American conductor and pianist Michael Borowitz is currently Artistic Director of Nevada Opera, where this season he conducted performances of Bizet’s Carmen, Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore and a gala concert featuring soprano Hope Briggs.  As guest conductor with AVA Ballet, he has conducted this season two of Tchaikovsky’s ballet masterpieces: The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.  As Music Director for LSU Opera, he led performances of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, and David Amram’s Twelfth Night.  Next season’s lineup for Nevada Opera and LSU will be productions of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa (in commemoration of the centenary of Barber’s birth) and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.  He will again take the podium for Ohio Light Opera’s 2010 summer festival (conducting performances of Styne’s Gypsy, Lehár’s Der Graf von Luxembourg, Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience, and Kálmán’s Die Csárdásfürstin).

For nine seasons he was Head of Music Staff with Des Moines Metro Opera, and for five seasons he was Director of Musical Studies with Pittsburgh Opera.  From 1997 to 2000 he was Artistic Director (and founder) of Cleveland Concert Opera.

He has been a guest conductor for Opera Southwest, Rimrock Opera, Opera Columbus, as well as assistant conductor with The Metropolitan Opera, Indianapolis Opera and Cleveland Opera, and has studied extensively at the Istituto Donizettiano in Bergamo.  He holds music degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and The Cleveland Institute of Music, and has been on the teaching faculties of The University of Memphis, The Cleveland Institute of Music, Kent State University and The University of Akron.