Scott Speck
Every time I hear the musicians of the Mobile Symphony play, I’m awestruck by the sound they create – totally committed, passionate, swift, thrilling, lyrical, singing, virtuosic. Our musicians seize full ownership of every moment onstage. As their Music Director and coach, I’m just inches away from the formidable wall of emotion and sound that flies over my head and out into the audience.
And I’m struck, too, by this fact: If you want to experience the Mona Lisa, you have to go to Paris. If you want to experience the Colosseum, you have to go to Rome. But if you want to experience Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, or Handel’s Messiah, or Ravel’s La Valse, or Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, or Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, you literally have the REAL THING right here in your own backyard. Just as true and rich, just as full of vitality, just as faithfully created before your eyes and ears, as in the biggest cities in the world. The Mobile Symphony has ALL the great music, right here at home.
Scott Speck, Music Director
Scott Speck joined the Mobile Symphony in 2000 as its first full-time Music Director. Under his leadership the orchestra has grown into one of the Gulf Coast’s premier performing arts organizations. Scott is a masterful conductor with a wide-ranging knowledge of repertoire, deep experience in programming, and a terrific sense of what will engage audiences – old and new. His performances with Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, Joshua Bell, Midori, Evelyn Glennie and Olga Kern have been highlights of his years as music director of the MSO.
Scott also holds positions as Music Director of the Joffrey Ballet, Chicago Philharmonic and West Michigan Symphony. He previously held positions as Conductor of the San Francisco Ballet; Music Advisor and Conductor of the Honolulu Symphony; and Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Opera. During a tour of Asia he was named Principal Guest Conductor of the China Film Philharmonic in Beijing. He was also invited to the White House as Music Director of the Washington Ballet.
In past seasons Scott Speck has conducted at London’s Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the Paris Opera, New York’s Lincoln Center, Chicago’s Symphony Center, Washington’s Kennedy Center, San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, and the Los Angeles Music Center. He has led numerous performances with the orchestras of Chicago, Houston, Washington, Baltimore, Paris, London, Moscow and Beijing, among many others.
He is co-author of the world’s best-selling books on classical music for a popular audience: Classical Music for Dummies, Opera for Dummies and Ballet for Dummies. He has been a regular commentator on National Public Radio, the BBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, broadcast throughout the world.
Scott can be reached on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @scottspeckmusic