In 2024, he was selected by Alan Gilbert for a masterclass with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and maintains a close mentorship with Maestro Gilbert. In 2022, Karni launched “Side-by-Side,” bringing together musicians from the Tonhalle Zürich, Zurich Opera, and local students to foster community and mentorship through open orchestral readings. Karni holds degrees from the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana and Zurich University of the Arts. He is a three-time recipient of The Solti Foundation U.S.’s Career Assistance Award (2023, 2024, 2025) and a Silver Medalist at Budapest’s 3rd Antál Doráti International Conducting Competition.
Andrew J. Kim, 29
Andrew Jinhong Kim has been Music Director of New York Youth Symphony Orchestra since 2023, leading successful concerts at Carnegie Hall with the orchestra and renowned soloists. He also leads the orchestra’s Robert L. Poster Apprentice Conducting Program. Beginning fall 2025, he is the new Director of the Berkshire Symphony, a semi-professional orchestra consisting of Williams College faculty and professionals playing alongside students selected via audition, and Artist in Residence in Orchestral and Instrumental Activities at Williams College. Kim also serves on the Conducting Institute’s faculty, a comprehensive training program led by Miguel Harth-Bedoya. Highlights of Kim’s 2024-25 season include assisting on Dayton Opera’s production of Aida at Dayton Opera as a 2025 Elizabeth Buccheri Opera Residency recipient, residencies at Rice and Baylor Universities, and guest conducting Berkshire Symphony, Brooklyn Symphony, and Delaware County Youth Orchestra with his mentor Andrew Hauze as the soloist. Kim has guest conducted with orchestras including Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, among others. He regularly serves as a cover conductor with the Minnesota Orchestra and has also served as Assistant Conductor of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. A two-time recipient of The Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award (2024, 2025), Kim studied with Mark Russell Smith at University of Minnesota, with Octavio Más-Arocas at Ithaca College, and with Andrew Hauze at Swarthmore College. He is mentored by Miguel Harth-Bedoya.
Donald Lee, 30
Donald Lee III has appeared with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Des Moines Metro Opera, Cincinnati Opera, South Loop Symphony (Chicago), Chicago City-Wide Symphony Orchestra, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Opera NextGen. Recently a cover conductor for Oakland Symphony, a position he has served since 2024, Lee has also served as cover conductor with California Symphony, the Gateways Festival Orchestra, and Des Moines Metro Opera. Upcoming engagements include serving as cover conductor for Chicago Opera Theater’s She Who Dared in June 2025, conductor at Jackston State University’s Summer Opera Bootcamp in July and serving as conductor and coach at the 2025 Chautauqua Opera Conservatory at the Chautauqua Institution. As an advocate for the performance of new music by under-represented composers, Lee has conducted the music of Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, and Carlos Simon. Lee appeared as the guest conductor for Montgomery Presents the Blacknificent 7, part of the CSO MusicNOW concert series. He has also conducted the workshops of In The Rush, a new opera by Carlos Simon, Lynn Nottage, and Ruby Aiyo-Gerber at Cincinnati Opera and Indiana University. As a pianist, Lee has been a part of the creation of six new operas through Opera Theater St. Louis’ New Works Collective. He was also the pianist for Will Liverman’s The Factotum, improvising in multiple genres throughout the opera. Lee studied conducting at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with Edwin Outwater, where he also had the opportunity to learn from Michael Tilson Thomas. From 2021-24, Lee served as the inaugural conductor/pianist of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center. He is the recipient of a 2025 Career Assistance Award from The Solti Foundation U.S.
William Long, 36
William Long is Conductor and Music Staff at The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and Washington National Opera, and Guest Conductor and Teaching Artist at California’s Music Academy of the West. In 2024, he was awarded a Grammy for his work on the Metropolitan Opera’s recording of Terence Blanchard’s Champion. Long continues his relationship with the London Symphony Orchestra where he has conducted and assisted on a wide variety of programs since 2020. In 2025-26 Maestro Long returns to The Metropolitan Opera for Carmen and makes his Houston Grand Opera debut conducting Hänsel und Gretel. Additional debuts include conducting at the Merola Opera Program and covering assignments with the San Francisco Symphony and Detroit Opera. Recent and past highlights include his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra at The Barbican, his Carnegie Hall debut conducting The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble, Carmen at Washington National Opera, the Centennial Open House Concert for San Francisco Opera and the world premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones with Opera Theater Saint Louis and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Long has worked extensively with San Francisco Opera as Assistant Conductor on productions of Lohengrin, Arabella, Hänsel und Gretel, Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro and the world premiere of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra. The recipient of two Career Assistance Awards from The Solti Foundation U.S. (2023 and 2025), Long holds a Master’s in Conducting and a Bachelor’s in Piano Performance from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He studied with Harold Farberman at the Conductor’s Institute at Bard College and Vance George at Westminster Choir College.
