In the US, Europe, and Asia, Jed Gaylin is praised for performances
characterized by insight, powerful sound, precision, expansive phrasing, and
conviction. Since 1997, Mr. Gaylin has been Music Director of the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, where he is credited with forging a formidable ensemble vital to the cultural landscape of southern New Jersey. Mr. Gaylin holds the post of Principal Conductor of the prestigious Cape May Music Festival, where the Bay-Atlantic Symphony has been orchestra in residence since 2003. He has served since 1993 as Music Director of Johns Hopkins Symphony Orchestra. In 2007 he was named Principal Guest Conductor of the National Film and Radio Philharmonic in Beijing, China.
A sought-after guest conductor worldwide, Mr. Gaylin will be leading concerts and recording this year with the St. Petersburg Symphony (Russia), the Xinjiang Philharmonic Orchestra (China), and the Cervera Music Festival (Spain) among others. He has also led the Sibiu State Philharmonic (Romania), where he was Principal Guest Conductor from 2002-06; Shanghai Conservatory Orchestra; Bucharest National Radio Orchestra; Academia del Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona, Spain) for repeat engagements; Lodz Philharmonic and Pomorska Philharmonic (Poland); Gnessin Institute Orchestra and Moscow Chamber Symphony (Russia); Orquesta Sinfonica de Guanajuato (Mexico); Orvieto Festival Orchestra (Italy); Naples Philharmonic (Florida); Nashua Symphony Orchestra (New Hampshire), and the Wheeling Symphony (West Virginia).
Mr. Gaylin maintains a close association with Baltimore's Opera Vivente. In addition to an internationally acclaimed Don Giovanni with Opera Vivente in 2008, he has conducted a well-received Rigoletto and the highly successful North American premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Tobias and the Angel. This year, Opera Vivente credits are The Magic Flute and Lucia di Lammermoor.
Television and radio broadcasts include National Public Radio’s “Weekend Edition” airing the Bay-Atlantic Symphony to over four million listeners, Voice of America throughout Europe and the former Soviet Union, Bucharest Radio Orchestra, and the National Radio and Film Philharmonic in Beijing, among others. Mr. Gaylin will be recording Lee Pui Ming’s She Comes to Shore….a journey for piano and orchestra with the Bay-Atlantic Symphony in August. The work, commissioned and premiered by Mr. Gaylin and Hopkins Symphony Orchestra, is unusual as a partially improvised piano concerto performed by the composer and orchestra.
Mr. Gaylin has received numerous conducting awards. He was chosen to work with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony in the first National Conducting Institute, was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a Conducting Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival, the Presser Music Award, and membership in the National Musical Honors Society.
Mr. Gaylin attended the Oberlin and Peabody Conservatories. His conducting teachers have included Frederik Prausnitz, Leonard Slatkin, Jahja Ling, Murry Sidlin, Paul Vermel, and Michel Singher, and, for piano, Lydia Frumkin. Mr. Gaylin lives in Baltimore with his wife, writer Lia Purpura, and their son.