Conductor Gary Thor Wedow has established an enviable reputation for dramatically exciting and historically informed performances with opera companies, orchestras, festivals, and choral organizations throughout North America. Opera News has hailed him for his “hot music making” and “convincingly elegant period style.” His debut with the New York Philharmonic conducting Messiah was noted in the New York Times for ‘a fleet, lithe orchestral performance, aptly complemented by the buoyant singing of the chorus.’

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Gary Thor Wedow’s engagements in the 2022-2023 season includes return to The Juilliard School to lead their production of Atalanta. Additionally he brings his expertise to Rice University for their spring production of L'incoronazione di Poppea, and conducts Alcina for the Berkshire Opera Festival in the summer. Last season began with performances of Rameau’s Platée in his return to Des Moines Metro Opera, followed by performances of Giulio Cesare with the Atlanta Opera. He then traveled out west to conduct the Santa Fe Symphony in performances of Handel’s Messiah. He also appeared twice during the season with Utah Opera, for rescheduled productions of Il barbiere di Siviglia in the fall and Pirates of Penzance in the spring.

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Maestro Wedow’s 2020-2021 COVID-19 impacted season included Handel’s Teseo with the Juilliard School, Handel’s Giulio Cesare with Carnegie Mellon University, and Handel’s Messiah with Portland Baroque Orchestra (postponed). In the spring he returned to his hometown symphony, the LaPorte County Symphony Orchestra for a concert of opera and musical excerpts. Maestro Wedow’s performed engagements during the COVID-19 shortened 2019-2020 season began with returns to Opera Philadelphia for Semele (performed) and Seattle Opera for La Cenerentola. He then made his house debut with Opera Omaha conducting The Abduction from the Seraglio (postponed).

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The Maestro’s busy 2018-2019 season included a return engagement with Pittsburgh Opera for Don Pasquale, as well as La Calisto at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and Giulio Cesare for the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, the latter for the American Handel Society’s Festival and Conference.

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His 2017-2018 season was notable for debuts with the Nashville Symphony for Messiah, Lembit Beecher’s War Stories for Opera Philadelphia and L’incoronazione di Poppea starring Anthony Roth Costanzo for Cincinnati Opera.  He was also in Madison for a concert appearance with Madison Opera, the Manhattan School of Music conducting La Cenerentola, Lucia di Lammermoor for The Jacobs School of Music and Die Fledermaus for Utah Opera.

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Recent appearances include his debuts with San Diego Opera conducting Rossini’s La Cenerentola and Orphée for Des Moines Metro Opera, Lucia di Lammermoor for Utah Opera, The Magic Flute for Madison Opera and a special collaboration between The Juilliard School and the Westminster Choir College of Mozart’s Requiem at Alice Tully Hall. Handel’s Messiah is frequently on his schedule with return engagements at Portland Baroque, the Santa Fe Symphony and a special performance at St. Thomas Church that the New York Times called “a war horse of a different, brighter color, with mighty crescendos and exquisite pianissimos, and guilty pleasures.”

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A favorite with Seattle Opera audiences, Wedow has also been a frequent guest of Florida Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Arizona Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Portland Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Berkshire Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Saratoga, and the Amherst Early Music Festival, among others. He was for many years associated with New York City Opera, leading the New York premiere of Telemann’s Orpheus, the groundbreaking Christopher Alden productions of Don Giovanni and Stephen Wadsworth’s Xerxes.

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Choral masterpieces and symphonic repertoire have taken him to the podiums of the New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, The Alabama Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Berkshire Choral International in Massachusetts, New Mexico, California and in Salzburg, and Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society where he was, for many years, Associate Conductor.

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Born in LaPorte, Indiana and now a resident of New York City, he has been a member of the Juilliard School faculty since 1994 where he has led performances of L’incoronazione di Poppea, La finta giardiniera, Ariodante and Don Giovanni. Of particular note was the tour of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Juilliard 415 Historical Performance Ensemble that culminated at Alice Tully Hall ‘in a performance that caught fire and magic’ according to the New York Times. His continued championship of young musicians and singers is further exemplified by projects at The Teatro Colón, Wolf Trap Opera, the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. A musical scholar as well as conductor, he has prepared several performing editions of baroque works in collaboration with gambist Lawrence Lipnik. Mr. Wedow studied piano with virtuoso Jorge Bolet at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University and received his Master of Music degree at the New England Conservatory.