'Fellow Travelers' makes CCM debut March 30-April 2

Founding Music Director of the Memphis Repertory Orchestra, William R. Langley, began his career as an orchestral conductor at age 16. In 2009 he founded the Wolf River Chamber Orchestra and in 2011 the MRO. The MRO served as the Orchestra in Residence at the Buckman Performing Arts Center where he has given over 45 performances in the Memphis area. Langley also serves as conductor of the Blueshift Ensemble and frequent guest conductor with All of the Above Ensemble, contemporary ensembles dedicated to programming and promoting new and existing chamber works while incorporating multi-genre collaborations. 

An avid performer, the young Maestro has appeared as guest conductor with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Starling Chamber Orchestra, Blueshift Ensemble, Concert:Nova, and All of the Above ensemble. In 2017 he made his opera debut with the CCM Opera Theatre where he conducted a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide as a part of their "Bernstein at 100" centennial celebration and has since gone on to work with the opera companies of Cincinnati (as the John L. Magro Resident Conductor 2021-2022) workshopping, covering, and performing various operas since 2018 and in Naples (Florida) covering Ramon Tebar and making his debut (2022) in Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied. Langley has recorded albums with the Memphis Repertory Orchestra (Dvorak + Tchaikovsky, “Voyagers : Scheherazade + Mitton”) and All of the Above Ensemble (Double Portrait), the latter of which led to his conducting debut at Carnegie Hall in the fall of 2018. Next season (2022-2023) will feature a return to Cincinnati Opera, his debuts with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, cover weeks with the ASO and Opera Naples, and a return to CCM to conduct their spring production of Fellow Travelers. 

In demand as a cover conductor, Langley has been a frequent cover with both the Atlanta and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras covering such conductors as Sir Donald Runnicles, Louis Langrée, Carlos Kalmar, Juanjo Mena, Ramón Tebar, Peter Oundjian, Nathalie Stutzmann, Nicola Luisotti, Xian Zhang,  Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and Han-Na Chang, to name a few.

Langley holds a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from the UC College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) in Cincinnati where he studied under the tutelage of Maestro Mark Gibson. He was selected by members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the American Austrian Foundation to be awarded one of two esteemed Ansbacher Fellowships for Young Conductors with the opportunity to study in Austria at the 2019 Salzburger Festspiele.

Langley, who “conducts with considerable theatricality, elicited a dramatic performance from the orchestra.” (Jon Sparks/Commercial Appeal), was the subject of a featured article entitled “Young Conductor Realizing Dreams” in the Commercial Appeal as well as the Memphis Flyer’s cover story “20 < 30” as one of “20 young Memphians shaping the city’s future”. 

Hailed as "show stopping!", baritone Michael Pandolfo has become one of the most sought-after and exciting singers of his generation. Noted for his bright voice and confident high notes, his high caliber performances at Florida Grand Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival and Des Moines Metro Opera have garnered attention and critical acclaim.

In the Spring of 2022, Michael made his Florida debut as a Studio Artist with Florida Grand Opera, singing a well-reviewed performance of Marullo in Rigoletto, in which he was praised for his standout "manly baritone". He also sang the bombastic role of Senator McCarthy in Fellow Travelers. That summer, he made his debut with Des Moines Metro Opera as Robin Starveling in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which he will also be covered the role of Demetrius. In November of 2022, Michael made his principle debut as Count Robinson in a brand new Spanish language version of Il Matrimonio Segreto with Florida Grand Opera.

Looking ahead to 2023, Michael is engaged in a number of contracts including some concert work at home in North Texas, and venturing back to his musical theatre roots to sing Anthony in Sweeny Todd at Opera Tampa. He will be spending his summer as a Young Artist with Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico.

Mr. Pandolfo graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2018 with his Bachelor's of Music in Vocal Performance, where he studied with renowned soprano Cynthia Lawrence. In 2021 he graduated from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with his Masters in Music, where he studied with revered teacher Professor William McGraw.