Carlos Kalmar

Carlos Kalmar has been Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival since 2000 and was named Artistic Director in 2011. Under Kalmar’s leadership, the Grant Park Music Festival has become one of the world’s preeminent classical music festivals, and his role has been essential in shaping its artistic vision.

In addition to his longtime association with the Grant Park Orchestra, Kalmar served as music director of the Oregon Symphony for nearly 20 years. In May 2021 Kalmar was named Director of Orchestral and Conducting Programs and Principal Conductor of the Cleveland Institute of Music.

In 2011 Kalmar made his highly acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, noted by New York critic Alex Ross as “one of the most gripping events of the current season”. The concert entitled “Music for a Time of War” with works by Ives, Adams, Britten, and Vaughan Williams was subsequently released by Pentatone and was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Orchestral Performance”. He is a regular guest conductor of the Baltimore and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras and has recently conducted subscription concerts with the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestras.