James Judd

James Judd, the conductor, boasts a career marked by remarkable diversity, having directed ensembles across western and eastern Europe, the United States, Korea, and Israel, in addition to molding a leading youth orchestra in Europe.

Born on October 30, 1949, in Hertford, United Kingdom, Judd pursued his musical education at Trinity College of Music in London, where he studied piano under Alfred Kitchin and conducting with Bernard Keefe. Upon finishing his training in 1971, he joined the London Opera Centre as a conductor trainee. Although he has periodically led operatic productions, such as those with the English National Opera, his focus shifted toward orchestral repertoire after serving as assistant conductor to Lorin Maazel with the Cleveland Orchestra between 1973 and 1975.

In 1978, Claudio Abbado extended an invitation for Judd to assume the role of associate music director for the newly formed European Community Youth Orchestra. He has maintained his involvement with this ensemble over the years, earning the position of honorary artistic director in 1990.

The year 1987 saw Judd appointed music director of the Florida Philharmonic, where he elevated the ensemble from regional status to international acclaim. During his tenure in Florida, he established the Miami Music Project, an initiative for young musicians inspired by Venezuela's El Sistema. From the 1990s onward, he made frequent guest appearances, among them engagements with the London Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, and the Cincinnati Symphony.

Judd took up the music directorship of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in 1999, becoming the first individual to hold that post in the orchestra's history. He stepped down from the Florida Philharmonic in 2001 amid tensions stemming from fiscal challenges, which ultimately led to the orchestra's dissolution in 2003. Subsequent guest conducting included a 2005 performance at the BBC Proms alongside the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra.

His appointment as music director of the Israel Symphony Orchestra came in 2014, though that organization also faced monetary difficulties. Relocating to Korea in 2016, Judd assumed leadership of the Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2017 he further expanded his responsibilities by becoming chief conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic, a position slated to continue until 2021.

Judd's extensive discography encompasses recordings issued by Harmonia Mundi, including his acclaimed 1994 interpretation of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in D major with the Florida Philharmonic, as well as RCA and Capriccio, among others. For the Opera Rara label, he directed seldom-performed operas by Donizetti and Meyerbeer. Throughout the 2000s, many of his projects have involved the Naxos label, frequently in collaboration with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. In 2020, he issued a recording of works by Bernstein and Gershwin on Naxos, performed by the Wolf Trap Opera and the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic.