Conductor and pianist, Rei Hotoda is one of America’s most dynamic classical musicians. She has guest conducted orchestras throughout North America and Europe including the Baltimore Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Thunder Bay Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Weimar Orchestra and the International Contemporary Ensemble. Winner of the 2006 Taki Concordia Fellowship and a protégé of acclaimed conductor Marin Alsop, Ms. Hotoda is the newly appointed assistant conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and began her new position in September 2009.
Ms. Hotoda was the assistant conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for three seasons from 2006-2009. She led the WSO in concerts to over 14,000 audience members in the Greater Manitoba area and has conducted a myriad of series with the WSO including the Masterworks, Musically Speaking, Outreach Concerts, Family and Educational Concerts, the New Music Festival, and the Baroque Music Festival where she conducted from the harpsichord. She has held positions such as Assistant Conductor of the 2005 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California. She is principal conductor of Chicago's new music group Noamnesia and Ensemble N_JP. She has conducted many famous touring groups including Ben Folds, Spectrum, Five by Design, Platypus Theater Group, Dan Kamin and Jeans’n Classics. Recently, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ms. Hotoda conducted Guy Maddin’s film Brand upon the Brain for live orchestra with Isabella Rosselini as narrator. Ms. Hotoda has also toured with singer Steve Bell conducting various major orchestras throughout Canada.
As an advocate of new music, Ms. Hotoda has conducted premieres of notable composers from Asia, Europe and North America including Toshio Hosokawa, Nicole Lizee, Dai Fujikura, Salvatore Sciarrino, and Michael Maierhof. She has worked closely with renowned composers Vivian Fung, Vincent Ho, and Jennifer Higdon.
Her discography includes Symphony Sessions with Signpost records featuring singer Steve Bell and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, a debut solo piano CD entitled Apparitions and on Centredisc Records music of Nicole Lizee, conducting members of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. All the recordings are available on itunes.
Ms. Hotoda studied conducting with Gustav Meier at the Peabody Institute. She holds a Doctorate in piano performance from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Music in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music.
