Andrew Litton, Music Director of the Dallas Symphony since 1994, is one of but a handful of Americans at the head of a major American orchestra. With strong community support he has significantly raised the orchestra's standing through heightened musical standards, international and national touring including a summer residency at the Colorado Bravo Vail Valley Music Festival, a new television presence, and an active recording partnership with Delos International. The DSO 1999/2000 Centennial celebrations include a second European Tour under Mr. Litton's baton.

Mr. Litton has appeared with more than 100 of the world's leading orchestras, including those of Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Moscow, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Scandinavia, and Israel. His more than 50 recordings include a Grammy®-winning Belshazzar's Feast with Bryn Terfel and the Bournemouth Symphony, as well as a Grammy®-nominated Delos Tchaikovsky album with the Dallas Symphony. Mr. Litton and the Dallas Symphony are recording Mahler and Shostakovich symphony cycles for Delos. Mr. Litton conducts from the keyboard in several highly acclaimed Gershwin recordings, as well as for Delos' Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 with the DSO.

A native New Yorker, Andrew Litton was inspired to become a conductor by attending Leonard Bernstein's New York Philharmonic Young Peoples' Concerts. He is carrying forward that heritage through the Dallas Symphony's Family Concerts, broadcast nationally in a prize-winning Amazing Music series on PBS. Committed to education, Mr. Litton is attracting new and younger audiences to the Meyerson Symphony Center. He is a vital force in the cultural life of Dallas.

Andrew Litton's career was launched by winning the 1982 London BBC International Conductors' Competition while still a Juilliard student. Debuts with the BBC Symphony and Royal Philharmonic orchestras quickly led to guest conducting invitations worldwide. Upon graduating from Juilliard with Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Piano and Conducting, he became Exxon/Arts Endowment Assistant Conductor of the Washington, DC National Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1986 Mr. Litton was named Principal Guest Conductor of Britain's Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and in 1988 became its Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, the first American and youngest to head one of Britain's oldest orchestras. He remains BSO Conductor Laureate and returns frequently to Britain.

Andrew Litton has conducted at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, English National, Welsh National, and Bregenz Festival, among others. He returns to the Dallas Opera in February 2001 for Rigoletto and to the ENO for Masked Ball in February 2002. He leads the May 2000 New York Philharmonic's Sondheim Gala concert presentations of Sweeney Todd with Bryn Terfel and Patti LuPone.

Mr. Litton's honors include an honorary Doctorate of Music from the University of Bournemouth, the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for service to music, and the Dallas Historic Society's Award for Community Service in recognition of his strong commitment to his adopted Dallas home.