The Score | Detroit Symphony’s Next Music Director: Jader Bignamini

Italian conductor Jader Bignamini, 43, has been appointed music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, beginning with the 2020-21 season. He succeeds Leonard Slatkin, who ended his tenure as music director in 2018 and is music director laureate. Bignamini was selected by an eight-member search committee of DSO musicians, board, and staff. Bignamini was introduced to Detroit audiences when he stepped in for Slatkin to close the DSO’s 2017-18 season, and returned this past October to lead Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Bignamini will conduct three weeks of the DSO’s 2020-21 season, and his first full season as music director will be 2021-22, when he will spend twelve weeks in Detroit. His initial contract runs for six years. Born in Crema, Italy, Bignamini trained as a clarinetist and studied at the Piacenza Music Conservatory. He is resident conductor of Milan’s Orchestra Sinfonica La Verdi. Bignamini’s current season includes debuts with the Toronto, Houston, and Dallas symphonies and the Minnesota Orchestra. He has led productions at the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Bayerische Staatsoper, Vienna State Opera, Dutch National Opera, and Bolshoi Opera.