EDMONTON -- Uri Mayer has been appointed principal conductor and music director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Society President Ron Rich announced Monday.
Mayer, currently associate conductor of the Montreal Symphony, officially takes over the posts Sept. 1.
'Uri Mayer has an enviable reputation throughout Canada as both an instrumentalist and a conductor and we are indeed fortunate to be able to pursuade him to move his family to Edmonton,' Rich said.
'We believe he will lead our orchestra to fresh heights of musical excellance and public acceptance,' Rich said.
Mayer was born in Rumania in 1946 and moved to Israel in 1958 where he studied viola and conducting at the University of Tel Aviv.
In 1968 he moved to the United Sates to attend the Juilliard School of Music and became pripncipal viola for the American Symphony Orchestra.
In 1970 Mayer moved to Montreal to become assistant principal viola with the Montreal Symphony where he subsequently became principal viola and associate conductor.
Mayer won the silver medal in the first International Competitions for Conductors in 1979 in Poland and has conducted professionally in Canada, Israel, the U.S. and Europe since the mid-1970s.
