San Diego, Calif., Symphony assistant conductor Sameer Patel and Ankush Kumar Bahl, assistant conductor with the Washington, D.C.-based National Symphony Orchestra, are among 11 conductors to have received the 2016 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award. The award supports and promotes emerging young American conductors as they launch their classical careers.

Currently in his first season as assistant conductor of the San Diego Symphony, Patel previously spent three seasons as associate conductor of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, where he conducted the orchestra in more than 100 performances and invigorated the orchestra’s engagement with the community, according to a press release.

In 2013, the Indian American was one of six conductors selected by the League of American Orchestras for the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, an event that showcases emerging and talented conductors to orchestra industry professionals. He was a 2011 Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Scholar, an honor given to him by former New York Philharmonic music director Kurt Masur. As part of this award, Patel traveled to Europe to study with and assist Maestro Masur with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Patel began his musical training as a pianist and received both his graduate and undergraduate degrees at the University of Michigan, where he studied conducting with Kenneth Kiesler. He furthered his training internationally with acclaimed conductors Bernard Haitink, Gianandrea Noseda, Paavo Järvi, JoAnn Falletta and Günther Herbig.

“I am honored by the Solti Foundation’s recognition, and I am grateful to my colleagues at the San Diego Symphony whose continuing support made this award possible,” Patel said in a statement.

Bahl is the recipient of the 2011, 2013 and 2015 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards, as well as a 2009 Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Scholarship (Leipzig). Having just completed a four-year tenure as assistant conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. (under Christoph Eschenbach), the Indian Amerian recently made appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the National Opera Orchestre de Nancy, the Copenhagen Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Indianapolis Symphony, among others in the U.S. and Europe. This season, Bahl will expand his international presence with debuts in Canada, Mexico and South America. This summer, he will appear once again with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony and make his debut with an all-Mendelssohn program at the Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York.

Bahl was discovered in 2009 by former New York Philharmonic music director Kurt Masur, and soon after was hired as an assistant conductor to Masur at the Orchestre National de France, the Royal Concertgebouw, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He also has been a conducting Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival.

|