A recipient of the 2024 and 2023 Career Assistance Award from the Solti Foundation U.S., Brazilian-American conductor Austin Chanu just concluded his tenure the Assistant Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he assisted Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Austin made his subscription debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra ...

A recipient of the 2024 and 2023 Career Assistance Award from the Solti Foundation U.S., Brazilian-American conductor Austin Chanu just concluded his tenure the Assistant Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he assisted Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Austin made his subscription debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra in April 2023 conducting Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Critics commended his interpretation saying, “the orchestra never sounded better as Chanu led with primal energy and shamanistic insight into the music…the orchestra matched Chanu’s confident leadership in a performance of searing energy and heart-thumping passion” (Broad Street Review).

Austin recently placed 3rd in the Korean National Symphony Orchestra International Conducting Competition where he also was awarded the orchestra prize. He has appeared as a guest conductor with the Filarmonica Banatul Timișoara, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and Omaha Symphony. He has worked with prominent conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Herbert Bloomstedt, Stéphane Denève, and Marin Alsop.

Austin is currently co-leading a project with The Philadelphia Orchestra to restore, rebuild, and elevate the underperformed works of American composer William Grant Still. Austin recently led the world premiere of a newly restored edition of Still’s Wood Notes that he helped create.

Austin has a passion for contemporary music, stemming from his own background as a composer. He served as a teaching artist and conductor for the LA Philharmonic Association’s Associate Composer Program, as well as a Conducting Fellow at the 2022 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, where he studied with conductor Cristian Măcelaru. He was commissioned by the Eastman School of Music to compose an orchestral work for the school’s centennial celebration and conducted its world premiere in the Fall of 2021.

Previously, Austin was Music Director for the Los Angeles Music and Art School, where he conducted and developed the artistic direction for the youth orchestra, choirs, and jazz band. Austin found it rewarding to draw on his Latino heritage to foster representation for the predominantly Latinx students and families in the program through repertoire selection.

In addition to his orchestral background, Austin has extensive experience in jazz and musical theatre styles. While living in Los Angeles, he was a high-call woodwind performer for musical pit orchestras and jazz ensembles.

Austin received a B.M. in Music Composition from the USC Thornton School of Music in 2015, graduating Magna cum Laude. He graduated from the Eastman School of Music in 2021 with an M.M. in Orchestral Conducting.

Acclaimed by the Baltimore Sun as “one of the biggest pianistic talents to have emerged in this country in the last 25 years” pianist Terrence Wilson has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Washington, DC (National Symphony), San Francisco, St. Louis, and ...

Acclaimed by the Baltimore Sun as “one of the biggest pianistic talents to have emerged in this country in the last 25 years” pianist Terrence Wilson has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Washington, DC (National Symphony), San Francisco, St. Louis, and with the orchestras of Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Conductors with whom he has worked include Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Neeme Järvi, Jesús López-Cobos, Lawrence Renes, Robert Spano, Yuri Temirkanov, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Gunther Herbig and Michael Morgan.

Abroad, Terrence Wilson has played concerti with such ensembles as the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He has toured with orchestras in the US and abroad, including a tour of the US with the Sofia Festival Orchestra (Bulgaria) and in Europe with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.

An active recitalist, Terrence Wilson made his New York City recital debut at the 92nd Street Y, and his Washington, DC recital debut at the Kennedy Center. In Europe he has given recitals at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Lourvre in Paris, and countless other major venues. In the US he has given recitals at Lincoln Center in New York City (both Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall), the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, NY, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, and for the La Jolla Chamber Music Society. An avid chamber musician, he performs regularly with the Ritz Chamber Players. Festival appearances include Aspen, Blossom, Grant Park, Tanglewood and Wolf Trap.

During the 2023-2024 season, Wilson performed as soloist with the Symphony Orchestras of Anchorage, Brevard (FL), Greensboro, Harrisburg, Memphis, Portland (ME), Raleigh and Wichita to name a few. He also appeared as soloist with the Madison Symphony in their gala season-opening concert in September 2023. Other highlights of the season included a multi-city chamber music tour with Imani Winds with performances at such venues as the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in Boston and the 92nd Street Y in New York City, a recital tour culminating with a recital at the prestigious Ravinia Festival, and a return as soloist with the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago with performances of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with Music Director Designate, Giancarlo Guerrero.

The 2024-2025 season takes Wilson to perform with Symphony Tacoma as well as the Symphony Orchestras of Roanoke and Toledo among others. The season will also include recital appearances in Brookings, OR and chamber music performances with the Escher Quartet in New Orleans and Montréal.

Committed to education, Wilson serves as a member of the piano faculty at the Brevard Music Center (BMC) Institute and Festival in Brevard, NC for three weeks each summer. In July 2024, he was featured as faculty soloist with the Brevard Chamber Symphony at Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium at BMC. He is also a frequent guest teacher, lecturer and adjudicator in numerous international piano competitions.

Terrence Wilson has received several awards and prizes, including the SONY ES Award for Musical Excellence, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the Juilliard Petschek Award. He has also been featured on several radio and television broadcasts, including NPR’s “Performance Today,” WQXR radio in New York, and programs on the BRAVO Network, the Arts & Entertainment Network, public television, and as a guest on late night network television. In 2011, Wilson was nominated for a Grammy in the category of “Best Instrumental Soloist With an Orchestra” for his (world premiere) recording with the Nashville Symphony conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero of Michael Daugherty’s Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra – written for Wilson in 2007.

Terrence Wilson is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky. He has also enjoyed the invaluable mentorship of the Romanian pianist and teacher Zitta Zohar. A native of the Bronx, he resides in Montclair, New Jersey. In March 2021, Wilson was appointed to the piano faculty at Bard College Conservatory of Music.