Randall Craig Fleischer, Music Director
With
three Music Director positions, a demanding guest conducting schedule,
major awards and a career spanning four continents, conductor/composer
Randall Craig Fleischer is making a substantial impact.
Mr.
Fleischer has appeared as a guest conductor with many major orchestras
in the United States and internationally including engagements with the
Boston Pops, San Francisco Symphony, China Philharmonic Hong Kong
Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston
Symphony, Philly Pops, Moscow State Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Utah
Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, Los
Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Festival Cesky Krumov (Czech Republic) and
many others. “…There was purpose and meaning in the performance, and Fleischer let the lyricism of the music flow in seamless lines.” Deseret News - Salt Lake City, Utah.
As
Music Director/Conductor of three symphony
orchestras, Youngstown
Symphony, Hudson Valley Philharmonic and the Anchorage Symphony, Mr.
Fleischer has led each orchestra through a dramatic period of artistic
growth, demonstrating his abilities as a proven orchestra builder. This sounds like a different symphony orchestra, and this season should be an exciting experience.“ Arizona Daily Sun 1998. “The HVP’s music director was heartily affirmed by the extended standing ovation.” Times Herald Recdord.
Active
as a composer and arranger, Mr. Fleischer is a national leader in the
area of symphonic rock and world music fusion. His works and
arrangements have been played by many major orchestras including the
Boston Pops, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hong Kong
Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, China Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony,
National Symphony and many others.
Maestro
Fleischer’s most recent project, “Rocktopia” co-created with Rob Evan,
enjoyed a tremendously successful run at the Broadway Theater in NYC
featuring rock stars Pat Monahan (Train) Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) and
Robyn Zander (Cheap Trick). “Rocktopia” has been broadcast on PBS
hundreds of times all over the USA and has toured the USA several times
in cooperation with Live Nation. The PBS special “Rocktopia, Live From
Budapest” was shot at the Budapest Opera House in June of 2016.
Active
in world music and Native American music fusion, Fleischer has two
major works in this genre, “Triumph” and “Echoes.” “Triumph,” A
Navajo-Dine orchestral fusion work was premiered in 2006 and featured a
solo Native Flute which was played by Grammy winner R. Carlos Nakai.
"Triumph" was fully choreographed, and the Navajo songs were brought to
life through traditional dance by the Jones Benally Family,
Internationally renowned on World Music stages. The audience responded
in a resoundingly positive fashion, giving "Triumph" an extended
standing ovation. Mr. Fleischer’s work, “Echoes”, combining Native
American, Native Alaskan and Native Hawaiian music with the symphony,
premiered with the Anchorage Symphony in October 2008, followed by an
East Coast premiere at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. “Echoes” was
featured in an article in Symphony Magazine about major works combining
Native American music in a symphony.
Pioneering
these new and growing genres for more than twenty-five years now,
Fleischer has worked with artists such as John Densmore (The Doors),
Natalie Merchant, Blondie, The B52’s, Ani DiFranco, John Cale (Velvet
Underground) Garth Hudson (The Band), Kenny Rogers, Chris Baron (Spin
Doctors) The Beach Boys and others. As a fervent advocate of new music,
Mr. Fleischer has commissioned and conducted many world premieres and
many works by living composers.
Mr.
Fleischer first came to international attention when,
while serving his
first of five
years as Assistant, then Associate conductor of the
National Symphony Orchestra, he conducted Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with
Mstislav Rostropovich as soloist during the NSO’s 1990 tour of Japan and
the U.S.S.R.
This was the first time Rostropovich had played the cello
in Russia since his forced exile in 1972. “…Fleischer was intently
focused on Rostropovich whenever the cello was playing; they seemed to
have an almost telepathic rapport, and a true dialogue was maintained
between the cello and the orchestra, often with individual players. But
parts of the concerto, when the cello is silent, have a fully symphonic
stature. In these, Fleischer’s individuality had fuller play and he
proved to be a highly skilled conductor. Balances and phrasing were
carefully considered, significant details in the orchestration
(particularly some woodwind passages) were deftly brought out, there
were some subtle dynamic nuances and a constant sense that the conductor
was fully in control. Even with this distinguished soloist, some of the
concerto’s finest moments were orchestral.” Joseph McLellan,
Washington Post. Mr. Fleischer was featured in the internationally
broadcast PBS documentary “Soldier of Music” which documented
Rostropovich’s return to the Soviet Union and was also featured on the
“60 Minutes” segment on this event. “Soldier of Music” was later
released on the Sony Video label.
Mr.
Fleischer again had the honor of being chosen to accompany Maestro
Rostropovich, once more conducting the National Symphony Orchestra, this
time in Avery Fisher Hall in a performance of Prokofiev’s “Sinfonia
Concertante” in celebration of the composer’s birth. In December of
1992, Mr. Fleischer conducted an ensemble of over 70 cellos, including
YoYo Ma, and a 190 voice chorus in the Kennedy Center Awards tribute to
Rostropovich, televised nationally on CBS with then President and Mrs.
Bush presiding. In 1993, Mr. Fleischer conducted a private concert for
Pope John-Paul at the Vatican. The Pontiff awarded Mr. Fleischer a medal
for his achievements in music.
In
1995 Mr. Fleischer made his debut with New York City Opera conducting
“The Magic Flute.” The New York Times critic Kenneth Furie wrote, ”But he (Fleischer) is
the rare Mozart conductor who understands that the composer has already
done the hard work, so that the conductor‘s most important task is to
allow the phrases to find their natural shape and breathe.” Mr.
Fleischer’s operatic repertoire includes productions of La Boheme,
Turandot, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Don Giovanni, La Traviata and others.
Joseph McClellan of the Washington Post wrote, “…there was often a
chamber music quality - a sense of subtly nuanced dialogue - in the
interactions between solo singers and the orchestra, expertly conducted
by Randall Craig Fleischer.”
A
passionate educator, Fleischer has co-authored several instructional
pieces for children in collaboration with his wife, comedian Heidi
Joyce, which were premiered by the National Symphony Orchestra,
including three rap pieces for orchestra. Currently their children’s
programs, “Cool Concerts for Kids” have been performed with great
success with symphony orchestras around the country. In January of 1991,
Ms. Joyce and Mr. Fleischer co-authored and premiered “Martin Luther
King, Jr.: A Spiritual Journey” with the NSO, a piece for narrator and
orchestra which explores the history of the civil rights movement with
excerpts of Dr. King’s speeches, narrated for Dr. King’s daughter,
Yolanda King. This piece was broadcast on PBS in February of 1995.
Winner
of Newsweek Magazine’s “Parent’s Choice Award” for his groundbreaking
CD ROM of “Peter and the Wolf”, Mr. Fleischer stands alone as the only
American conductor to receive this prestigious award. Fleischer received
an honorary Doctorate from Youngstown State University and a second
honorary Doctorate from the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Mr.
Fleischer studied with Leonard Bernstein as a conducting fellow at
Tanglewood in 1989. He served as the Assistant Conductor of the American
Symphony Orchestra from 1986 to 1989. While working toward his Master
of Music degree at the Indiana University School of Music, he served as
chorus master of the I.U. Opera Theater program from 1983 - 1985.
Fleischer received his Bachelor of Music Education from the Oberlin
Conservatory of Music and has studied conducting privately with Otto
Werner Mueller and in Master class with Seiji Ozawa, Ricardo Muti,
Gustav Meier and others.
Mr. Fleischer lives in Los Angeles with his wife Heidi and daughter Michaela.