COLAIANNI PIANO | 7509 Cantrell Road | Little Rock, AR 72207 Tel: 501.603.9988 800.313.7033
Mann is THE man for the job!
ARKANSAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Release
Press Contact
Heather Pace
(501) 666-1761 ext. 124 – Office
(251) 589-9037 – Mobile
(501) 666-3193 - Fax
hpace@ArkansasSymphony.org
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra announces Philip Mann as new Music Director
LITTLE ROCK, AR, April 1, 2010 – The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra announces Philip Mann as its
new Music Director and conductor. Mr. Mann will step to the podium on the Robinson Center Music Hall
stage beginning his tenure in October for the 2010-2011 concert season.
“I’m thrilled at the prospect of joining the ASO as it turns the page and embarks on a new chapter in its
already celebrated history. The orchestra, with its talented, committed musicians, is poised to accomplish
great things in Little Rock and beyond. It is a gem of which all Arkansans should be very proud, and I
look forward to helping make this new era a special one indeed,” says Mr. Mann.
ASO Board Chair Martin Thoma said, “Philip Mann energized this community. Our audience, our
players, our board...virtually everyone who interacted with Philip was excited about his impact and the
prospect of him joining the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. I'm delighted that we've been able to recruit
one of the symphony world's rising stars to Arkansas. It's going to be exciting to watch what Philip and
our players can create together.”
Using musician and audience surveys collected after each candidate’s performance, Mr. Mann was
unanimously selected by an eleven member search committee including ASO musicians, board members,
and executive director. Mr. Mann’s appointment was also unanimously approved by the orchestra’s Board
of Directors.
“At the heart of music making is collaboration, bringing together the voices of many different groups. Our
new music director was selected very much in the same way. From our pool of nearly 200 candidates,
Philip Mann rose to the top as the favorite of the musicians. During our week together I felt challenged to
bring new sounds and ideas to the stage. I'm thrilled to get the opportunity to make great music with him
again as the new music director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.” Daniel Cline, President of the
ASO Orchestra Committee.
Regarded by the BBC as a “talent to watch out for, who conveys a mature command of his forces,” Mr.
Mann will begin a five-year contract with the ASO effective with the 2010-2011 season. During his
inaugural season, Mann will conduct up to 15 weeks of concerts including the Stella Boyle Smith
Masterworks and ACXIOM Pops! Live performances, Children’s Concerts and run-out performances
throughout the state.
Christina Littlejohn, ASO’s Executive Director, said, “The most important part of the Music Director’s
job is leading the orchestra and creating magic in the concert hall. Philip did that. His concert was
inspiring, engaging and transforming. One audience member wrote, ‘I saw color, lights, felt it all.’
Another wrote, ‘I had to remind myself to breathe.’ I am so thrilled that Philip was just as enthusiastic
about joining the Arkansas community as we were about him.”
Mr. Mann adds, “A life without music and the arts is not whole. Sharing music’s expressive powers, its
meaning and relevance to all of us, and its capacity to change lives will be a mission that we will embrace
energetically. We’ll strive to reach listeners in new ways, and attract ever greater numbers, including the
young and those who have yet to set foot in a concert hall.”
Mr. Mann, currently an American Conducting Fellow and the San Diego Symphony’s Assistant
Conductor, was one of five candidates vying for the position left vacant when Maestro David Itkin
announced his departure after serving for 17 years.
Adds Littlejohn, “In addition to his clear artistic leadership, Mann can communicate in a way that excites
people of all ages to tryout symphony concerts and experience the transformative power of a live
symphony concert. We are so excited to welcome Philip and his wife Tatiana Roitman Mann to
Arkansas.”
About Philip Mann
Hailed by the BBC as a “talent to watch out for, who conveys a mature command of his forces,”
American conductor Philip Mann is quickly gaining a reputation as a dynamic artist on three continents.
