James Sinclair
Guest Conductor 2005-6

James Sinclair is the music director of Orchestra New England, a professional orchestra based in New Haven. His versatility in delivering superb performances in styles ranging from the Baroque to pops literature has driven the remarkable success of Orchestra New England. He serves as a music advisor to both the Berkeley and Saybrook College orchestras.

Sinclair is currently recording for the Naxos label the complete orchestral music of Charles Ives, an eight CD project. The first two discs have been released. Naxos is the leading repertoire provider in the recording world; their catalogue comprises more than 2,100 releases.

James Sinclair is among the world's pre-eminent scholars and champions of the music of Charles Ives. He is the Executive Editor for the Charles Ives Society, supervising the work of Ives scholars throughout the United States. Maestro Sinclair has served as music director for four PBS television documentaries including the Peabody Award-winning film about Ives, A Good Dissonance Like a Man.

In 1999 Yale University Press published Sinclair’s 800-page A Descriptive Catalogue of the Music of Charles Ives; the Association of American Publishers cited the catalogue as the best publication of 1999 in arts scholarship.

During the 1994-95 season, Maestro Sinclair also led the Yale Symphony Orchestra while that organization searched for a permanent director. In March 1995, he led the Yale Symphony on tour overseas.

A native of Washington, D.C., James Sinclair was educated at Indiana University and taught at the University of Hawaii before relocating to New Haven in 1972. He has served as a Visiting Lecturer in Music at Yale University, and is currently overseeing the John Kirkpatrick Papers and the Charles Ives Papers at Yale, and is an Associate Fellow of Berkeley College (Yale).

In 1999 Sinclair he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of New Haven. He serves as a member of the board for the Charles Ives Society and is the interim conductor of the Neighborhood Music School’s Youth Orchestra.

Perry So
Music Director
2001-5
Guest Conductor 2005-6

Perry So has worked with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra, the Saybrook Orchestra at Yale University, the Opera Theatre of Yale College and the Peabody Symphony Orchestra. At the age of 14, he was the recipient of the South China Morning Post Musician of the Year award. He is a graduate of Yale College in Comparative Literature, and conducting with Maestro Gustav Meier at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He was also previously a student of Ives scholar, James Sinclair. While at Yale, he was founding music director of the Saybrook Orchestra, which he led for four seasons, his work encompassing symphonic music, opera and film scores. He was largely responsible for a resurgence of opera at the undergraduate level at Yale, heading the Opera Theatre of Yale College for over three years. He is also an avid performer of chamber music, performing a wide repertoire on the piano and harpsichord.