Ari Pelto

Conductor

Music Director at Opera Colorado, Ari Pelto recently conducted I Pagliacci and Tosca for the company. He traveled to San Diego Opera to conduct Hänsel und Gretel, conducted Le Tragedie de Carmen at Utah Opera, The Merry Widow at Idaho Opera and led Atlanta Ballet for performances of The Nutcracker. Future engagements include his appearance with Sacramento Philharmonic in a Brahms program of The Emperor Concerto alongside Symphony No. Two, The Shining and Carmen at Opera Colorado, and a varied program of Ravel, Prokofiev and Boccherini with Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Widely known for performances that have been called “poetic, earthy, vigorous” and “highly individual,” he is in demand in opera houses and with symphony orchestras throughout the United States. Appointed to Opera Colorado in 2015, Pelto has conducted acclaimed performances of La Traviata, Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Aida, La Boheme, Falstaff, La Fanciulla del West, Le Nozze di Figaro, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Lucia di Lammermoor. In contemporary repertoire, the company recently premiered Lori Laitman’s long-awaited work, The Scarlet Letter, a recording of which was released on the Naxos label, and the world premiere of Gerald Cohen’s new opera, Steal a Pencil for Me, based on a true love story set in a concentration camp during WWII, soon to be recorded for wider distribution.

“With spot-on pacing from Ari Pelto, the cast brilliantly tossed off the complexities of both the dizzying Act 1 finale and the glorious concluding fugue. Pelto wielded a sure hand over his fine orchestra throughout the performance, never allowing Verdi’s powerful orchestral moments to overwhelm the singers. This tempos meshed perfectly with Edwards’s ability to keep things moving without seeming rushed.”

Opera News, Marc Shulgold, May 2018

“From the moment the curtain rises, the audience is treated to a spellbinding overture by conductor Ari Pelto.”

Courtney Daly-Pavone, Central San Diego, 9 February 2020

Operatic Repertoire

Beethoven Fidelio

Bizet Carmen

Britten The Rape of Lucretia

Britten Curlew River

Cohen Steal a Pencil for me

De Banfield Lord Byron’s Love Letter

Donizetti Don Pasquale

Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor

Gluck Iphigenie en Aulide

Gounod Faust

Gounod Romeo et Juliette

Humperdink Hansel und Gretel

Janacek Excursions of Mr Broucek

Janacek Jenufa

Korngold Die Tote Stadt

Janacek The Cunning Little Vixen

Laitman The Scarlett Letter

Massenet Cendrillon

Massenet Werther

Moravec The Shining

Mozart Don Giovanni

Mozart Cosi fan tutte

Mozart Idomeneo

Mozart The Magic Flute

Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro

Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld

Paulus The Village Singer

Poulenc Dialogues of the Carmelites

Previn A Streetcar named Desire

Puccini Tosca

Puccini Suor Angelica

Puccini Madama Butterfly

Puccini Gianni Schicchi

Puccini La Boheme

Puccini La Fanciulla del West

Rossini La Cenerentola

Rossini Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Strauss Arabella

Strauss Salome

Stravinsky The Rake’s Progress

Verdi Rigoletto

Verdi Falstaff

Verdi La Traviata

Verdi Otello

Verdi Aida

Concert Repertoire

Adams Short Ride in a fast Machine

Bach Brandenburg #1,#6 Orchestra Suite #4, Violin Concerto in A Minor, Double Concerto in D Minor

Barber VIolin Concerto

Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, Rumanian Dances, Deux Images

Beethoven Symphonies 1-9, Overture to Fidelio, Overture to Egmont, Piano Concertos 2,3,5, Violin Concerto

Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, Roman Carnival Overture

Bernstein Overture to Candide, Dances from West Side Story

Bizet Carmen Suites 1,2 L’Arlésienne Suites 1, 2

Boccherini Cello Concerto in B-Flat

Borodin Polovtsian Dances

Brahms Symphonies 1-4, Seranade #2, Piano Concerto #1, Violin Concerto, Hayden Variations,

Britten Sinfonietta, Seranade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Midsummer Night’s Dream

