DOUGLAS KINNEY FROST
CONDUCTOR
BIOGRAPHY
Douglas Kinney Frost has led orchestras and opera companies on four continents, consistently thrilling audiences and inspiring the musicians with whom he works. “Under the baton of music director Douglas Kinney Frost the orchestra consistently presents concerts that are interesting, stimulating and thought-provoking,” says the Deseret News.
In concert, the breadth of his repertoire has been highlighted in performances with the National Symphony of Mexico, the Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and orchestras in Brazil and Uruguay, Russian Federal Orchestra in Moscow, St. Petersburg Festival Orchestra, Kharkov Philharmonia in Ukraine, the National Orchestra of Korea in Seoul, and in the U.S. with the Baltimore, Utah, Virginia, Syracuse, Santa Barbara, Mississippi, and Richmond Symphonies, Grand Teton Music and Colorado Bach Festivals, Rochester Philharmonic, and Westminster College, among others.
Labelled a Britten specialist by Maestro James Conlon, Frost was invited to serve as associate conductor for his work on Benjamin Britten Operas numerous times including: The Turn of the Screw, Albert Herring, and Billy Budd with Los Angeles Opera and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Curlew River, and The Prodigal Son with the Fondazione Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, and The Burning Fiery Furnace with the Ravinia Festival. He also returned to Los Angeles Opera for John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and Il barbiere di Siviglia.
In 2019 he joined the dynamic conducting and opera faculty of the University of Texas at Austin. He holds the title of Principal Conductor of the Butler Opera Center which presents three to five fully produced productions each academic year. In his tenure he has conducted Carmen, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, L’elisir d’amore, The Turn of the Screw, Don Giovanni, Missy Mazzioli’s Proving Up, Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and concerts featuring music inspired by Shakespeare. Upcoming projects include La bohème, The Queen of Spades, and Tan Dun’s Tea: A Mirror of Soul. In his role he conducts productions and concerts with the University Symphony Orchestra and the acclaimed New Music Ensemble. He also maintains a competitive private conducting studio training the next generation of maestri in musical and leadership projects.
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CRITICAL ACCLAIM
“…Douglas Kinney Frost shows mastery…” – Opera News
The Difficulty of Crossing a Field – “Conductor Douglas Kinney Frost shows mastery of the rhythmically complex proceedings.”
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"...a performance we’ll remember for a long time...” – Post Standard
Der fliegende Holländer – “With Douglas Kinney Frost at the helm, every musical element was precisely on course Friday night as Syracusans witnessed a significant milestone in their shared cultural experience. Douglas Kinney Frost conducted with remarkable control, bringing the larger-than-usual orchestra to a level of excellence that matched that of the leads (Greer Grimsley and Lori Philips). He led an exciting, emotional performance, and the Syracuse Symphony acquitted itself with honor. Who knew it was a Wagner orchestra? Kinney Frost deserves great credit for this achievement. This is a performance we’ll remember for a long time.”
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"...Frost had just one shot to get it right — and he did...” – Opera Today
Porgy and Bess – “Another reason for the company’s success was the direction of the singers and instrumentalists by Douglas Kinney Frost. Conducting the orchestra with his back to the singers, Frost — aided by display screens strategically placed at various parts of the stage — managed to juggle competing forces with no major mishaps. (It customarily takes a performance or two to work out the kinks.) Frost had just one shot to get it right — and he did.”
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"...encouraged a sensitive and invigorating orchestral performance..." – Anchorage Daily News
La traviata – “Special credit goes to conductor Douglas Kinney Frost for adept accompanying from the pit, who encouraged a sensitive and invigorating orchestral performance from the Anchorage Opera Orchestra. Judging by the enthusiastic curtain calls and subsequent standing ovation, this Traviata was another solid success for Anchorage Opera.”
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“…charged with raw emotion…” – Kansas City Star
Mozart's Requiem – “Conductor Douglas Kinney-Frost did a tremendous job directing Mozart’s stirring final masterpiece. His interpretation turned this into an intensely personal statement. The performance was charged with raw emotion. It was poignant, heart wrenching, tender but also dramatic and impassioned. But above all, this interpretation was always sincere and honest in its approach to the music.”