09/11/2026
This week we had the first rehearsal of our 34th season! This was also our first rehearsal with our Interim Artistic Director Michael Antonio Djabarov! He will be conducting our first concert of the season on November 21st! Help us welcome Michael to the MPO in the comments below!
Michael Antonio Djabarov is a Mexican-American conductor and double bass player based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He studied at the Peabody Institute at the Johns Hopkins University where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Double Dass Performance and master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting under the tutelage of Ira Gold and Marin Alsop. Michael has worked for several organizations including the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra as an Assistant Conductor, head Conductor for the Hopkins Concert Orchestra, Loudon Symphony and the AVANTI ensemble as a cover conductor. Through his studies at the Peabody Institute, he had the privilege of performing in masterclass settings with the Baltimore Symphony and National Symphony Orchestra. Michael was also invited to serve as Assistant Conductor with the Sao Paulo Symphony during their performance at Carnegie Hall. Educationally, he was a low strings teacher for the BSO’s OrchKids and conductor for the Baltimore Children’s Choir in-school program. Additionally, he has had the privilege of teaching a music theory and history course to middle schoolers at Francis Scott Key Middle School in Baltimore, Maryland. His dedicated work to expansion of the classical canon and lifting new voices in music make him unique in his approach to teaching and performing. Michael currently serves as music director and conductor of the East Coast Contemporary Ensemble (ECCE) and interim Music Director for the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra. He is continuing his education at the University of Minnesota as a D.M.A candidate and Teaching Assistant under Mark Russell Smith.
