Season Schedule

About the Featured Artists

Hailed as “fearless, bold, and a life-force” (San Diego Union-Tribune) and “a brilliant and commanding conductor with unmistakable charisma” (Leipzig Volkszeitung), Ken-David Masur is celebrating his eighth season as Principal Conductor of the Chicago Symphony’s Civic Orchestra, his first summer as Artistic Partner with the Oregon Bach Festival, and recently concluded his tenure as Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony.

Season highlights of Masur’s 2026/27 season include a return engagement with the Nashville Symphony as well as debuts with the Houston Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Charlottesville Symphony, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, and Symphony San Jose, in addition to his weeks with the Chicago Symphony Civic Orchestra. In January 2027, Masur embarks on a tour with renowned violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter leading the Tokyo Philharmonic and the China National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra in Beijing, and later in the season leads the Dresden Philharmonic with baritone Thomas Hampson.

Masur’s tenure in Milwaukee was notable for innovative thematic programming and bridge-building, including a festival celebrating the music of the 1930s, when the Bradley Symphony Center was built; the Water Festival, which highlighted local community partners whose work centers on water conservation and education; a new annual city-wide Bach Festival, celebrating the abiding appeal of J.S. Bach’s music in an ever-changing world. He has also instituted a multi-season artist-in-residence program, and has led highly-acclaimed performances of major choral works, including a glorious staging of the St. Matthew Passion which was summed up by the Shepherd Express as “WOW. Passion, indeed.”

Masur has conducted orchestras around the world including Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, l’Orchestre National de France, Kristiansand Symphony, NFM Wrocław Philharmonic in Poland, and Tokyo’s Yomiuri Nippon Symphony. He makes regular festival appearances at Ravinia, Tanglewood, the Hollywood Bowl, Verbier, the Pacific Music Festival and the Oregon Bach Festival.

Masur is passionate about contemporary music and has conducted and commissioned numerous new works including Wynton Marsalis, Augusta Read Thomas, Unsuk Chin among others. He has recorded with the English Chamber Orchestra and the Stavanger Symphony and received a Grammy nomination from the Latin Recording Academy for the album Salon Buenos Aires.

Masur and his wife, pianist Melinda Lee Masur are founders and Artistic Directors of the Chelsea Music Festival, an annual summer festival in New York City, with programs ranging from baroque and classical to contemporary and jazz, with a special emphasis of intersecting with the culinary and visual arts. Founded in 2010, The Festival has been praised by The New York Times as a “gem of a series” and by TimeOutNY as an “impressive addition to New York’s cultural ecosystem.”

Born and raised in Leipzig, Germany, Masur was trained at the Mendelssohn Academy in Leipzig, the Gewandhaus Children‘s Choir, the Detmold Academy and the “Hanns Eisler” Conservatory in Berlin. While an undergraduate at Columbia University in New York, Masur became the first music director of the Bach Society Orchestra & Chorus with which he toured to Germany and recorded the music of J.S. Bach and his sons.

Music education and working with the next generation of young artists are of major importance to Masur. In addition to his work with Civic Orchestra of Chicago, he has conducted orchestras and led masterclasses at many international conservatories and festivals.

Universally recognized among today’s top performing artists, Vadim Gluzman breathes new life and passion into the golden era of the 19th and 20th centuries‘ violin tradition. Gluzman’s wide repertoire embraces new music, and his performances are heard around the world through livestreams, broadcasts, and a striking catalogue of award-winning recordings on BIS, ONYX, Platoon and EuroArts labels.

The Israeli violinist has appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Israel Philharmonic, London Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw and many others. He collaborates with leading conductors including Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnányi, Tugan Sokhiev, Sir Andrew Davis, Neeme Järvi, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Michael Tilson Thomas, Semyon Bychkov, Hannu Lintu, and appears at Ravinia, Tanglewood, BBC Proms, and the North Shore Chamber Music Festival in Chicago, founded by Gluzman in 2011.

This season features performances with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Dresden Philharmonic, Baltimore and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras. He appears in recital at Leipzig’s Gewandhaus and continues his roles as Creative Partner and Principal Guest Artist with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio, and as Artistic Director of the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, Colorado.

Distinguished Artist in Residence at the Peabody Conservatory, where he teaches a selected group of young violinists, Gluzman performs on the legendary 1690 ‘ex-Leopold Auer’ Stradivari, on extended loan through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

Violinist Katherine McLin enjoys a diverse and prolific career as a concerto soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral performer. Since making her debut with the Oregon Symphony at age 15, she has performed in 43 states as well as throughout Europe. Her performances have been broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today, NYC’s WQXR, and various national and local stations and she appears on 21 recordings.

In addition to serving as Concertmaster of ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, McLin is also Concertmaster of the Arizona Philharmonic (Music Director Peter Bay) and has held titled positions in the Oregon Bach Festival Modern Orchestra, Arizona MusicFest Orchestra, Michigan Opera Theater Orchestra, and the Aspen Chamber Orchestra.

She is a regular guest artist at summer festivals including the Rocky Ridge Festival (CO), Saarburg Chamber Music Festival (Germany), Interharmony International Festival (Italy), Chintimini Chamber Music Festival (OR), Festival of the Black Hills (SD), and Fresno Summer Orchestra Academy (CA). Featured conference performances include the American String Teachers Association in a triple concerto with jazz great Regina Carter, as well as the International Double Reed Society, International Clarinet Association, International Schoenberg Conference, and others.

A dedicated educator, McLin has been twice honored by the American String Teachers Association to present violin master classes at their national conference—most recently as the featured artist for the Collegiate Violin Master Class in 2024 in Kentucky. She has given master classes at over 50 institutions worldwide, including the University of Michigan, Trinity College London, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, and Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music.

Recognized for her leadership and teaching excellence, McLin was awarded the Evelyn Smith Professorship in Music at Arizona State University in 2016 for her contributions to the profession. Additionally, she was selected as a finalist for ASU’s university-wide Professor of the Year from over 1900 faculty, in 2007.

Professor McLin earned her doctorate in violin performance from the University of Michigan, holds additional degrees from Indiana University and the Oberlin Conservatory and was an orchestral fellow for three years at the Aspen Music Festival.