American conductor and pianist Michael Borowitz is currently in his eighth year as Artistic Director of Nevada Opera, where this season he will conduct performances of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury (presented in the historic Washoe County Courthouse), Menotti’s Chip and His Dog and Amahl and the Night Visitors, the Nevada premiere of Barber’s Vanessa (in celebration of the centenary of the composer’s birth), and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.  As guest conductor with Opéra Louisiane, he will lead performances of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, and with the Eastman School of Music, he will conduct performances of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice.  As Music Director for LSU Opera, he will lead performances of Barber’s Vanessa, a double-bill of Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.  He will again take the podium as Music Director for Ohio Light Opera’s 2011 summer festival.

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.