Ian Niederhoffer is the Founder, Music Director, and General Director of Parlando, the acclaimed New York-based chamber orchestra launched in 2019 that integrates storytelling into the concert experience through historical and cultural narrations from the podium. On February 28, 2025, Niederhoffer and Parlando released Censored Anthems, their debut album with Delos Productions and Outhere Music, exploring music as a tool of cultural resilience against Soviet censorship. Dedicated to commissioning new music, Niederhoffer has, as leader of Parlando, commissioned new works by inti figgis-vizueta, Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, Mason Bynes, and Anna Roberts-Gevalt. Past positions include serving as Music Director for the Vermont Mozart Festival, Vienna Summer Music Festival, and Gramercy Opera, Assistant Conductor for On Site Opera, and as cover conductor for Virginia Symphony Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Niederhoffer is a recipient of a 2025 Career Assistance Award by The Solti Foundation U.S. and was selected as a BBC Music Magazine Rising Star in January 2024. In June 2024, Niederhoffer participated in the Tonhälle Zurich Conducting Academy with Paavo Järvi. He is also the winner of three prizes at the 2021 Khachaturian International Conducting Competition. In 2021, while serving as Assistant Conductor for Lahav Shani, Daniel Harding, Antonio Pappano, and Gábor Takacs-Nágy at the Verbier Festival’s Conducting Academy, Niederhoffer was named Artist of Promise. Niederhoffer holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Yale University, which honored him with the Wrexham Prize and the Joseph Lentilhon Selden Memorial Award. His principal teachers include Leonid Grin, Toshiyuki Shimada, and William Boughton.
Jacob Niemann, 27
Jacob Niemann recently completed a three-year residency as the Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music; where he studied under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and led the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. Niemann also recently served as Assistant Conductor at the Aspen Music Festival and School, following fellowships (2022, 2021, 2018) at the Aspen Conducting Academy, where he refined his musicianship and conducting technique under the tutelage of Robert Spano and the insights of guest instructors Mark Stringer, Patrick Summers, and Hugh Wolff. As a cover conductor, Niemann recently served with Minnesota Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, where he has been a frequent guest covering for Rune Bergmann, James Conlon, and Jonathon Heyward. He has accumulated additional extensive experience working alongside Gianandrea Noseda at the National Symphony Orchestra, Krzysztof Urbański with Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Courtney Lewis at Jacksonville Symphony. Niemann has participated in a vast array of prestigious masterclasses and competitions. Under David Zinman, he led the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich; for Michael Tilson Thomas, he conducted the New World Symphony; and with Cristian Măcelaru, he led the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra. Niemann advanced to the quarter-finals of the 17th Donatella Flick Conducting Competition (2023), where he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra. Jacob Niemann is a three-time recipient of The Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award (2023, 2024, 2025). He was awarded the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize from the Aspen Music School and Festival’s Aspen Conducting Academy in 2021. Niemann holds a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music and a Bachelor’s degree in Trombone Performance from Peabody Conservatory. Early in his career, Niemann served as Assistant Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra.
