Julien Benichou

Assistant Conductor, 2003-2005

Julien Benichou has been Assistant Conductor of the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra since the fall of 2003. He directs the HSO’s chamber music program and conducts works on all three of the season’s chamber concerts.

In his native France, Mr. Benichou studied at the conservatories of Marseille, St. Maur, and Rueil-Malmaison, as well as the Schola Cantorum in Paris. His teachers included Roland Hayrabedian for choral conducting, Jean-Sebastien Bereau and Pol Mule for orchestral conducting, Georges Boeuf for composition, and Pierre Doury for harmony and counterpoint. Mr. Benichou founded and directed the Montpellier Young Orchestral Ensemble. He also directed the Martigues Choir for several years.

He moved to the United States to become assistant conductor of the Skokie Symphony Orchestra (Illinois). There he concurrently completed a Master of Music degree in conducting with Victor Yampolski. He studied at Yale University with Lawrence Leighton Smith. He finished his formal education with a Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory, under the guidance of Gustav Meier and Markand Thakar. While a student, he was named assistant conductor of the Peabody Singers and assistant teacher of the undergraduate conducting class. While at Peabody, Mr. Benichou assisted Maestro Andrea Licata in several productions at the Baltimore Opera Company and was invited to the Hot Springs Music Festival as associate conductor. He has participated actively in master classes with Yuri Temirkanov, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Marin Alsop. He is the recipient of the Prix de la Sacem in Musical Analysis.

Mr. Benichou is currently the Music Director and Conductor of the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra. He guest conducts the Annapolis Symphony and the Londontowne Symphony.

From April 3, 2005 program