Michael Slon

Active as a conductor of choral, orchestral, and operatic repertoire, Michael Slon is currently Conductor of the University Singers, Chamber Singers, and recent Interim Conductor of the Charlottesville & University Symphony at the University of Virginia. He also serves as Assistant Professor of Music, and was named a member of the Mead Honored Faculty for 2006-2007. Recent repertoire with the choruses has included Mozart's Mass in C minor, the Brahms Requiem, Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, the Byrd Mass for Four Voices, and a range of shorter a cappella and accompanied works. And after substituting on one hour's notice for a January 2005 performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1, Mr. Slon has led the Symphony in performances of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, Mahler's Symphony No. 4, Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, and Copland's Appalachian Spring. Together with Symphony Executive Director Bill Martin, he also launched the University Singers-CUSO Family Holiday Concerts.

Opera and musical theatre engagements have included a production of Stephen Paulus's The Three Hermits with Buffalo's Opera Sacra, Sunday in the Park with George with the Heritage Repertory Theatre and The Light in the Piazza with the Heritage Theater Festival, and South Pacific and The Magic Flute with the Ash Lawn Opera Festival, where he served as resident conductor and coach. In addition, he has served as the music director for the Indiana University Theater and Brown County Playhouse (Indiana), and as an assistant conductor and chorusmaster for the IU Opera Theater. He also remains active as a guest conductor of honors choirs and orchestras.

Prior to UVA, Mr. Slon served as visiting conducting faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory, and as assistant conductor of Cincinnati's May Festival Chorus, in which roles he prepared and co-prepared choruses for concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. His ensembles have received critical acclaim in The C'ville Weekly, The Cleveland Plain Dealer and Opera News, and have worked with artists including Moses Hogan, Bobby McFerrin, Meredith Monk, and Franz Welser-Möst. Mr. Slon holds degrees from the Indiana University School of Music and Cornell University, where he was named a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He is also a pianist and writer - his first book Songs from the Hill came out in 1998.