Kenneth Kiesler

Kenneth Kiesler (born August 18, 1953) is an American symphony orchestra and opera conductor and mentor to conductors. Kiesler is conductor laureate of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra where he was music director from 1980 to 2000 and founder and director of the Conductors Retreat at Medomak. In 2014, Kiesler was nominated for a Grammy Award for his recording of Darius Milhaud’s opera L’Orestie d’Eschyle. He is Director of Orchestras and Professor of Conducting at the University of Michigan.

Kenneth Kiesler was born in New York City. His father, Harry Isiah Kiesler, was of Polish/Austrian descent and his mother, Rose Segal Kiesler, was of French and German descent. He studied music from an early age; he played trumpet, sang in choruses and, at age 15, Kiesler conducted his first concert, Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols when the director took ill prior to the concert. Kiesler graduated from Nanuet High School in 1971.

Kiesler studied music at the University of New Hampshire where he received the Bachelor of Music cum laude in conducting and music history in 1975. He received his master’s degree in orchestra conducting in 1980 from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Johns Hopkins University. At age 19, he conducted the first performance of Gershwin's original jazz-band score of Rhapsody in Blue since 1925, with permission of Ira Gershwin and Warner Brothers Music, which garnered national attention. Kiesler was recipient of a conducting fellowship at the Aspen Music School and his teachers and mentors have included Fiora Contino, Julius Herford, John Nelson,Erich Leinsdorf, James Wimer, and Carlo Maria Giulini.

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