American German conductor and pianist Luke Poeppel is currently a David T. Beals III Assistant Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony. Maestro Poeppel recently served as Associate Conductor for Cerrone & Fleischmann’s opera In A Grove at the 2025 Prototype Festival, stepping in to conduct the full run of performances, which received critical acclaim from such outlets as The New York Times, the Observer, and the Financial Times. In summer 2025, he will conduct In A Grove with Opera Saratoga, as well as serve as the Assistant Conductor for Tosca and Sunday in the Park with George at the Glimmerglass Festival. With the Kansas City Symphony, this season he conducted performances featuring Cody Fry and Project Trio, a series of KinderKonzerts co-hosted by KMBC’s Bryan Busby, and a 'Back to the 80s' Pops concert. Other recent engagements include the Reno Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Modern (in Frankfurt, Germany), the Orchestra of the League of Composers, the Washington Square New Music Ensemble, Exceptet Ensemble, and Rochester Summer Opera. Poeppel has served as a cover conductor for orchestras and ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, the San Diego Symphony, the Tokyo Symphony, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Signal, and Contemporaneous. In the 25-26 season, Poeppel makes his debut with the Grossman Ensemble in Chicago. Based in New York City, Poeppel is a 2024 graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he received his Master's in Conducting. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from New York University. He is the recipient of a 2025 Career Assistance Award from The Solti Foundation U.S.
Euan Shields, 26
Japanese American conductor Euan Shields recently served Assistant Conductor of the Hallé Orchestra and Music Director of the Hallé Youth Orchestra (2023-2025) following his winning the prestigious Siemens Hallé International Conducting Competition. In 2024, he claimed second prize at the Korean National Symphony Orchestra International Conducting Competition in Seoul. This summer Shields tours Italy with the Hallé Youth Orchestra. Upcoming engagements in the 2025-26 season include debuts with the Düsseldorf Symphoniker, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, and Osaka Symphony Orchestra, as well as multiple concerts with the Hallé Orchestra and the Hallé Youth Orchestra in Manchester, United Kingdom. In addition to his work with The Hallé, recent and past engagements include the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchester Biel Solothurn, and Juilliard’s contemporary music ensemble, AXIOM. Born in Japan, Shields’ musical journey began at age eight in Tokyo, where he first took up the cello. After moving to the United States during middle school, he continued his cello studies, and in high school joined the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra where his passion for conducting emerged, leading him to found the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra with fellow Youth Symphony musicians. Shields holds a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from The Juilliard School where he studied with David Robertson, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, studying cello with Antonio Lysy and conducting with Neal Stulberg. His undergraduate studies were fully funded by the prestigious Peter Falk scholarship, which covered his entire four-year education at UCLA. Sheilds is the recipient of three Career Assistance Awards from The Solti Foundation U.S. (2023, 2024, 2025).
Matthew Straw, 27
Matthew Straw is Assistant Conductor of Opera National du Rhin in Strasbourg where he recently made his debut conducting a new Lotte de Beer production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann. Recent and upcoming highlights include debuts with Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Opéra de Reims, Utah Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Des Moines Metro Opera, and the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at Interlochen. As an assistant conductor, Matthew has worked with Donald Runnicles, Cristian Macelaru, and Kazushi Ono, and the Brussels Philharmonic, ORF-Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, and Salzburg Festival. From 2023 to 2024 he was Assistant Conductor of the Utah Symphony, conducting 80 concerts. Matthew studied conducting, piano, voice and philosophy at the MDW University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, the Eastman School of Music, and the Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music where his teachers included Robert Spano, Mark Stringer, Stanislav Ioudenitch, and Neil Varon. Coming from a family of choral conductors and voice teachers, Straw has worked on over 33 opera and musical theatre productions in a variety of roles spanning all corners of the opera house, in productions ranging from standard warhorses to new American opera and in musical theater, with a special focus on the works of Stephen Sondheim. He is a four-time recipient of a Career Assistance Award (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025) and a 2021 Elizabeth Buccheri Opera Residency from The Solti Foundation U.S., a 2015 National YoungArts Award winner, and First Prize winner of the 2014 Schmidt Competition. He was a 2023 Cabrillo Festival Conducting Fellow, a 2021 Salzburg Festival AAF Faber Young Conductors Fellowship recipient, and was the Helen F. Whitaker Fellow at the 2019 Aspen Music Festival.
