Ruth Reinhardt

Ruth Reinhardt is the newly appointed music director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, beginning with season 25-26, the fifth in the orchestra's 80-year history. She was appointed music director in the 24-25 season.

In season 24-25, Reinhardt conducts orchestras on four continents - in Europe and North America and makes her debut in Asia with both the Seoul Philharmonic and the Hong Philharmonic, as well as in South America with the Säo Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP). She begins the season at the Lucerne Festival by conducting a program dedicated to and celebrating the centennial of Pierre Boulez with the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, and includes debuts with symphony orchestras in Bamberg, Nuremberg, Beethovenhalle in Bonn, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in, and the Residentie Orkest in The Hague, along with return visits to RSB Berlin, and Stockholm (Philharmonic) and Malmö Sweden. In the U.S., Reinhard will conduct the Rhode Island Philharmonic and debut with the St Louis Symphony and Charlotte Symphony and will return with the Milwaukee and San Diego symphony orchestras.

Programmatically, Reinhardt's interests have led her to an in-depth exploration of contemporary repertoire, leading the symphonic and orchestral world into the 21st century. Strongly focused on European composers, with a significant emphasis on women composers of the second half of the 20th century and early 21st century, she brings new names and fresh faces to many orchestras for the first time. Among those whose works frequently appear in her programs are Grazyna Bacewicz, Kaija Saariaho, Lotta Wennäkoski, Daniel Bjarnason, Dai Fujikura and Thomas Adès. Parallel programming can be complementary or contrasting, from classical moderns such as Lutostawski, Bartok, Stravinsky and Hindemith, or core composers of the symphonic canon - e.g. Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Dvorak.

In recent seasons, Ruth Reinhardt has made an important series of symphonic debuts in North America with the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Detroit, Houston, Baltimore, Milwaukee and Seattle. In Europe, her performances were no less impressive - she performed with the Orchestre National de France, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSB), among others.
Born in Saarbrucken, Germany to a family of medics - both parents and her sister are doctors - Reinhardt knew early on that music would be her calling; she studied violin and composition and wrote an opera while still in high school. Her studies took her first to the Zurich Hochschule der Künste, violin with Rudolf Koelman and conducting with Constantin Trinks and Johannes Schlaefli, and continued her studies at The Juilliard School of Music in the conducting class of Alan Gilbert and James Ross. After graduation, she worked for two seasons with the Dallas Symphony, as assistant conductor to Jaap van Zweden, while also being a Dudamel Fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In the summer, she was assistant conductor of the Lucerne Festival Academy with artistic co-directors Wolfgang Rihm and Matthias Pintscher. Previous fellowships include the Seattle Symphony (2015-2016) and Tanglewood Music Center (2015), and Taki Concordia associate conducting fellow (2015-2017). Ruth Reinhardt currently lives in Switzerland.