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Boston native James Orent's lifelong passion for music and
aviation can be traced back to his childhood heroes: the Boston
Symphony Orchestra and NASA's Mercury Seven astronauts. Since his
debut at eighteen conducting Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, he
has performed in fourteen countries as a conductor and violinist in
music ranging from symphony, ballet and opera, to rock, film and
commercial recordings. Celebrating his 29th season as a Boston Pops
violinist, guest conductor and cover conductor, he continues to
live his dream of performing with the BSO, flying and
skydiving.
Mr. Orent has conducted the Boston Pops and Tanglewood Festival
Chorus from Boston to San Francisco, on radio and television.
Recent highlights include the Red Sox' 100th Anniversary Season
opener at Fenway Park, Massachusetts Remembers 9/11 memorial at
Boston's Hatch Shell, frequent shared concerts with esteemed
colleagues Keith Lockhart and John Williams, coordinating astronaut
Buzz Aldrin's 40th anniversary celebration of his Apollo 11 lunar
landing, and nationally televised appearances at the Celtics' 2010
NBA Finals and two Red Sox World Series Championship celebrations.
His dramatic 2003 substitution for Keith Lockhart at Chicago's
Ravinia Festival made Boston Pops history. He made his Boston Pops
radio debut from Symphony Hall in 1998 and national television
debut in 1999 at the Ryder Cup Matches.
Conductor of the Phillips Academy Andover Symphony and Chamber
Orchestras, Mr. Orent made his televised China conducting debut
earlier this year, leading an international cast of musicians and
dancers in the inaugural season of the newly dedicated Shanghai
Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall at the personal invitation of
Maestro Tan Dun. He recently made his Hartford Symphony/Talcott
Mountain Music Festival debut conducting an all John Williams
Tribute, and a return appearance as Guest Conductor with the New
Philharmonia Orchestra. Music Director of the Brockton Symphony
Orchestra, he was chosen to conduct his orchestra and the Jubilate
Chorale at the gala 20th anniversary Mashpee Night at the Pops
before a wildly enthusiastic crowd of 12,000. Recent tours include
the Czech Republic, Hungary, Canada, New York, Washington, D.C.,
Savannah and Charleston. Mr. Orent and his Newton Symphony appear
on Brazilian television's international concert series.
He has served as Music Director for the Mass 9/11 Fund, Newton
Symphony Orchestra, Moises Carrasco Celebration of Life Orchestra,
Scottish Rite Masons' Millennium 2000 Orchestra, Erie Ballet,
Holyoke Orchestra and Amherst Contemporary Music Ensemble, and
Principal Conductor of The Boston Conservatory's Repertory
Orchestra, where he won the Music Division's Outstanding Faculty
award. Former Assistant Concertmaster of the Boston Lyric Opera
Orchestra, he has conducted the Fort Worth, Spokane, Springfield
(MA), New Hampshire, Indian Hill, Lexington and Melrose Symphonies,
and the Handel and Haydn Society, Hartford Ballet, Pro Arte
Chamber, Boston Conservatory and Ballet, and Greater Boston Youth
Symphony Orchestras.
Mr. Orent won his Buffalo Philharmonic conducting audition by
unanimous decision on the semifinal round, earning the first
NEA/Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund/Affiliate Artists residency with
the Erie Philharmonic. Flying and skydiving are lifelong interests.
Keith Lockhart drew upon Mr. Orent's airline and barnstorming
experience to fly Celtic musicians from New York to his home in
northern Maine directly through Hurricane Fran. He holds the
Airline Transport Pilot Certificate, US Parachute Association's
Advanced Skydiver License, earned the Bob Buquor Memorial Star
Crest Recipient 8-way award from 14,000 feet over New England, and
is a member of "POPS," the "Parachutists Over Phorty Society." He
flies his 1977 Cessna Cardinal RG aircraft to engagements across
the eastern US. Mr. Orent has lectured to musicians, pilots,
skydivers and public speakers on Performance Anxiety/ Performance
Enhancement through his Fearless Living Seminars.Born in Boston,
James M. Orent graduated Magna Cum Laude from Amherst College,
winning the Sundquist Prize for Performance and Composition. He
studied conducting with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School,
Otto Werner Mueller at the Yale School of Music, and at Tanglewood.
His violin teachers were Phillipp Naegele (Marlboro Music) and
Stanley Benson of the BSO. Mr. Orent's 1790 Helmer (Czech) violin
belonged to Arthur Fiedler's father, Emmanuel.