ADAM TURNER
CONDUCTOR
BIOGRAPHY
Currently in his seventh season as Artistic Director & Chief Conductor of Virginia Opera (following four seasons as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor), Maestro Adam Turner garners critical acclaim for the breadth of his repertoire, artistic vision, and polished technique. Of his performance of Street Scene with Virginia Opera, Opera News hailed the “sensitive conducting” of Adam Turner “who demonstrated an affinity for a score as stylistically diverse as the characters in the plot” and of his conducting of Der Freischütz, Opera News hailed: “Conductor Adam Turner … ensured crackling rhythms as much as lyrical spaciousness, resulting in a performance that felt vital and spontaneous throughout.” In the 2024-2025 Season at Virginia Opera, Turner will be on the podium for all of the 50th Anniversary’s productions (Don Giovanni, Carmen, & Così fan tutte), in addition to leading the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia by Damien Geter and Jessica Murphy Moo. Also this season, Turner will conduct Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s “POPS! Concert Series,” leading programs of “Dancing in the Street: Music of Motown” and “An Evening with Adrienne Warren.”
In recent seasons, he has conducted Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, Madama Butterfly, La bohème, Three Decembers, Le nozze di Figaro, The Pirates of Penzance, Fellow Travelers, and La Traviata at Virginia Opera. Appearing with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in the “POPS! Concert Series” he has led programs including “To Whitney with Love,” featuring American Idol-finalist LaKisha Jones, “Never Break the Chain,” featuring the music of Fleetwood Mac, “Broadway Rocks,” and “Music of the Bee Gees.” He was also recently at the helm for Central City Opera’s productions of Street Scene, Kiss Me, Kate and The Light in the Piazza, Toledo Opera’s Roméo et Juliette and Il trovatore, as well as his debuts with the Pacific Symphony for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Portland Symphony Orchestra’s concert “Classical Broadway.”
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CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"...Turner believes the best art is born outside of comfort zones..." – Washington Classical Review
Samson et Dalila – “Luckily, Virginia Opera has a conductor/artistic adviser in Adam Turner who absolutely relishes in taking on creative challenges. Turner believes the best art is born outside of comfort zones, in uncharted territory – not only for the audience’s sake, but for the artists’ as well.”
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"… ensured crackling rhythms as much as lyrical spaciousness..." – Opera News
Der Freischütz – “Conductor Adam Turner … ensured crackling rhythms as much as lyrical spaciousness, resulting in a performance that felt vital and spontaneous throughout.”
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"...drawing impressively nuanced playing from the Virginia Symphony every step of the way... ” – Opera News
Sweeney Todd – “For its fortieth anniversary, Virginia Opera slid into Broadway repertoire to deliver a highly satisfying account of Stephen Sondheim’s ever-chilling Sweeney Todd, one of the organization’s strongest ventures of the past decade or so….The chorus sustained a hearty, well-balanced tone. Adam Turner conducted a stylish account of the score, drawing impressively nuanced playing from the Virginia Symphony every step of the way. ”
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"...kept the orchestra sounding high-spirited, and the well-cast chorus energized..." – The Washington Post
HMS Pinafore – “Conductor Adam Turner kept the orchestra sounding high-spirited, and the well-cast chorus — with the men smartly decked out as sailors and the ladies glammed up in park-strolling gowns with parasols — energized with crisp singing and choreography.”
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"...did a marvelous job of leading the company’s orchestra..." – Washington Times
Carousel – “Adam Turner also did a marvelous job of leading the company’s orchestra in an almost perfectly calibrated counterpoint to the company’s singers. The orchestra really had a chance to shine in Act II’s extended ballet sequence as well as in a modified version of this show’s memorable ‘Carousel Waltz’.”