Currently, Mann is an American Conducting Fellow and the San Diego Symphony’s Assistant Conductor,
where he has conducted over 150 performances of Jacobs Subscription Masterworks, Symphony
Exposed, family, education, Kinder Konzert, pops, and other special programs. The winner of the Vienna
Philharmonic’s Karajan Fellowship at the Salzburg Festival, Mann has also served as cover conductor for
the Cleveland Orchestra and as the Schmidt Conducting Fellow of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
Active in both symphonic and operatic repertory, Mann has served as music director of the Oxford City
Opera, Oxford Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra/Oxford Pops, principal guest conductor of the Arizona
Camerata, and assistant conductor of the Indiana University Opera Theater. He maintains an active
schedule as a guest conductor, with his New York debut at Avery Fischer Hall. As a proponent of new
and American music, he has conducted numerous world premieres of prominent composers, including
John Corigliano and worked with leading artists like Joshua Bell.
Elected a Rhodes Scholar, he taught at Oxford, and won the annual competition to become principal
conductor of the Oxford University Philharmonia. Under his leadership, the Philharmonia received
international attention, and the Swedish press acclaimed their Brahms Symphony No. 4 as “perfectly
skillful…joyful… overwhelming.”
While in England, Mann studied with Alan Hazeldine of London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama,
Colin Metters at the Royal Academy of Music, and Marios Papadopolous of the Oxford Philomusica. He
worked with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center’s National
Conducting Institute and Michael Tilson Thomas at the New World Symphony. Mentorship with Esa-
Pekka Salonen and Jorma Panula followed at the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Conducting Masterclasses.
He has also worked under Imre Pallo, David Effron, John Poole, and Thomas Baldner at Indiana
University where he was appointed visiting lecturer in orchestral conducting. Additional studies came
under the Bolshoi Theater’s music director, Alexander Vedernikov at the Moscow State Conservatory,
Gustav Meir, Kenneth Keisler, and with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Robert Ward at the Conductor’s
Institute at Spoleto.
Trained as a violinist, Mann has appeared as a soloist, concertmaster, and chamber player in the US and
abroad. He is the recipient of numerous awards including a commendation from the Lieutenant Governor
of California, ASU Herberger College of Fine Arts Outstanding Graduate Award, and a service award
from the mayor of the city of Chandler, Arizona.
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra
The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 44th season in 2009-20010 under the leadership of
Music Director David Itkin. The ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, and
performs more than thirty concerts each year through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series,
ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series, River Rhapsodies Chamber Series, and numerous special events including
SuperPOPS!
###
ARKANSAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Release
Press Contact
Heather Pace
(501) 666-1761 ext. 124 – Office
(251) 589-9037 – Mobile
(501) 666-3193 - Fax
hpace@ArkansasSymphony.org
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra announces Philip Mann as new Music Director
LITTLE ROCK, AR, April 1, 2010 – The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra announces Philip Mann as its
new Music Director and conductor. Mr. Mann will step to the podium on the Robinson Center Music Hall
stage beginning his tenure in October for the 2010-2011 concert season.
“I’m thrilled at the prospect of joining the ASO as it turns the page and embarks on a new chapter in its
already celebrated history. The orchestra, with its talented, committed musicians, is poised to accomplish
great things in Little Rock and beyond. It is a gem of which all Arkansans should be very proud, and I
look forward to helping make this new era a special one indeed,” says Mr. Mann.
ASO Board Chair Martin Thoma said, “Philip Mann energized this community. Our audience, our
players, our board...virtually everyone who interacted with Philip was excited about his impact and the
prospect of him joining the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. I'm delighted that we've been able to recruit
one of the symphony world's rising stars to Arkansas. It's going to be exciting to watch what Philip and
our players can create together.”
Using musician and audience surveys collected after each candidate’s performance, Mr. Mann was
unanimously selected by an eleven member search committee including ASO musicians, board members,
and executive director. Mr. Mann’s appointment was also unanimously approved by the orchestra’s Board
of Directors.
“At the heart of music making is collaboration, bringing together the voices of many different groups. Our
new music director was selected very much in the same way. From our pool of nearly 200 candidates,
Philip Mann rose to the top as the favorite of the musicians. During our week together I felt challenged to
bring new sounds and ideas to the stage. I'm thrilled to get the opportunity to make great music with him
again as the new music director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.” Daniel Cline, President of the
ASO Orchestra Committee.
Regarded by the BBC as a “talent to watch out for, who conveys a mature command of his forces,” Mr.
