About Us
Described by Yannick Nézet-Séguin as “a musician who lives the music”, American conductor Conner Gray Covington performs an unusually broad repertory of symphonic, opera and film repertoire ranging from Classical to the present day. During his four-year tenure with the Utah Symphony as Associate Conductor and as Principal Conductor of the Deer Valley Music Festival he conducted nearly 300 performances of classical subscription, education, film, pops, and family concerts as well as tours throughout the state. Previously, he was a Conducting Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music where he worked closely with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, with whom he made his Carnegie Hall debut, and the Curtis Opera Theatre while being mentored by Philadelphia Orchestra Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Conner is a five-time recipient of a Career Assistance Award from the Solti Foundation U.S. and was a featured conductor in the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview presented by the League of American Orchestras.
Conner’s recent and upcoming concert engagements include Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, Mozart Symphony No. 36, “Linz”, Elgar Serenade for Strings, Britten Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and Mason Bates Philharmonia Fantastique with the San Diego Symphony, Rimsky Korsakov Scheherazade with the Knoxville Symphony, Dvorak Symphony No. 8 and Mozart Exsultate Jubilate with the Tallahassee Symphony, Richard Strauss Suite from Der Rosenkavalier and Brahms Symphony No. 2 with the Amarillo Symphony and Ravel Mother Goose (complete ballet) and Mendelssohn Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bellingham Festival of Music.
With the Utah Symphony Conner has conducted the world premiere of Quinn Mason Trombone Concerto, Richard Strauss Don Juan, Barber Symphony No. 1, Debussy La Mer, Haydn Symphonies No. 49 and 88, Dvorak Symphonies No. 6 and No. 8, Beethoven Symphony No. 1 and Symphony No. 7, Mozart Symphonies No. 36, 39, and 40, Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3 and 4, Handel Messiah, Ravel Mother Goose Suite, Stravinsky The Firebird (1919 Suite), Schumann Symphony No. 3, ‘Rhenish’, and Brahms Symphony No. 2.
Conner’s operatic engagements include Britten’s THE TURN OF THE SCREW for the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA and the world premiere of Rene Orth’s EMPTY THE HOUSE at the Curtis Opera Theatre and LE NOZZE DI FIGARO for his debut with Utah Opera. He has also conducted more than twenty feature films with orchestra including Frozen, Singing in the Rain, Casablanca, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Star Wars and Jurassic Park. Upcoming engagements include performances with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, Utah Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony.
Covington has also worked with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich as part of the 6th International David Zinman Conducting Masterclass. In 2014 he was selected by members of the Vienna Philharmonic to attend the Salzburg Festival as a recipient of the Ansbacher Fellowship for Young Conductors. In 2012, he competed in the prestigious Malko Conducting Competition in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he conducted the Danish National Symphony for a jury headed by Lorin Maazel. Covington also worked with the New Japan Philharmonic in the Tokyo International Conducting Competition and advanced to the semi-final round. He has also been guest conductor for the International Young Artist Concerto Competition in Chicago since 2022.
Born in Louisiana, Covington graduated from the renowned High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas and went on to study violin with Dr. Martha Walvoord and conducting with Dr. Clifton Evans at the University of Texas at Arlington where he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in violin performance. He continued his studies with Neil Varon at the Eastman School of Music where he earned a MM in orchestral conducting and was awarded the Walter Hagen Conducting Prize. Covington attended the Aspen Music Festival as a fellowship student in the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. There he worked closely with Robert Spano, Larry Rachleff, and Hugh Wolff as well as other guest conductors throughout the summer. He has also conducted the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in a masterclass with Miguel Harth-Bedoya and for two summers studied at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors.