LPO - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Adelaide Wisdom Benjamin Music Director and Principal Conductor
- Music Director and Principal Conductor
Welcome to the 2023-2024 season, the inaugural season of Music Director Matthew Kraemer! Recognized for his "musical sensitivity" and "energized sense of interpretation", Matthew Kraemer is quickly making his mark among young American conductors for his inspired performances and versatility. The Buffalo News notes, "He presents a tall, dignified and stately podium presence with a quite clear beat, a good sense of shaping melodic lines, and an all-business attitude that focused on the music without any histrionics." He also serves as the Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. His active guest conducting schedule includes appearances with many of the nation's finest orchestras, including the Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Columbus, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Nashville, North Carolina, Saint Louis, Spokane, Syracuse, Toledo, and Virginia symphony orchestras, as well as Canada's Mississauga Symphony, Niagara Symphony, and Hamilton Philharmonic and in Europe with the Vidin Philharmonic and the Orquesta de Cadaqués.
Kraemer served as associate conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic from 2009 to 2014, where he regularly led the orchestra in each of its concert series. A passionate advocate for new music, he has performed the works of many living composers during his career. He has led the American Composers Orchestra's EarShot readings with several orchestras in the United States and the ICO was awarded a Virginia B. Toulmin commission for emerging women composers under his leadership. Kraemer has also served as Music Director of the Erie Chamber Orchestra and associate conductor of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
Increasingly recognized for his committed advocacy of music education and his devotion to young audiences, he serves on the faculty at New England Music Camp, where he conducts the symphony orchestra. The Buffalo Philharmonic's award-winning education concerts grew exponentially under his leadership, expanding to reach over 40,000 students throughout western New York. He played an integral role in the creation of the orchestra's successful live broadcast concerts with Time Warner Cable, as well as implementing new collaborations with many organizations in the Buffalo community. His performances are broadcast regularly on NPR's Performance Today.
Recipient of the distinguished Herbert von Karajan Conducting Fellowship and the Bruno Walter Career Development Grant, Kraemer served a residency with the Vienna Philharmonic at the 2006 Salzburg Music Festival. Equally at home in the opera and ballet pit, his operatic credits include fully-staged productions of The Magic Flute, The Barber of Seville, Madame Butterfly, La Traviata, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Happy Birthday Wanda June (world premiere), Trouble in Tahiti, and Jonathan Dove's Mansfield Park (American professional premiere), as well as ballet productions with Virginia Ballet Theatre, Ohio Ballet, Dance Kaleidoscope, Neglia Ballet Artists, and Todd Rosenlieb Dance. He has collaborated with many leading artists, including Lang Lang, Beatrice Rana, Norman Krieger, Philippe Quint, Jennifer Koh, Elmar Oliveira, Rachel Barton Pine, David Kim, Gary Karr, Awadagin Pratt, Richard Stolzman, Wu Man, PRISM Saxophone Quartet, Bela Fleck, Mark O'Connor, Ben Folds, Chris Botti, Jim Brickman, the Indigo Girls, Il Volo, Wynona Judd, and Natalie Merchant, among others. As a frequent collaborator with Broadway superstar Idina Menzel, he served as conductor for many of her symphony engagements nationwide. An Indiana native, Kraemer studied conducting in Vienna, Austria with Salvador Mas Conde and was twice a fellowship conductor at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. He has additionally participated in the National Arts Center Conductor's Program in Ottawa, Canada. His conducting teachers include David Zinman, Robert Spano, Stanley DeRusha, and Jorma Panula. Kraemer is a graduate of Butler University and the University of Nevada, where he assisted former Cincinnati Symphony concertmaster Phillip Ruder. An accomplished violinist, he was a member of the Nightingale String Quartet. When he is not performing, Kraemer enjoys cooking, running, and reading. He and his wife, Megan, reside in New Orleans with their sons Gabriel and Nathaniel.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Orchestra Personnel Manager
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Patron Services Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Director of Education & Strategic Initiatives
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Treasurer of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Executive Director
Anwar Nasir (he/him/his) joined the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra as Executive Director in July 2021. In his new role, Nasir will ensure the fulfillment of the LPO's longstanding mission to transform people and communities through music, while helping to craft the next stage in the organization's growth. Previous to joining the LPO, Nasir was the Chief Revenue and Advancement Officer for the Omaha Symphony. He established the vision and strategy for relationship management and led the public relations and revenue generation teams for the organization. During his tenure, he helped the organization launch its first creative rebrand in more than a decade, retool its subscription packages to increase paid capacity, launch a centennial anniversary season, and introduced a new music director.
Anwar has been named an emerging leader in the arts and culture space by the League of American Orchestras and Arts for LA. He also serves as co-chair for the League of American Orchestras Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion working group for staff of color and the Professional Development Committee of the International Ticketing Association and has been selected to the Tessitura Network's inaugural Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion Advisory Committee. He is also the co-founder of the Black Arts Leadership Alliance, formed to support African Americans in pursuing and developing careers in arts management.
In October 2018, the League of American Orchestras selected Anwar as one of twelve for its prestigious, year-long Emerging Leaders Program (ELP). The ELP is widely considered the orchestra field's premier program for cultivating the potential of rising professionals. Through collaboration across a national cohort, industry-specific leadership projects, and dynamic mentoring from top industry professionals, members of the ELP shape and influence the orchestra world as it evolves to meet changing needs and audiences.
An in-demand speaker, Anwar has presented at several national and international conferences with topics as diverse as integrating technology in customer experience, IDEA topics (inclusion, diversity, equity, and access), data-backed decision making, patron acquisition and retention, social media, and professional development/career transitions.
Anwar is a former professional dancer and is a graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in communication and rhetorical studies. The Philadelphia native has held leadership positions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl, Atlanta Ballet, and Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation.
He has also completed management training programs through the League of American Orchestra's Essentials of Orchestra Management program and the Georgia Center for Nonprofit's certification of Nonprofit Organization Management.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Secretary of the Board of Trustees
- Associate Concertmaster in January
Education:
Master of Music - Indiana University
Bachelor of Music - Vanderbilt University
Benjamin Hart joined the Louisiana Philharmonic as Associate Concertmaster in January, 2013. He frequently serves the LPO as concertmaster and soloist. He also participates in the LPO's Musician-run model as Corporate Secretary. Ben spends his summers in Cooperstown, NY, as a member of the Glimmerglass Opera Festival Orchestra. He is a long-time member of the IRIS Collective in Germantown, TN. He has played at the Arizona Music Festival, Colorado Music Festival, and Britt Festival, among others.
Benjamin earned a Masters degree as a fellowship student at Indiana University, where he studied with Alexander Kerr. He received a Bachelors from Vanderbilt University under Christian Teal. His early studies in his hometown of St. Louis, MO were with the Arianna String Quartet, John McGrosso, Dr. Richard Kent Perry, Rebecca Markowski, and Carrie Telthorst. Benjamin maintains a private studio at his home in Terrytown, where he teaches violin students of all ages and abilities.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- President of the Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- General Manager
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Vice President of the Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Education
Dave Anderson is a professional double bassist, joined the Louisiana Philharmonic in New Orleans in September of 1996 after winning their Principal Bass audition.
Prior to that appointment, he performed and recorded regularly with the Louisville Orchestra and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, among others. Since 1994, he has served as Principal Bassist in the Britt Festival Orchestra in Oregon.
He has performed extensively with many diverse ensembles including, the Aspen Festival, Chautauqua (NY) Festival, Colorado Philharmonic (NRO), Colorado Music Festival, the LaSalle Quartet, and as a soloist with Richard Stoltzman, Gene Bertoncini, Nigel Kennedy, Bobby McFerrin, Doc Severinsen and many others. He has served as Bass Instructor for the Music School at Loyola University and also on the Board of Directors of the International Society of Bassists (ISB) as bassist/composer.
Mr. Anderson began his pursuits in composition in 1984, recognizing that the solo repertoire for his instrument was limited. The influence of Frank Proto, one of his finest teachers, also led him to turn to involved composition. Since then, his published work has expanded to other solo instruments, as well as for chamber orchestras and small ensembles. He has published bass duets and quartets, including a bass quartet that was performed to acclaim at the Chamber Music Festival at Indiana University in 1993. Anderson won first prize in the 1995 Allen Ostrander International Trombone Composition Competition, sponsored by Ithaca college, for Elegy for Van, a work for solo bass trombone and brass choir, which he composed as a tribute to the late Lewis Van Haney, former trombonist with the New York Philharmonic. Several years ago, Anderson completed a concerto for Bass Trombone, commissioned by his father, Edwin Anderson, former bass trombonist with the Cleveland Orchestra. His Concerto for Double Bass, Strings & Harp, commissioned by Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Bassist Hal Robinson was premiered at the ISB Convention in June of 1997 and performed on the 1997-98 subscription series of the Philadelphia Orchestra season, Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting. His current work includes a second symphony, as well as several commissions.
