Gary Thor Wedow

Conductor Gary Thor Wedow has established an enviable reputation for dramatically exciting and historically informed performances with opera companies, orchestras, festivals, and choral organizations throughout North America. Opera News has hailed him for his “hot music making” and “convincingly elegant period style.” His debut with the New York Philharmonic conducting Messiah was noted in The New York Times for “a fleet, lithe orchestral performance, aptly complemented by the buoyant singing of the chorus.”

Upcoming during the 2025-2026 season, Wedow leads productions of La Cenerentola with Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Arizona Opera and returns to Opera Omaha for Il barbiere di Siviglia. In concert, he conducts Handel’s Messiah with the Winston-Salem Mozart Club.

Maestro Wedow’s engagements during the previous season included Mozart’s masterpiece Le nozze di Figaro with Palm Beach Opera, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music for the same composer’s La finta giardiniera, and a return to the Santa Fe Symphony for Handel’s Messiah. In the fall of 2023, he joined Opera Omaha for Don Pasquale, followed by Handel’s Messiah with the Alabama Symphony. He collaborated with Opera Southwest for their Spanish language version of Carmen and returned to Des Moines Metro Opera for Il barbiere di Siviglia. The 2022-2023 season found Maestro Wedow returning to The Juilliard School to lead their production of Atalanta, and he also brought his expertise to Rice University for their spring production of L’incoronazione di Poppea.

Born in LaPorte, Indiana and now a resident of New York City, he has been a member of the Juilliard School faculty since 1994 where he has led performances of L’incoronazione di Poppea, La finta giardiniera, Ariodante and Don Giovanni. Of particular note was the tour of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Juilliard 415 Historical Performance Ensemble that culminated at Alice Tully Hall “in a performance that caught fire and magic” according to The New York Times. His continued championship of young musicians and singers is further exemplified by projects at The Teatro Colón, Wolf Trap Opera, the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, Manhattan School of Music, Carnegie Mellon University, Rice University, and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Mr. Wedow studied piano with virtuoso Jorge Bolet at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University and received his Master of Music degree at the New England Conservatory.