Keri-Lynn Wilson

Biography

Maestro Keri-Lynn Wilson’s international career as a guest conductor spans over twenty years, leading some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras - such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks - and operas at the world’s top opera houses, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Bolshoi Theatre, and the Wiener Staatsoper. Ms. Wilson’s work has been praised as “vividly shaped and nuanced” by The New York Times, and “elegantly incisive” by The Telegraph.

Ms. Wilson’s 2020/21 season includes symphonic and operatic engagements, beginning this fall when she was scheduled to return to Iceland for a performance with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (cancelled due to Covid-19). Later in the fall, Ms. Wilson was scheduled to make her debut with the Opéra national de Paris, conducting Carmen (rescheduled due to Covid-19), and her Berlin debut conducting a gala concert at the Deutsche Oper (cancelled due to Covid-19). In January, she will make her Salzburg debut, conducting the opening concert of the Mozartwoche. Later in the winter, Ms. Wilson will return to the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, a company she frequently conducts, for performances of Rigoletto in February. In the spring, Ms. Wilson will make her Dallas Opera debut, conducting Tosca, as well as returning to the Bolshoi Theatre, another company she frequently conducts, with performances of La Traviata and Un Ballo in Maschera.

Recent operatic career highlights include Carmen at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and La Traviata at the Wiener Staatsoper; La Traviata, Madama Butterfly and Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and La Traviata at the Opernhaus Zürich; Don Carlo, Iolanta, Manon Lescaut, Tosca and La Bohème at the Bolshoi Theatre; La Fanciulla del West and Aida at the English National Opera; Rusalka at the Czech National Opera; Rigoletto at the Norwegian National Opera; Der fliegende Holländer, Eugene Onegin, Boris Godunov and Carmen at the Polish National Opera; and Faust at the Washington National Opera. She was the first female conductor to lead an opera at: the Arena di Verona, where she conducted Tosca and Madama Butterfly; the New National Theatre (NNT) Tokyo, where she led Madama Butterfly; and the Opera di Roma, where she conducted Aida.

On the concert stage, Maestro Wilson has led the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Wiener Kammerorchester, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Russian National Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonic, the RAI Symphony Orchestra, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, the Orchestra national d’Ile de France, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Toronto Symphony, and l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal among others. While her symphonic repertoire is varied, she specializes in Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Brahms and Beethoven.

Ms. Wilson was raised in Winnipeg, Canada, where she studied flute, piano, and violin from an early age. While still a student at Juilliard, she assisted Claudio Abbado at the Salzburg Festival, and won a fellowship from the Tanglewood Music Center. Upon graduating from Juilliard with a masters both in flute and conducting, she was named the Associate Conductor at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.


Photo: Olivia Kahler.