Brett Mitchell has been named music director of Pasadena Symphony. Photo by Roger Mastroianni.
California’s Pasadena Symphony has appointed Brett Mitchell as music director. He begins his five-year tenure with the orchestra on April 1, 2024. Mitchell is artistic director and conductor of Oregon’s Sunriver Music Festival, a position he has held since 2022 and will maintain concurrently with his Pasadena Symphony post. He served as music director of the Colorado Symphony in Denver from 2017 to 2021, after four years with the Cleveland Orchestra as assistant conductor and associate conductor and an earlier four-year post as assistant conductor of the Houston Symphony. Mitchell’s recent engagements include appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl; the Cleveland and Minnesota orchestras; the Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, National, San Francisco, and Vancouver symphonies, among others; and a tour with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Mitchell will collaborate with Pasadena Symphony’s community and education programs, including the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestras. He has served on the faculties of the schools of music at Northern Illinois University, the University of Houston, and the University of Denver. Mitchell was the Pasadena Symphony’s artistic partner for the 2021-24 seasons and led its opening concerts last fall. Mitchell was one of five recipients of the League of American Orchestras’ American Conducting Fellowship from 2007 to 2010.
