Dean Whiteside

Praised for ''imbuing each score with idiomatic flair and sensitive interpretive insights'' (South Florida Classical Review), Dean Whiteside is currently the Resident Conductor of the Atlantic Music Festival. A recipient of the Solti Foundation U.S.' 2022 Career Assistance Award, he was also selected for the 2023 Elizabeth Buccheri Opera Residency Program at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Recent appearances include a subscription concert with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra deemed 'spectacular' by Tportal HR, as well as debuts with the Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra and Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. He co-founded the Nashville Sinfonietta in 2010, praised by John Pitcher of NPR as 'a virtuoso band.'

Mr. Whiteside was the winner of the 2018 American Prize in Conducting and the 2021 Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music. He received second prize and the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra Award at the Sixth International Competition of Young Conductors Lovro von Matačić. He attended Colorado MahlerFest, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and the Castleton Festival as a Conducting Fellow. He was selected as the 2015 David Effron Conducting Fellow at the Chautauqua Institution and attended the Bayreuth Festival as a scholarship recipient.

Mr. Whiteside has served as cover conductor to the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke's, San Francisco Symphony, and The Knights, in addition to the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel. He led the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich as part of the 6th International David Zinman Masterclass and was a semi-finalist at the Tokyo International Conducting Competition.

His mentors have included Robin Fountain, Timothy Muffitt, and Lorin Maazel. He has worked closely with conductors including Roberto Abbado, James Conlon, Carlos Izcaray, Bernard Labadie, Peter Oundjian, Michael Tilson Thomas, Osmo Vänskä, and HK Gruber. He graduated with distinction from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and he completed a fellowship at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, FL.

Last updated: October 10, 2023