Mélisse Brunet

Mélisse Brunet is a conductor serving as music director of the Lexington Philharmonic, with regular guest appearances at Sarasota Orchestra and the Louisiana Philharmonic. Her upcoming programs range from Dvořák and Mahler symphonies to concertos by Elgar and Tchaikovsky, film music evenings, and works by living composers like Kevin Puts and Stacy Garrop.

Across this season's programs, Brunet moves between large orchestral showpieces and newer American concert works. Listeners can expect Dvořák's "New World" Symphony, built on melodies inspired by American folk idioms, paired with Elgar's Cello Concerto, a work of aching, understated lyricism written in the composer's later years. Her "Sounds in Color" program pairs Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition," a suite depicting paintings through vivid orchestral color, with Kevin Puts' Marimba Concerto, which turns the wooden-keyed percussion instrument into a lyrical solo voice. She also leads Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra, a piece that showcases individual sections of the orchestra in turn, and closes her Lexington season with Mahler's Second Symphony, "Resurrection," a nearly ninety-minute work ending with full chorus and orchestra.