Kellen Gray is the newly named conductor and artistic director of the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra in Indiana.
Indiana’s Lafayette Symphony Orchestra has appointed Kellen Gray as conductor and artistic director. Gray succeeds Nick Palmer, who stepped down at the end of the 2022-23 season after leading the orchestra for 16 years. Gray is currently associate artist of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, having previously served as its assistant conductor. Previous positions include tenures with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (associate conductor), Chicago Sinfonietta (conducting fellow and assistant conductor), and Valdosta Symphony Orchestra (assistant conductor). Gray founded Charleston Symphony’s Project Aurora, a performance initiative highlighting the importance of African American arts and culture, and serves as assistant editor and conductor liaison for the African Diaspora Music Project, following extensive research at the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College Chicago. Gray’s discography comprises two releases, “African American Voices” and “African American Voices II,” with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, which showcase music by Margaret Bonds, William Dawson, William Grant Still, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Florence Price, and George Walker. Recent and upcoming guest-conducting appearances include engagements with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington), Oregon Mozart Players, Philharmonia Orchestra (London), Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Seattle Opera.