Also a prolific electric bassist, Anderson loves playing with pedal steel guitarist, David Easley. The group known as the Anderson/Easley Project perform original music of many genres including free jazz, funk, bop, minimalist and many wonderfully unique approaches to dynamics and expression. Anderson also plays with Algorhythm Method, and SOFA KING BIG SOUL, bands that fuse many different styles including hard rock, funk, blues, jazz, and New Orleans R&B.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Associate Director of Finance & Administration
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Director of Production
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Immediate past President
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Orchestra Vice President
Education:
Master of Music - Indiana University
Bachelor of Music - Indiana University
Hannah Yim joined the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in 2007. She has a BM and MM in music performance from the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, where she studied with Alexander Kerr and Henryk Kowalski. She previously studied with William Kennedy in her hometown of Irvine, California.
Hannah has played with numerous other orchestras including the New World Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, and Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. She is also an avid chamber musician, and has performed in the UC Berkeley Wednesday Noon Concert series, the Trinity Artist series at Trinity Episcopal Church, Bach Around the Clock, and the Champagne chamber series at the Breckenridge Music Festival where she currently spends her summers. She was also a member of the National Repertory Orchestra in 2005-6, and the Mendocino Music Festival in 2000. Hannah has also enjoyed collaborations in ethnic and folk idioms, performing with Pablo Ziegler in 2007, and with Anat Cohen in the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival later that year. In her free time, Hannah enjoys visiting galleries, cooking for friends, photography, reading, and dancing. She currently maintains a small teaching studio in Houma, LA.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Operations Manager
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Education:
Doctor of Musical Arts - Rutgers University
Master of Music - Rutgers University
Bachelor of Music - Rice University
Jeanne Jaubert joined the LPO in 1998.
Originally from Texas, she holds a Bachelor of Music from Rice University where she studied cello with Shirley Trepel. She then became a student of Zara Nelsova and earned both Masters and Doctoral degrees from Rutgers University in New Jersey. She was glad to get a job in New Orleans because if she'd stayed in New Jersey much longer she would have had to start saying she was from there (no offense to anyone, she passed a splendid five years there, really … it is "the Garden State").
Jeanne is an experienced and dedicated teacher, and she also enjoys performing solo and chamber music concerts outside of the LPO. Nolacelli, the cello quartet of which she is a member, has a repertoire of eclectic and exciting music and is available for recitals and other events.
Also an accomplished dancer and choreographer, Jeanne has been thrilled to be able to pursue that passion alongside her musical career. Since founding the New Orleans-based contemporary dance company Happensdance in 1999 she has created over twenty new works for the group. Her work has garnered numerous "Big Easy" Classical Arts awards and nominations and has received support from the Arts Council of New Orleans, the Mobile Arts Council, and the Louisiana Division of the Arts from whom she received the 2002 Arts Fellowship in Choreography. Of her solo "Bourbon Street Story", the New York Times' Jennifer Dunning wrote that it "evoked an entire city".
Jeanne lives in New Orleans with her daughter Sif and their two dogs Willie Nelson and Cornbread.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Orchestra President
Education:
Master of Music - Loyola University New Orleans
Bachelor of Music Education - Loyola University New Orleans
Orchestra. He is one of the founding members of the Philharmonic and has served two terms as its President. He has held the position of Clarinet Instructor on the faculty of Loyola University for over thirty years. He is a Yamaha Performing Artist and is also sponsored by Ligaphone Ligatures of Paris. During the summer, he is on the faculty of the Interharmony International Music Festival in Italy. John is married to former LPO clarinetist Stephanie Thompson.
John grew up in the "Lower Ninth Ward" of New Orleans in a family filled with generations of musical and graphic artists. He has played orchestral music professionally for over 50 years. In addition to the LPO, he has also worked with the San Antonio Symphony and the orchestras of the Santa Fe and Glimmerglass Operas. He was a member of the Spike Jones Band when that group was revamped in 1992.
