Ransom Wilson has long been recognized internationally as one of the greatest flutists of his generation.  After graduation from the Juilliard School in 1973, he spent a year in Paris as a private student of Jean-Pierre Rampal.  In 1976 he gave his official debut concert in New York City, with Rampal as his guest artist.   An exclusive recording contract with Angel/EMI followed soon thereafter, along with extensive performances all over the world.

As flute soloist, he has appeared in concert with some of the greatest orchestras and artists of our time, including the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony, Frederica von Stade, Jessye Norman, Thomas Hampson, Susan Graham, Dolora Zajick, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Hilary Hahn, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Sir James Galway, Barry Douglas, Peter Frankl, Robin Sutherland, and many others.

Ransom Wilson is turning increasingly to a career in orchestral and operatic conducting.  He founded Solisti New York orchestra in 1981, with which he appeared as conductor in hundreds of concerts and recordings. More recently he has conducted two productions at the New York City Opera.  Since 2006 he has been a member of the musical staff at the Metropolitan Opera. Additionally, he is Artistic Director and conductor of a new ensemble, LE TRAIN BLEU, which recently received rave reviews for its debut performance at New York City's innovative Galapagos Art Space.

He has appeared as guest conductor with England’s London Symphony Orchestra and Hallé Orchestra, the Hermitage State Orchestra in Russia, the Cracow Philharmonic (Poland), KBS Symphony (South Korea), the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Denver Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (with Sir James Galway), San Francisco Chamber Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, New Jersey Symphony, Budapest Strings, Hartford Symphony, and Berkeley Symphony.

 

In addition to his current work at the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Opera, Wilson has conducted numerous productions with the opera companies of Glimmerglass, Minnesota, and Portland.  In 2004 he conducted the U.S. Premiere of Gounod’s comic opera Le médecin malgré lui (with recitatives by Erik Satie) at Yale University. Internationally, he has conducted operas at the Festival La Quincena in Spain, and the International Opera Center in Amsterdam.

Ransom Wilson hails from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and is an Artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Professor of Flute at Yale University, Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, and Artistic Director of  LE TRAIN BLEU ensemble.

Long recognized as one of the world's leading flutists, Ransom Wilson is the Professor of Flute at Yale University, as well as an Artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (New York City).  His teachers have included Philip Dunigan, Julius Baker, Arthur Lora, and Jean-Pierre Rampal, with whom he spent a year of study in Paris.

As a soloist, recent seasons' engagements have included concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia; the Cincinnati Pops at Blossom; the Detroit Symphony; the Puerto Rico Symphony; England's Hallé Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, among others.

Ransom Wilson is equally esteemed as an outstanding conductor of orchestral and operatic repertoire.  He has conducted two productions at the New York City Opera, and is currently an Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera.  Most recently, he conducted a recording with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Wilson’s highly successful recording career, which has included three  Grammy Award nominations, began in 1973 with Jean-Pierre Rampal and I Solisti Veneti.  More than 15 solo recordings have followed on the Angel/EMI, RCA, Image, and Orion and Musical Heritage Society labels.  As conductor, his recordings include a CD of works by John Adams and Steve Reich with Solisti New York and an album of selected Baroque pieces with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.  A recording on the CRI label features Mr. Wilson conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke's in the music of Aaron Jay Kernis, and and he can be heard leading a critically acclaimed performance of Stravinsky L'Histoire du Soldat on the Chesky label.  Very recently released are two significant recordings of new music: My Twentieth Century by Martin Bresnick (CRI Records) and Modern Primitive by Randall Woolf (Image Recordings).  Most recently, he conducted the London Symphony in a recording of music by Michael Colina.

Ransom Wilson is the recipient of several illustrious honors.  In 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree from the University of Alabama, where he also gave the keynote address at the university’s commencement ceremonies.  In 1988 the New York Times Foundation awarded him the first Alabama Prize, which is awarded to natives or residents of that state who have distinguished themselves in the performing or visual arts.  The following year he shared with pianist Christopher O’Riley a National Public Radio award for best performance by a small ensemble on a national broadcast.  The Austrian government honored him with their prestigious Award of Merit in Gold, in recognition of his efforts on behalf of Mozart's music in America. 

A strong advocate of contemporary music, Wilson has commissioned new works by Steve Reich, Peter Schickele, Joseph Schwantner, John Harbison, George Tsontakis, Randall Woolf, Jean-Michel Damase, Jean Francaix and Carlos Surinach and his future plans include projects with Martin Bresnick, Richard Danielpour, and recent Pulitzer Prize winner Aaron Jay Kernis.  A gifted arranger, Mr. Wilson has transcribed much of the music for his Angel/EMI recordings.  He has also conducted his own orchestrations of three of Ravel's Five Greek Songs, which were left unorchestrated by the composer, at Carnegie Hall with Frederica von Stade.

Educated at the North Carolina School of the Arts and at the Juilliard School, Mr. Wilson pursued post-graduate studies as an Atlantique Scholar in France with Jean-Pierre Rampal.  He has studied conducting with Roger Neirenberg, James Dixon, Otto Werner Mueller and received extensive coaching from the late Leonard Bernstein. 

Ransom is an Artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, Artistic Director of LE TRAIN BLEU, and Professor of Flute at the Yale School of Music

January 2012

Further information: www.ransomwilson.com