Mann will begin a five-year contract with the ASO effective with the 2010-2011 season. During his
inaugural season, Mann will conduct up to 15 weeks of concerts including the Stella Boyle Smith
Masterworks and ACXIOM Pops! Live performances, Children’s Concerts and run-out performances
throughout the state.
Christina Littlejohn, ASO’s Executive Director, said, “The most important part of the Music Director’s
job is leading the orchestra and creating magic in the concert hall. Philip did that. His concert was
inspiring, engaging and transforming. One audience member wrote, ‘I saw color, lights, felt it all.’
Another wrote, ‘I had to remind myself to breathe.’ I am so thrilled that Philip was just as enthusiastic
about joining the Arkansas community as we were about him.”
Mr. Mann adds, “A life without music and the arts is not whole. Sharing music’s expressive powers, its
meaning and relevance to all of us, and its capacity to change lives will be a mission that we will embrace
energetically. We’ll strive to reach listeners in new ways, and attract ever greater numbers, including the
young and those who have yet to set foot in a concert hall.”
Mr. Mann, currently an American Conducting Fellow and the San Diego Symphony’s Assistant
Conductor, was one of five candidates vying for the position left vacant when Maestro David Itkin
announced his departure after serving for 17 years.
Adds Littlejohn, “In addition to his clear artistic leadership, Mann can communicate in a way that excites
people of all ages to tryout symphony concerts and experience the transformative power of a live
symphony concert. We are so excited to welcome Philip and his wife Tatiana Roitman Mann to
Arkansas.”
About Philip Mann
Hailed by the BBC as a “talent to watch out for, who conveys a mature command of his forces,”
American conductor Philip Mann is quickly gaining a reputation as a dynamic artist on three continents.
Currently, Mann is an American Conducting Fellow and the San Diego Symphony’s Assistant Conductor,
where he has conducted over 150 performances of Jacobs Subscription Masterworks, Symphony
Exposed, family, education, Kinder Konzert, pops, and other special programs. The winner of the Vienna
Philharmonic’s Karajan Fellowship at the Salzburg Festival, Mann has also served as cover conductor for
the Cleveland Orchestra and as the Schmidt Conducting Fellow of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
Active in both symphonic and operatic repertory, Mann has served as music director of the Oxford City
Opera, Oxford Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra/Oxford Pops, principal guest conductor of the Arizona
Camerata, and assistant conductor of the Indiana University Opera Theater. He maintains an active
schedule as a guest conductor, with his New York debut at Avery Fischer Hall. As a proponent of new
and American music, he has conducted numerous world premieres of prominent composers, including
John Corigliano and worked with leading artists like Joshua Bell.
Elected a Rhodes Scholar, he taught at Oxford, and won the annual competition to become principal
conductor of the Oxford University Philharmonia. Under his leadership, the Philharmonia received
international attention, and the Swedish press acclaimed their Brahms Symphony No. 4 as “perfectly
skillful…joyful… overwhelming.”
While in England, Mann studied with Alan Hazeldine of London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama,
Colin Metters at the Royal Academy of Music, and Marios Papadopolous of the Oxford Philomusica. He
worked with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center’s National
Conducting Institute and Michael Tilson Thomas at the New World Symphony. Mentorship with Esa-
Pekka Salonen and Jorma Panula followed at the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Conducting Masterclasses.
He has also worked under Imre Pallo, David Effron, John Poole, and Thomas Baldner at Indiana
University where he was appointed visiting lecturer in orchestral conducting. Additional studies came
under the Bolshoi Theater’s music director, Alexander Vedernikov at the Moscow State Conservatory,
Gustav Meir, Kenneth Keisler, and with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Robert Ward at the Conductor’s
Institute at Spoleto.
Trained as a violinist, Mann has appeared as a soloist, concertmaster, and chamber player in the US and
abroad. He is the recipient of numerous awards including a commendation from the Lieutenant Governor
of California, ASU Herberger College of Fine Arts Outstanding Graduate Award, and a service award
from the mayor of the city of Chandler, Arizona.
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra
The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 44th season in 2009-20010 under the leadership of
Music Director David Itkin. The ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, and
performs more than thirty concerts each year through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series,
ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series, River Rhapsodies Chamber Series, and numerous special events including
SuperPOPS!
###
