Hobart Earle

Music director and principal conductor, People's Artist of Ukraine

Born in Venezuela of American parents, Hobart Earle has earned a reputation on several continents as a dynamic and exciting conductor. He was recognized as one of 30 “Professionals of the Year” by Musical America Worldwide (2014), and in conjunction with leading newspapers, the Russian Cosmonaut Association named a star in the ‘Perseus’ constellation as ‘Hobart Earle’ (2003).

A highlight of the 2022-2023 season, Hobart Earle’s highly acclaimed performance at the Philharmonie in Berlin during the Berliner Musikfest with the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra was broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Deutschlandfunk, Radio France, RAI 3 and featured by the New York Times.

"...a Brahms second symphony of white-hot intensity, tensile strength and unflagging
sense of purpose."

The Financial Times

London

Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra, Hobart Earle has elevated the orchestra to a position of international prominence, unprecedented in the history of the organization, performing in such concert halls as the Musikverein (Vienna), the Philharmonie (Cologne), Barbican Hall (London), the National Auditorium (Madrid), Orchestra Hall in Chicago, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Carnegie Hall (New York) and the Kennedy Center (Washington), Davies Hall in San Francisco and the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Conductor Hobart Earle secured much of the same integrity of performance from his players in Mahler Symphony No. 2 - The Resurrection ... this must go down as one of the best performances of Mahler in Perth.

Sunday Times

Perth, Western Australia

Hobart Earle’s festival credits include appearances at such music festivals as the Bregenz Spring Festival (Austria), the Festival of Perth (Australia), the Lugano Spring Festival (Switzerland), the Chichester Festivities (England), the Nuits Musicales du Suquet in Cannes (France), the Budapest Spring Festival, (Hungary), the Varna Summer Festival (Bulgaria) and the Cultural Capital of Europe in Thessaloniki, Greece.

His collaboration with the Miami International Piano Festival dates back many years, and in 2023 Hobart Earle was named Official Conductor of the Festival. He has led such orchestras as the Bilbao Symphony, Vienna Tonkuenstler, Noord-Nederlands Orkest in Holland, Odense Symfoniorkester in Denmark, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonica Siciliana and Orchestra della Toscana, Sinfonia Iuventus in Warsaw, Krakow and Silesian Philharmonic Orchestras, Athens State Symphony, Buffalo and Florida Philharmonics, North Carolina and Miami Symphony Orchestras, Taipei Symphony and such major Russian institutions as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Russian National Orchestra. In the opera pit, he has led productions with the Greek National Opera and the Mythos Opera Festival, and in the recording studio, has recorded with the Russian State Symphony and Odessa Philharmonic for Naxos and Toccata Records. His performance of Tchaikovsky’s 5th symphony in Vienna’s Musikverein was recorded by the Austrian Radio live in concert, and awarded “Best Classical Album 2002” at the ‘JPFolks Music Awards’ in Hollywood, California. His recording of music by Myroslav Skoryk was chosen by Naxos CEO Klaus Heymann in the “Chairman’s Choice 2014 – Klaus Heymann’s Favorite Naxos Releases” .

“In Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony, as with Mahler’s symphonies, one of the principal tasks of the
conductor is to bring consistency to heterogeneity,
to build the overall context. Anyone setting out
merely to “play correctly” risks permanent boredom. Not Hobart Earle. The ambiguity he exposed in this only outwardly affirmative work, the way he built up the lines of thematic development, marks him out as a
truly important conductor.”

Stuttgarter Zeitung

In recognition of his work with the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra, Hobart Earle was awarded the titles “Distinguished Artist of Ukraine” and “People’s Artist of Ukraine”, the first American in the history of Ukraine so honored.

Hobart Earle has performed with such pianists as Dmitri Alexeev, Piotr Anderszewski, Boris Berezovsky, Yefim Bronfman, Rudolf Buchbinder, Arnaldo Cohen, Jean-Philippe Collard, Peter Donohoe, Lucas Krupinski, Valery Kuleshov, Francesco Libetta, Pietro de Maria, Mikhail Pletnev, Ivo Pogorelich and Nikolai Petrov – violinists such as Dmitry Berlinsky, Pavel Berman, Boris Brovstyn, Vadim Gluzman, Sergei Krylov, Liana Issakadze, Silvia Marcovici, Victor Pikaizen, Valeriy Sokolov, Ingolf Turban and Victor Tretyakov – violist Yuri Bashmet – violoncellists David Geringas, Steven Isserlis, Alexander Knaziev, Alexei Stadler, Matt Haimovitz and such singers as Elena Obraztsova, Paata Burchuladze, Vladimir Chernov, Maria Guleghina, Liudmyla Monastryska, Tatyana Melnychenko, Valentyn Dytiuk and Alexander Tsymbalyuk.

He was a student of Ferdinand Leitner in Salzburg and Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa at Tanglewood. Hobart Earle studied conducting at the Academy of Music in Vienna; received a performer’s diploma in clarinet from Trinity College of Music, London; and is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University, where he studied composition with Milton Babbitt, Edward Cone, Paul Lansky and Claudio Spies.

"The Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra playing superbly under its young American conductor, Hobart Earle.. - repertoire played and recorded with great panache...this release will not let you down."

Fanfare Magazine

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