Entrevista realizada por Kyle Macmillan.
In recent years, as Gemma New’s profile has soared in the classical world, the genial New Zealander conductor has been on a kind of international goodwill tour, introducing herself to orchestras, opera companies and festivals.
Indeed, she estimates that about half of her recent guest-conducting engagements have been debuts, including inaugural visits in 2025-26 with such major orchestras as the Pittsburgh Symphony, Belgian National Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony in England.
As frequently happens with New, the Colorado Music Festival invited her to appear for the first time in 2024, and the two programs 10 days apart went so well that the event’s leaders were quick to bring her back in 2026.
“I had such a lovely time,” New said. “Everyone was so inspiring to work with, and Peter Oundjian is an amazing music director. And he really supports his musicians and engages with the audience. I learned a lot from him while I was there, which was really cool.”
Returning to Boulder for a Featured 2026 Program
This time, she will lead an Aug. 2 line-up that is anchored by Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto (1947-49), which counts among just a handful of well-known such works for the instrument. The piece was commissioned by Benny Goodman, who though best known as a swing band leader in the 1930s and ‘40s was also a first-rate classical performer.
“The Copland Clarinet Concerto is one of my favorite pieces,” she said. “It’s just so beautiful in the first movement. It brings you to Americana, and then, of course, the jazzy, Latin side with the incredible second movement.”
The program will open with Sergei Prokofiev’s much-loved Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25, Classical (1916-17), which New described as “vivacious” piece with “incredible, contagious energy.” As its moniker suggests, it harks back to Mozart and Haydn but has modern Stravinsky-like articulations as well.
Rounding out the program is the Introduction, Theme and Variations for Clarinet and Orchestra by Gioachino Rossini and Maurice Ravel’s Ma mere l’oye (Mother Goose), a beloved 1911 orchestral suite that draws on familiar children’s stories like Tom Thumb and Beauty and the Beast.
“I hope everyone will be smiling and just full of joy afterward,” the conductor said.
On Opportunity and Progress for Women Conductors
New, 39, believes the professional possibilities are steadily improving for women conductors, who were often kept off the podium in decades past. “Many people are open-minded and supporters of women conductors,” she said, “and I think it’s really great that female conductors are getting all these wonderful opportunities, and they’re doing really well with them.”
Early Career Breakthroughs and International Recognition
After earning her master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the respected Peabody Institute in Baltimore, New got early career boasts from being named a 2014-15 Dudamel Conducting Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and winning the 2021 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award.
Her early conducting posts included resident conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2016-20, principal guest conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 2019-23 and nine seasons as music director of the Hamilton Philharmonic in Canada.
New has served as artistic adviser and principal conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra since 2022 – the first woman to hold the posts. She is set to end her tenure in 2027, when she will take the title of artistic partner with the ensemble. “Every time I go back, we have a really special time, so it’s nice to continue that,” she said.
Expanding Work in Opera and Across Continents
New resides in Atlanta and appears often in the United States and Europe, but she’s looking at doing more work in Asia after leading the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, South Korea, in Septiembre. “That was the first time I’d ever conducted in Asia, and that was wonderful,” she said. “I really loved the experience.”
Symphony orchestras continue to take up the bulk of her time, but she is devoting increasing attention to opera, including a recent visit at the Houston Grand Opera, where she led an Abril 24-Mayo 10 production of Rossini’s beloved comedy, The Barber of Seville.
“I find that every opera I do is quite life-changing,” she said. “Last summer, I did [Benjamin] Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. Before that, I had an absolute fascination with Britten’s music, but afterward, I felt like I really understood where he was coming from and really appreciated it more deeply.”
Indeed, New is so enamored with the form that she would like to have a standing operatic post that would complement her orchestral work. “I think it would be a really nice balance,” she said. “I would be open to it. I think you’ve just got to make sure that it is the right relationship.”
A Deep Connection to Summer Festivals in the U.S.
New has a long history with summer music festivals in the United States, starting with the Aspen (Colo.) Music Festival where she was a student at the American Academy of Conducting in 2013 and two years at the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, Mass., the last as a conducting fellow.
In addition to the Colorado Music Festival, New has appeared four times at the Hollywood Bowl and three times at the Grant Park Music Festival. Other past summer engagements include the Music Academy of the West and the Oregon Bach Festival, where she is returning in julio.
“Many of the summer festival orchestras [like that in Boulder] invite players from all over the country, so this brings people together who wouldn’t normally have a chance to meet in the year,” New said. “It’s a perfect opportunity to make new friendships and to be inspired by new perspectives.
“Plus, with the sunshine and being outdoors in nature, we can have fun and rejuvenate with wonderful people. I try to get a bit of hiking done in between engagements and plan to get up the Flatirons this summer.”