Carlos Kalmar


Carlos Kalmar is a Uruguayan conductor.
Kalmar began violin studies at age six. At age fifteen, he enrolled at the Vienna Academy of Music where his conducting teacher was Karl Österreicher. In 1984, he won first prize in the Hans Swarowsky Conducting Competition in Vienna.
Kalmar has been music director of the Hamburger Symphoniker, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, and the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau, Germany. He was principal conductor of the Tonkünstlerorchester, Vienna, from 2000 to 2003. Since 2000, Kalmar is the principal conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. He is also music director of the Oregon Symphony, since 2003. In April 2008, the orchestra announced the extension of Kalmar's contract as music director to the 2012-13 season. In February 2020, the Oregon Symphony announced that Kalmar is to conclude his music directorship of the orchestra at the close of the 2020-2021 season.
Kalmar has been married twice. His first marriage produced two daughters. He lives in Portland, Oregon with his second wife Raffaela, and their son, Luca.

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