John has recorded with artists ranging in diversity from Randy Newman to Nine Inch Nails. His latest recording project was sponsored by Loyola University and the Yamaha Corporation. It resulted in Old Wine In New Bottles, which is available on Spotify and Apple Music. He performed the works from this project live at ClarinetFest 2007 in Vancouver and has been featured at numerous International Clarinet Association ClarinetFests, including the world premiere of Stephen Dankner's Adagio Appassionata: New Orleans, August 29, 2005. He was a Host of ClarinetFest 2001 in New Orleans. John presented the U.S. premiere of Dietrich Erdmann's Concerto for Bass Clarinet (with the Louisiana Philharmonic) in February, 2005.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Artistic Coordinator & Assistant Librarian
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Patron Services Manager
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Assistant Director of Communications
Job Titles:
- Music Director
- Adelaide Wisdom Benjamin Music Director and Principal Conductor
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Co - Chair Finance
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Head
- Librarian
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Principal
- Adjunct Professor of Tuba
Robert Nuñez has served as Principal Tuba of both the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the New Orleans Opera since 1992. In addition, he performs as tubist with both the Louisiana Philharmonic Brass Quintet, and the New Orleans Uptown Brass quintet.
Mr. Nuñez is currently Adjunct Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at both the Tulane University and the University of New Orleans. He has held previous appointments as Professor of Tuba at both Delgado University and Loyola University New Orleans, as well as serving as Brass Instructor for the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps from 1988-1996. In 2006, Mr. Nuñez performed with both the New York Philharmonic and the Nashville Symphony in a series of collaborative concerts with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
His teachers include legendary pedagogue Arnold Jacobs, Principal Tuba of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1944-1988, Neal Tidwell, former Principal Tuba of the New Orleans Symphony and Richard Erb, former bass trombonist of both the New Orleans Symphony and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
Born in New Orleans and raised in Chalmette, Louisiana, Robert's family has robust historical roots as ancestors from both branches of his family were colonists who preceded the Louisiana Purchase; the Cantrell family arriving to New Orleans in 1724, and the Nuñez family residing in St. Bernard Parish in 1789. Robert Nuñez is the great-grandson of Alcide "Yellow" Nuñez, the pioneer Dixieland clarinetist who performed with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Louisiana Five, The Moonlight Serenaders, and Papa Jack Laine's Reliance Brass Bands from 1912-1934.
A diverse and eclectic artist, Mr. Nuñez demonstrates exceptional proficiency as a soloist and performer within a myriad of ensembles and musical genres (orchestral, opera, chamber, choral, Dixieland, Jazz, rock et. al.). Mr. Nuñez's solo presentations include his performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Tuba Concerto in f minor with the Louisiana Philharmonic in the 1999-2000 season, and his presentation of the Concerto for Horn No. 1 in Eb by Richard Strauss with the New Orleans Concert Band in May 2010. Mr. Nuñez has performed with numerous brass ensembles; including the Fanfare Brass Quintet, a school outreach ensemble for disadvantaged children. He is a founding member of both the New Orleans Uptown Brass quintet and the Houston Metropolis Brass Quintet. Mr. Nuñez has appeared with the Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble, and remains active in many Dixieland groups both in and around New Orleans. Robert Nuñez has twice joined forces with Ray Charles and his Orchestra, played with both of the rock bands' Kansas and The Moody Blues, and performed with luminary jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck and his quartet during a joint endeavor between Dave and the Baltimore Choral Arts Society.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Education:
Bachelor of Music - The Juilliard School
Shaquille Southwell, clarinetist, joins the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra coming from Atlanta, GA. He began playing clarinet at the age of fourteen after some foundational music education on the saxophone in middle school. While in high school, he was a student of Alcides Rodriguez through the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's Talent Development Program.
Shaquille graduated from The Juilliard School with a Bachelor of Music degree, as a student of Anthony McGill. Additional studies were with Marci Gurnow, Jon Manasse, and Katherine White. He spent two summers in Sapporo, Japan as a member of the Pacific Music Festival Academy and has performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Ballet, and the Atlanta Opera.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Managing Director
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Education Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees