BIOGRAPHY
Recognized worldwide for his natural ease and extraordinary collaborative spirit, American conductor James Gaffigan has attracted international attention for his prowess as a conductor of both symphony orchestras and opera. The mutual trust he builds with artists empowers them to cultivate the highest art possible.
Gaffigan holds unique prominence among American conductors in Europe and serves as the General Music Director of Komische Oper Berlin, where he begins his third season in 2025/2026 off widely acclaimed productions of Sweeney Todd, The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni.
In his 2025/2026 season with Komische Oper Berlin, Gaffigan leads Evgeny Titov’s new production of Salome and Barrie Ksoky’s new production of Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk, along with revivals of Eugene Onegin, Hansel and Gretel, and The Nose. Guest engagements include returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Music Academy of the West and Houston Grand Opera, where he leads a production of Porgy and Bess. In Europe, he makes return engagements with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Les Arts Valencia Opera, and the Verbier Festival.
During the 2024/2025 season, Gaffigan made his debut with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and returned to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Luzerner Sinfonieorchester. In Summer 2025, Gaffigan led the production of Die Walküre at Santa Fe Opera and conducted the Aspen Chamber Symphony at the Aspen Music Festival. Other recent orchestral appearances include the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Münchner Philharmoniker, Norske Opera and Ballet, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, and Czech Philharmonic. In North America, Gaffigan regularly works with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Detroit Symphony Orchestra, among others.
Gaffigan marked his fourth and final season as Music Director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia in 2024/2025. He finished his final season as Principal Guest Conductor of both the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera in 2022/2023. In 2021, Gaffigan finished his tenure as Chief Conductor of the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, a position he held for 10 years, where he raised the orchestra’s international profile with highly successful recordings and tours abroad. A regular at the Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Opéra National de Paris, Gaffigan has also conducted the Zürich Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Staatsoper Hamburg, Dutch National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Santa Fe Opera.
Gaffigan was first prize winner of the 2004 Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition, which opened Europe’s doors to him as a young American. In 2009, he completed a three-year tenure as Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, a position created for him by Michael Tilson Thomas. Prior to that, he was Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, where he worked with Music Director Franz Welser-Möst. Gaffigan is an alumnus of the Aspen Music Festival’s Aspen Conducting Academy and the Tanglewood Music Center.
Passionate about music education and a product of the New York City public school system, Gaffigan studied at the LaGuardia High School of Music and Art before pursuing his conducting studies. He believes that access to music education is the method by which America’s concert halls will finally begin to reflect our community and shrink the racial and gender gaps that exist in the performing arts today.