The Florida Orchestra (TFO) and music director Michael Francis recently announced the promotion of Chelsea Gallo to resident conductor. The new title recognizes Gallo’s exceptional work since joining TFO as assistant conductor one year ago, as well as her expanded role for the upcoming 2023-24 season.
Gallo began her new position with TFO’s first concert of the season the Music of James Taylor, Neil Diamond and Paul Simon, Starring Michael Cavanaugh. This season, Gallo will conduct her first concert in TFO’s premier Hough Family Foundation Masterworks series, Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony; lead two Raymond James Pops concerts, Women Rock and Twist & Shout: The Music of the Beatles; conduct Waltz into Spring in the Morning Matinees series; and lead two chamber concerts.
She will continue to conduct TFO’s youth, family and community concerts, including TFO’s biggest concerts of the year, Raymond James Pops in the Park in St. Petersburg’s Vinoy Park on Saturday, October 14 and Tampa’s River Tower Park on Sunday, November 5. She also assists Maestro Francis with artistic duties, including Pre-Concert Conversations for Masterworks concerts, and is part of TFO’s new SoundWaves podcast.
“Chelsea Gallo has been a fantastic addition to TFO and the Tampa Bay community. Her poise on the podium and engaging rapport with audiences perfectly align with TFO’s passion for giving our community a deeper connection to the music. We look forward to her expanded role with TFO this season, and we’re thrilled to reward her with this promotion,” Francis said.
Gallo’s position with TFO is generously underwritten by Suzette and Monroe Berkman.
Gallo’s previous positions include assistant conductor of the Louisiana Philharmonic, conducting fellow with the Dallas Opera and conducting staff for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
As a guest conductor, Gallo has conducted the symphonies of North Carolina, Sarasota, Missouri, Bridgeport, Jackson, Lancaster, Youngstown, Toledo, the Hartford Opera, Marigny Opera and Slovak Sinfonietta, among others.
Gallo brings a unique interest in combining her two loves: music and science. She has been part of recording and performing projects for NASA, Lockheed Martin, the National Institute of Aerospace and the European Space Agency. Recently, she was invited on behalf of the Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of Michigan to partner on a project that encourages creativity within the hard sciences by drawing parallels between running a nuclear reactor and leading a symphony orchestra.
Gallo has described her conducting pursuits as “a devotion to sharing the relevancy and humanity within classical music.” She studied conducting in Vienna in Austria, Prague in Czech Republic and Banska Stiavnica in central Slovakia with the late Maksimilijan Cencic and Leos Svarovsky. Gallo holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan, where she was awarded the Helen Wu Graduate Fellowship in Conducting.
Outside the concert hall, she enjoys reading, running and studying languages. She played professional fast-pitch for the Vienna Wanderers.
Tickets to all concerts are on sale now at https://floridaorchestra.org/.
