Pianist and director Andrew Litton currently sits as the music director of the New York City Ballet, earning praise from critics, dancers, and audiences, bringing new prominence to the Ballet’s orchestra. He began his ballet work while still a Juilliard student, performing as on-stage pianist for Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, and Cynthia Gregory. He is also Conductor Laureate of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and was previously Music Director Laureate of Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic, which under his leadership, gained international recognition through extensive recording and touring, making debuts at the BBC Proms, at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and appearances at Vienna’s Musikverein, Berlin’s Philharmonie, and New York’s Carnegie Hall. For his work with the Bergen Philharmonic, Norway’s King Harald V knighted him with the Norwegian Royal Order of Merit.

In addition to conducting over fifty performances at the New York City Ballet, Litton returns regularly to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (where he is a former Principal Guest Conductor) Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, and guest conducts with a wide range of international orchestras, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Swedish Orchestra.

An accomplished pianist, Litton often performs as piano soloist, conducting from the keyboard. An acknowledged expert on George Gershwin, he has performed and recorded Gershwin widely as both pianist and conductor and serves as Advisor to the University of Michigan Gershwin Archives. After leading the Covent Garden debut of Porgy and Bess, Litton arranged his own concert suite of the work, which is now performed around the world.

Sponsored by Adrienne & Herschel Fink