James Feddeck

James Feddeck is the Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.^[1]

He was previously the Assistant Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. He has also served as assistant conductor at the Aspen Music Festival and School, received the Aspen Conducting Prize in 2008, was awarded the Robert J. Harth Conductor Prize in 2007. In addition, he was the unanimous winner of the Sixth Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition and, at twenty-two, its youngest participant. Feddeck is the recipient of a Career Assistance Award from the Solti Foundation U.S. He has performed organ recitals throughout Europe and North America, has won competitions sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, and has been featured on the nationally syndicated radio program Pipedreams. As an oboist, he has taken interest in new music, having commissioned and premiered works including Daniel Pinkham’s Oboe Quartet.^[2]

Feddeck studied oboe, piano, organ, and conducting at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.^[3] He studied conducting with Steven Smith, Timothy Weiss, and Bridget-Michaele Reischl. While at Oberlin, he was the Music Director and Conductor of Mozart's Così fan tutte. He later continued his studies in conducting at the University of Michigan. In 2010, Feddeck was recognized by Oberlin as the first recipient of the Outstanding Young Alumni Award.^[2]

The 2012-13 orchestral season is Feddeck's fourth season as Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. He entered the Cleveland Orchestra family in March 2009, when appointed by The Cleveland Orchestra's Music Director, Franz Welser-Möst.^[2]

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