Internationally renowned for his interpretation of the large romantic repertoire, including the great works of Berlioz, John Nelson has conducted most of the world's top orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras and the New York Philharmonic.  John Nelson's varied repertoire has also taken him to many of the world's major opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, the Chicago Lyric, Opéra National de Paris and the Netherlands Opera.

Central to John Nelson's work is the interpretation of the great sacred choral literature.   He is presently conducting a series of live DVD performances of this repertoire including Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Haydn's Die Schöpfung with the Netherlands Radio Kammerphilharmonie and Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris.  He is the recipient of numerous awards including a Grammy for his recording of Handel's Semele on the Deutsche Grammophon label and a Diapason d'Or de l'Année for Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict on Erato.

Born in Costa Rica, John Nelson studied at the Juilliard School, New York, where he won the Irving Berlin prize in conducting. He has held the title of Music Director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Caramoor Music Festival in New York. From 1998 to 2008 he was Directeur Musicale of the Orchestre de chambre de Paris. He has also been Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National de Lyon and Artistic Adviser to the Nashville and Louisville Orchestras.

John Nelson made his professional opera debut at the New York City Opera in Bizet’s Carmen and his Metropolitan Opera debut stepping in at short notice to replace an indisposed Rafael Kubelik in Berlioz’s Les Troyens. It was this occasion that catapulted him into the limelight and led to his European debut at Grand Théâtre de Genève for Les Troyens and his French debut at the Berlioz Festival, Lyon for a production of Béatrice et Bénédict.

Recent and future engagements include Boston Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Cincinnati Symphony, Danish National Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Royal Flanders Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras.  Opera engagements include performances at the Grand Théâtre de Genève of Weber’s Der Freischütz and Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust, Les Troyens and Mozart’s Idomeneo at Netherlands Opera and at La Monnaie Mozart’s La finta giardiniera.

May 2013