Music Director
Steven Lipsitt
Conductor Steven Lipsitt is widely recognized for his ability to combine precision and passion, intelligence and invigoration. His February 2011 debut with Boston Lyric Opera was hailed by Opera News as “a major triumph…a fiercely intelligent, entertaining production…The orchestra performed beautifully under the guidance of conductor Steven Lipsitt, who had a firm grasp of Ullmann’s exceptional and wide-ranging score”; called “an incisive performance” by The Wall Street Journal; and noticed with rare unanimity by The New York Times (“Steven Lipsitt led a vital, perfectly paced reading”), The Boston Globe (“Conductor Steven Lipsitt led an eloquent account of this remarkable score”), The Boston Herald (“Steven Lipsitt conducted with intelligence and energy”), The Boston Phoenix (“…a memorable production…Lipsitt and his players brought it all to vibrant life”), The Boston Musical Intelligencer (“Lipsitt’s rendering carried the pace and warmth of someone with an intimate knowledge of the score, from both a musical and dramatic standpoint”), and The Berkshire News (“Steven Lipsitt conducted the orchestra as if the music were in his blood”).
First Prize Laureate of the inaugural “Dimitris Mitropoulos” International Conducting Competition in November 1996 (where the field included prizewinners from all the major European and Asian competitions), Steven Lipsitt made his Russian debut with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in 1997, and has been guest conductor of orchestras in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Foreign critics have hailed his “exalted and well-structured interpretations” (Le Monde de la Musique, Paris) and “soaring conductor-debut” (Musik & Theater, Zurich) and praised his “technically and expressively balanced interpretations” (Adesmeftos Typos, Athens), observing that “[his] technical precision makes possible the realization of his expressive framework” (Estia, Athens) and “the drama and the familiar playful Mozartean mood were combined in ideal proportions” (Aygi, Athens).
Music director of the Boston Classical Orchestra for 17 seasons (1999 – 2016), Steven Lipsitt brought that professional chamber orchestra to the front ranks of Boston’s musical life with freshly designed, vividly realized programs of four centuries of music. Audiences and critics remarked his “razor-sharp intelligence, balanced by a generosity of spirit,” his “committed, vigorous, and often driving performance,” his “impressive demonstration of talent and discipline,” and the fact that “the program was put together with imagination and taste” and “this orchestra and Lipsitt are capable of taking on big challenges.” Steven Lipsitt’s work has twice been recognized as the “Best in Classical Music” by The Boston Globe’s year-end wrap-up.
As a conductor of opera, ballet, and music theater, Steven Lipsitt has collaborated with Scottish Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, English National Opera, Boston Ballet, St. Louis Ballet, the Boston Music Theater Project, Boston Conservatory Opera Theatre, and Opera-at-Longy. He has worked with directors Robert Carsen, James Hammerstein, and Gerald Gutierrez, and choreographers Peter Martins and Daniel Pelzig. He conducted twenty performances of Carousel at the Kennedy Center Opera House with actors Faith Prince, Tom Wopat, and John Spencer.
Also dedicated to the training of young musicians, Steven Lipsitt has served on the conducting faculties of the Tanglewood Institute, New England Conservatory, the Hartt School of Music, Boston Conservatory, and Boston University, and has prepared student orchestras for Kurt Masur, Luciano Berio, Christoph von Dohnányi, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Gunther Schuller, and Leon Kirchner. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yale University, where he studied with Otto-Werner Mueller, and participated in masterclasses with Herbert Blomstedt, Helmuth Rilling, Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School, and Gustav Meier at Tanglewood. His earlier training included clarinet studies with the Boston Symphony’s Pasquale Cardillo and Yale’s Keith Wilson, vocal studies with Joan Heller and Phyllis Curtin, composition studies with Martin Bresnick and Jacob Druckman, and improvisation studies with John Mehegan.
MUSICIANS
The Orchestra
The musicians of the BB&B Orchestra are among the Boston area’s finest and most experienced freelance instrumentalists. A core group of the musicians has been playing together for many years, which gives the orchestra a deep rapport and an ability to focus on the substance of making music from the very beginning of the rehearsal process.
When not playing with BB&B at Faneuil Hall, the musicians can be heard performing with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra, Boston Ballet Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society, Emmanuel Music, A Far Cry, BMOP, and many others throughout New England. Many are also active in the pit for shows at the Colonial, Emerson Majestic, Huntington, Shubert, Boston Opera House, and Wang Center theaters. These dedicated and versatile musicians teach privately and at area music schools, including New England Conservatory, Boston University, Boston Conservatory, Longy School of Music, Berklee College of Music, Harvard, MIT, Wellesley, and Smith, among others. All BB&B orchestra players are members of the Boston Musicians’ Association, Local 9-535 of the American Federation of Musicians.
Debut concert (March 6th, 2016):
“…The atmosphere had the charms of a living room salon concert…a buoyant performance…exemplary soloists…appealingly dark, dusky string colorings…a vigorous account…I believe this newest venture should be able to thrive…The crowd of supporters at Sunday’s BB&B debut was a vocal one that clearly appreciated the resilience of Lipsitt and his players.”
-Jeremy Eichler (The Boston Globe)
Season-opener (September 11th, 2016):
“…an effective amalgam of Romantic warmth and tasteful Baroque articulation…quiet joy and warm nostalgia…Lipsitt’s and the orchestra’s elegant assurance and corporate sense of purpose…Played with these artists’ skill and commitment, the Eroica…possessed the power to stun, with unconventionalities…encompass[ing] a remarkable number of character traits…In a city so blessed with fine ensembles, launching a new musical enterprise can hardly fail to be daunting, but Steven Lipsitt seems equal to the task. Whether speaking wittily but compellingly or conducting authoritatively and movingly, he rarely puts a foot or word amiss. May this auspicious season-opener augur well for things to come.”
-Geoffrey Wieting (The Boston Musical Intelligencer)