William Garfield Walker is Chief Conductor of Vienna’s Nova Orchester Wien (NOW!). In 2025, he and NOW! will embark on international engagements, including a 12-city tour of China and a dedicated residency in Shanghai. Among recent highlights is a critically acclaimed performance of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, presented in collaboration with the International Bruckner Society to mark the Bruckner Year. Walker has conducted and collaborated with international ensembles including the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Reino de Aragón, Sofia Philharmonic, Symphony Orchestra of the Balearic Islands, Symphony of the Americas, and the Bacău Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also appeared in concert at the G20 Economic Forum. In fall 2024, he recorded with the Wiener Concert-Verein at the Musikverein in Vienna for the Munich-based label Solo Musica, with a release slated for 2025. He previously served as Assistant Conductor of the English Touring Opera. A former participant in Riccardo Muti’s Italian Opera Academy, Walker is a four-time recipient of a Career Assistance Award from The Solti Foundation U.S. (2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025), as well as a 2023 Elizabeth Buccheri Opera Residency with Washington National Opera. Additional honors include First Prize, the American Prize in Conducting, and being named a Cultural Partner of UNICEF. Walker has taught conducting at the Shanghai Conservatory in China. He completed his studies at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna and London’s Royal College of Music, and trained with conductors including Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi, Vladimir Fedoseyev, and Cristian Măcelaru.
About The Solti Foundation U.S.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, The Solti Foundation U.S. is the foremost organization in the United States dedicated exclusively to helping young conductors. It is the first organization to have created an award in the legendary conductor's honor.
Established in 2000, the Foundation honors the memory of the legendary conductor Sir Georg Solti by lending significant support to career-ready young American musicians. In 2004, the Foundation concentrated the focus of its award program to solely assist talented young American conductors early in their professional careers (its original mission was of a more general arts nature). Since then, it has awarded over 1.75 million dollars through grants and residencies to American conductors.
The Foundation endeavors to seek out those musicians who have chosen to follow a path similar to that followed by Sir Georg himself. In keeping with the spirit of Sir Georg's active approach to his career, young conductors must apply to be considered for the awards.
While dedicated to identifying and assisting young conductors early on, the Foundation is also concerned with the long-term development of its award recipients. It continues to offer support, and maintains a constant interest in their growth and achievements.
The Foundation currently awards the following grants annually:
The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award
The prestigious $30,000 grant is given annually to a single promising American conductor 36 years of age or younger. It is the largest grant currently given to American conductors in the formative years of their careers. The Award, also known as The Solti Fellow, includes door-opening introductions, ongoing professional mentoring, and introductions to two of Chicago's most prestigious performing organizations: Lyric Opera of Chicago and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Since 2004, 20 young artists have received prestigious top awards from the Foundation: Holly Hyun Choe, François López-Ferrer, Keitaro Harada, Earl Lee, Gemma New, Aram Demirjian, Yaniv Dinur, Roderick Cox, Christopher Allen, Karina Canellakis, Vladimir Kulenovic, Cristian Măcelaru, James Feddeck, Case Scaglione, Eric Nielsen, Anthony Barrese, and Ryan McAdams, Eric Melear, Carlos César Rodríguez and Thomas Rimes.
The Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award
The amount of and the number of the Career Assistance Awards given each year varies. The award has been given 185 times since 2006. Conductors may be awarded more than one Career Assistance Award.
The Elizabeth Buccheri Opera Residency
Introduced in 2014, the program places former award recipients with a distinguished opera house for one-on-one mentoring and coaching of an opera during the company's professional season. Over 20 residencies have been awarded, and recipients have worked with numerous stellar opera companies renowned for their artistic excellence across the country. Companies include the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Florentine Opera Company in Milwaukee, North Carolina Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Southwest and Dayton Opera. Conductors cannot apply but are instead selected by the Artistic and Awards Committee. The 2025 residency was awarded to Andrew J. Kim at Dayton Opera.
The Solti Foundation U.S. is the only American Foundation to grant these kinds of awards each year to young American conductors. Citizens or permanent residents of the United States, 36 years of age or younger, who are career-ready artists in the field of conducting are eligible to apply. Applicants for all Solti Foundation U.S. awards must be able to demonstrate a developing career as a symphonic/operatic conductor. All applications from The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award are considered for a Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award. Applications are reviewed by an awards committee comprised of a panel of professionals with broad musical and conducting experience. The Foundation reserves the right to withhold a grant in any given year if the Artistic and Awards Committee does not find suitable applicants in one or more of the various award categories.
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Press Contact for The Solti Foundation U.S
Laura Grant, Grant Communications
917.359.7319
