George Cleve, 
Conductor

Austrian-born conductor George Cleve returns to conduct Don Giovanni for Opera San José's 2005 - 2006 season in the California Theatre. Previously, Mr. Cleve conducted the 2004 - 2005 production of Carmen during the debut season in the California Theatre, and the 2003 - 2004 production of Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci.  Formerly the music director of San José Symphony for 20 years, Mr. Cleve founded the critically acclaimed Midsummer Mozart Festival in 1974, which has received Grammy nominations for recordings on the Sonic Arts label.  Recent engagements include a successful world premiere of Twyla Tharp's Beethoven's Symphony # 7 with New York City Ballet where he now regularly conducts, as well as debuts with Russian National Orchestra, Prague Chamber Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, and Barcelona Orchestra.

Recent engagements took Mr. Cleve to Moscow for the International Mozartiana Festival to conduct the Moscow Virtuosi Orchestra and others in a program that includes Mozart's Requiem. Other orchestras Mr. Cleve conducted during the 2003 - 2004 season included the Florida West Coast Symphony, California Symphony, San Francisco Ballet, and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Cleve's operatic credits include Don Carlo, Carmen, La bohème, La traviata, Rigoletto, Dido and Aeneas, Le nozze di Figaro, and Don Giovanni with such  companies as Opera Company of Philadelphia, San Francisco Spring Opera, Long Beach Opera and Mannheim Opera. During the 2001 - 2002 season, Mr. Cleve conducted Opera San José's production of Così fan tutte, and Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci during the 2003 - 2004 season.

As a symphonic conductor, Mr. Cleve has appeared with New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Montreal, to name a few, as well as Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, New York Mostly Mozart Festival, Orquesta Fillarmonica de la UNAM of Mexico City, and Ravinia Festival. European orchestras that Mr. Cleve has conducted include Royal Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Vienna Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Mozarteum Orchestra at the Salzburg Festival. Mr. Cleve has also led the Stockholm Chamber Orchestra on tour in Germany and Austria, the English Chamber Orchestra on a tour of Europe, and made a month-long tour of Australia for ABC Concerts.

Awards and accolades include the Gold Medal of Honor of the Republic Of Austria and the Silver Medal of Honor of the city of Vienna in recognition for his part in founding the Midsummer Mozart Orchestra, and the city of San José's First Community Arts Program Award.  Mr. Cleve was also elected Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Letres of the French Republic for his outstanding interpretation of French music. He holds an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Santa Clara University.