EMIL DE COU
Music Director
Pacific Northwest Ballet
Conductor
NSO @ Wolftrap Festival
Much loved American conductor Emil de Cou appears regularly as guest conductor with orchestras across the United States. After serving as Associate Conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra for eight years, he was recently appointed as Music Director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet, a position he officially takes up this year (2011).
Mr. de Cou was an active participant in a wide range of National Symphony Orchestra performances and events since his debut at Wolf Trap in 2000. He formally joined the National Symphony conducting staff in 2002, and in addition to being Associate Conductor, in the summers he serves as the conductor of the NSO at the Wolf Trap Festival. In that capacity, his responsibilities include leading several of the NSO's concerts at Wolf Trap, and acting as a spokesperson for the overall summer season. He also led the Labor Day Weekend Capitol Concerts on the West Lawn of the US Capitol annually since 2002.
Mr. de Cou has appeared as guest conductor with many leading orchestras, including those of Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, Saint Louis, Detroit, Montreal, Boston Pops, Minnesota, Denver, Portland, and San Francisco, where he also served as Principal Pops Conductor. He was acting music director for the San Francisco Ballet and conductor of the American Ballet Theatre for eight seasons conducting performances at Lincoln Center as well as national and international tours.
His performance of the ballet Othello was aired on Great Performances (PBS). The soundtrack by Academy Award winning composer Elliot Goldenthal, was recorded by Mr. de Cou for Varese Sarabande; among his other recordings is a disc entitled Debussy Rediscovered for Arabesque, which includes previously unrecorded works by Debussy.
Mr. de Cou made his Carnegie Hall debut as guest conductor for the New York Pops, and also appeared at the gala tribute to Beverly Sills at Lincoln Center with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and a stellar roster of soloists. His innovative concerts at the Wolf Trap Pavilion have included the first screenings of The Wizard of Oz with the score performed with live orchestra, the first ever live Twitter program notes (Beethoven Pastoral Symphony) and live in-time pod cast for a concert called "Fantastic Planet." In 2008 he conducted the first performance of Rodgers & Hammerstein at the Movies.
As part of his work as musical consultant for NASA he has conducted several successful collaborations with the nation's space agency, most recently on July 18, "Salute to Apollo, the Kennedy Legacy" at the Kennedy Center in honor of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. The sold-out, multi media performance included film excerpts, narration by Buzz Aldrin, and performances with Denyce Graves, Shaka Khan, and the US Army Chorus. In 2010 he will conduct a multi media concert to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the launching of the Hubble Space Telescope.
In 1985 de Cou was hired by Mikhail Baryshnikov to be the conductor of the American Ballet Theatre afterward joining the staff of the San Francisco Ballet where he ended his tenure there as music director in 1998. He has also worked with the New York City Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Suzanne Farrell Ballet and others.
Emil de Cou was born in Los Angeles and studied with Daniel Lewis at the University of Southern California. He was the subject of a documentary on National Public Radio and was chosen from 200 candidates to study in Leonard Bernstein's master class at the Hollywood Bowl. He makes his home in San Francisco.
REVIEWS
A Stage Not Big Enough for a Legend
"First, an apology all too relevant for the subject of this review. Earlier this week, in my review of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet's season in Washington, I neglected to mention either the Kennedy Center's orchestra or its conductor, Emil de Cou. Both show standards higher than those we are used to hearing in New York; Mr. de Cou may now be the finest ballet conductor in America."
Alastair Macaulay
New York Times
October 20, 2011
NSO in Full Bloom Without Ear Buds
"de Cou's experiments are important: He's one of the few conductors trying to open new doors into classical music, either with video (de Cou, 48, was first drawn to music by the 1940 film 'Fantasia') or other new technologies aimed at younger audiences."
Washington Post
Stephen Brookes
"Beethoven's 'Egmont' overture, the centerpiece, made the most of the orchestra's warm, generous sound and de Cou's sense of phrasing and character."
Washington Post
Ronny Reich
Conductor de Cou worthy of reputation
"My ear pricked up at the very first chord of the 4th Brandenburg Concerto: The sound had amazing buoyancy and lightness."
Colorado Springs Gazette
Mark Arnest
Orchestra serves up a feast for opera lovers
"He (de Cou) proved to be an excellent accompanist for the singers, as well as a highly capable conductor with a graceful podium style, giving precise direction and bringing out both subtle nuances and high drama."
Reading Eagle
Susan L. Peña
Tchaikovsky's Suite No. 3 - Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
"Under de Cou's direction, the LPO made a strong case for adding this richly orchestrated, four-movement work to the standard repertoire."
New Orleans Times-Picayune
"De Cou has a punch to his conducting style, which perfectly suited the overture, music with stretches of gentle arabesques disrupted by startling sforzandos and other hallmark-Beethoven features. De Cou's approach to the symphony movements was a model of pastoral playfulness, with continual scurrying figures tossed between orchestral sections in a pleasantly outdoorsy way."
Washington Post
Off to See -- and Truly Hear -- 'The Wizard'
"There are many technical challenges in a performance like this -- not the least that the orchestra musicians must keep pace with a screen they cannot see and singers who cannot hear them. The NSO navigated all of these bumps in the yellow brick road, and having the music in the foreground of the film brought out elements and moments that usually go unnoticed... It was an exciting evening.."
Washington Post