Department of Music

Michael Mishra

British conductor Michael Mishra is Director of Orchestral Studies at SIUE. He has conducted worldwide, performing with the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Sofia, the Arpeggione Kammerorchester in Austria, the Orquesta Sinfonica Uncuyo in Argentina, the Saratov Philharmonic in Russia, the Kharkov Philharmonic in Ukraine, and the Karlovy Vary Philharmonic, Hradec Kralove Philharmonic, and the Silesian State Opera in the Czech Republic. In 2004, he conducted the Daegu City Symphony in what was claimed to be the first ever performance by a Korean orchestra of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 2. Of this performance, the Yeong-Nam Daily wrote: “With flowing tempi and natural control of rubato, [Mishra] brought out beautifully the elaborate dialogues in Bruckner’s complexly woven collection of melodic lines. Maestro Mishra combined delicate analysis with musical charisma.” In 2003, Michael won the First Prize at the Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition in Ukraine.

In the United States, Michael conducted the Midwest Lyric Opera’s production of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 2008, and in 2012 appeared with Winter Opera St. Louis. He returned to open their 2013-2014 season with Gounod’s Faust. He has served on the faculty of the Conductors Guild’s Conducting Workshops for String Educators, and twice has been invited as a guest lecturer in conducting at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston. He serves on the boards of the Conductors Guild and the Illinois Council of Orchestras.

Michael’s major research interest is the music of Shostakovich. His 2008 volume, A Shostakovich Companion, has been acclaimed in Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine. He also has given papers on Shostakovich’s 7th Quartet, the cantata The Execution of Stepan Razin, the Michelangelo Song Cycle, the first version of the 9th Symphony, and the reorchestration of Schumann’s Cello Concerto.