Bruch Violin Concerto

Crumb Echoes of Time and the River

Chopin Piano Concerto #1

Copland Appalachian Spring, Dances from Rodeo

Debussy Prelude to the afternoon of a Faun, Nocturnes, La Mer

Delius Florida Suite

Donizetti Overture to Don Pasquale, Overture to Lucia Di Lammermoor

Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Dvorak Symphonies #6,#8,#9, Slavonic Dances, Piano Concerto, Cello Concerto

Elgar Enigma Variations, Cello Concerto

Falla Three Cornered Hat Suite

Faure Pelleas et Melisande

Gershwin An American in Paris, Piano Concerto

Gliere Russian Sailor’s Dance

Gluck Overture to Iphigénie

Grieg Peer Gynt Suite, Holberg Suite

Haydn Symphonies #88, #99, #104 Cello Concerto #1, Violin Concerto

Hindemith Symphonic Metamorphoses, Viola Concerto

Holst The Planets, St. Paul’s Suite

Honegger Pacific 231

Janacek Cunning Little Vixen Suite, Suite from The Excursions of Mr.Broucek

Jolivet Violin Concerto

Kabalevsky The Comedians

Kodaly Dances of Galanta

Lehar Overture to the Merry Widow, Dein ist Mein Ganzes Herz

Leon Bata

Mahler Symphonies #1, #3, #5 and #10, Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen

Martin Concerto for 7 Winds, Percussion and Strings

Martinu The Frescos of Piero Della Francesca

Mendelssohn Symphonies #3, #4, String Symphony #7, Hebrides Overture, Violin Concerto, Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Mihaud Le Boeuf sur le Toit, Scaramouche

Mozart Symphonies #25, #35,#36, #37, #38, #39, #41, Great Mass in C Minor, Violin Concertos, #3, #4,#5, Overtures to Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutte, Magic Flute, Abduction from the Seraglio, Divertimento in D

Mussorgsky Pictures from an Exhibition, Night on Bald Mountain

Nielsen Flute Concerto

Orff Carmina Burana

Prokofiev Classical Symphony, Cinderella (Entire), Romeo and Juiiette (Entire), Lt. Kije Suite, VIolin Concerto #2

Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, Piano Concerto #2

Ravel Bolero, Ma Mere L’Oye, Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, Le Tombeau de Couperin, La Valse

Respighi Gli Uccelli, Ancient Airs and Dances

Revueltas Sensemayá

Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade, Capriccio Espanol, Russian Easter Overture

Rossini Overtures to Il Barbiere di Siviglia, L’Italiana in Algeri, La Cenerentola, La Gazza Ladra, William Tell

Rozsa Concerto for String Orchestra

Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony, Violin Concerto

Schoenberg Kammersymphonie Nos.1 and 2, Verklärte Nacht

Schubert Symphonies #5, #8, #9

Schumann Symphonies #1, #2, Piano Concerto

Sejourné Concerto for Marimba

Shostakovich Symphonies #1, #5, #9, Festival Overture, Violin Concerto #2, Cello Concerto

Sibelius Symphonies #2, #3, #7, VIolin Concerto, Karelia Suite, Finlandia Suite, Valse Triste

Smetana Bartered Bride Overture

J Strauss Overture to Die Fledermaus, Tales from the Vienna Woods

R Strauss Four Last Songs, Til Eulenspiegel, Don Juan, Dance of the Seven Veils from Salome

Tchaikovsky Symphonies #4, #5, #6, Romeo and Juliet, Francesca da Rimini, Sleeping Beauty (Entire), Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, Serenade for Strings, Nutcracker (Entire), Swan Lake (Entire), Orchestral Suite #4

Vaughn Williams A lark Ascending

Verdi Overtures to Nabucco, La Forza Del Destino, La Traviata

Vivaldi Four Seasons

Wagner Overtures to The Flying Dutchman, Lohengrin, Siegfried Idyll, Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, Immolation from Götterdämmerung

Walton Viola Concerto

Weber Freischütz Overture, Euryanthe Overture

Webern 5 Pieces for Orchestra

Contact

Deborah Sanders

Founder and Director
deborah@arbourartists.com

Deborah Sanders

Arts Management

Ari Pelto

Contact

Deborah Sanders