Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

David Robertson – conductor, artist, thinker, and American musical visionary – occupies some of the most prominent platforms on the international music scene. A highly sought-after podium figure in the worlds of opera, orchestral music, and new music, Robertson is celebrated worldwide as a champion of contemporary composers, an ingenious and adventurous programmer, and a masterful communicator whose passionate advocacy for the art form is widely recognized. A consummate and deeply collaborative musician, Robertson is hailed for his intensely committed music making.

Following a Fall 2018 tour of European musical capitals with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Robertson kicks off his valedictory season as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director with the Orchestra, February – November 2019, navigating oceans of music from Australian composers to Australian premieres, including Christopher Rouse's Bassoon Concerto, the presence of American musical compatriots Wynton Marsalis and John Adams, concert performances of Britten's Peter Grimes, and show-stoppers, including Andre Previn and Tom Stoppard's Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. As always, musical friends from around the world will join in – Australian oboist Diana Doherty, Lang Lang, Susan Graham, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and a wealth of others. Robertson will continue to conduct the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in future seasons as the city undertakes a major renovation of its beloved Sydney Opera House.

In the 2018-19 season, Robertson continues his rich collaboration with the New York Philharmonic, as part of Music Director Jaap van Zweden's first festival for the Orchestra, The Art of Andriessen. He ventures north to conduct two Canadian Orchestras: the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and in the US, he conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, in addition to the Juilliard Orchestra, where he begins his tenure as Director of Conducting Studies, Distinguished Visiting Professor. Robertson will return to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, and to the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munich, the Czech Philharmonic in Prague, and Cadaques Orchestra in Spain.

David Robertson recently completed his transformative 13-year tenure as Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, where he solidified the orchestra's status as one of the nation's most enduring and innovative. For the SLSO, he established fruitful relationships with a wide spectrum of artists, and garnered a 2014 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance for the Nonesuch release of John Adams' City Noir.

Robertson has served in artistic leadership positions at musical institutions including the Orchestre National de Lyon, and, as a protégé of Pierre Boulez, the Ensemble InterContemporain, which he led on its first North American tour. At the BBC Symphony Orchestra, he served as Principal Guest Conductor. Robertson has served as a Perspectives Artist at Carnegie Hall, where he has conducted, among others, The Met Orchestra, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He appears regularly in Europe with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk, the Dresden Staatskapelle, and at the Berlin Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, the BBC Proms, and the Musica Viva Festival in Munich.

In Spring 2018, Robertson built upon his longstanding relationship with The Metropolitan Opera, conducting the premiere of Phelim McDermott's celebrated production of Così fan tutte, set in 1950s Coney Island. Since his Met Opera debut in 1996, with The Makropulos Case, he has conducted a breathtaking range of Met projects, including the Met premiere of John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer (2014); the 2016 revival of Janáček's Jenůfa, then its first Met performances in nearly a decade; the premiere production of Nico Muhly's Two Boys (2013); and many favorites, from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro to Britten's Billy Budd. Robertson has frequent projects at the world's most prestigious opera houses, including La Scala, Théâtre du Châtelet, Bayerische Staatsoper (orchestra), the San Francisco Opera, and the Santa Fe Opera.

Robertson is the recipient of numerous musical and artistic awards, and in 2010 was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France. He is devoted to supporting young musicians and has worked with students at the festivals of Aspen, Tanglewood, Lucerne, at the Paris Conservatoire, the Juilliard School, Music Academy of the West, and the National Orchestra Institute. In 2014, he led the Coast to Coast tour of Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra of the USA.

Born in Santa Monica, California, Robertson was educated at London's Royal Academy of Music, where he studied horn and composition before turning to orchestral conducting. He is married to pianist Orli Shaham, and lives in New York.

During the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s 2011 European Festivals Tour, William Caballero, and the Pittsburgh Symphony horn section he leads,received rave reviews. Michael Church of The Independent called Caballero “a principal horn whose pianissimo is simply miraculous,” and Guy Dammann wrote in The Guardian, “The horn section — led very much from the front by their excellent principal William Caballero – is one of the best in the business.” In its September 2012 review of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Exton recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, Gramophone magazine wrote, “Pittsburgh’s first horn is as spectacular as any on disc.”  

The 2021-2022 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra season represents William Caballero’s 32nd as its principal horn under Maestros Manfred Honeck, Mariss Jansons and Lorin Maazel. Before joining the symphony in May 1989, Caballero previously held principal horn positions with the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera and Hartford Symphony. He held third horn positions with the Montreal Symphony, Montreal Opera and acting third horn with the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops. He has performed as guest principal horn with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the St. Louis Symphony.   

Born in New Mexico and raised in Wisconsin, William Caballero’s early horn studies included working under Larry Simons, Barry Benjamin and Basil Tyler, as well as studying the piano and pipe organ. Caballero graduated from New England Conservatory in Boston where he studied with Richard Mackey and Thomas Newell, both former members of the Boston Symphony.  

Currently, William Caballero is the associate teaching professor of horn at Carnegie Mellon University School of Music. Previously he held teaching positions at Indiana University Bloomington, Rice University in Houston, Texas, and Duquesne University. He has been invited and presented master classes throughout the world including Northwestern University, Colburn School of Music, New England Conservatory, University of Indiana Bloomington, Cleveland Institute of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, Manhattan School of Music, New World Symphony, and the Beijing and Shanghai Conservatories. Summers have included teaching and performing at the Aspen Music Festival, the Chautauqua Music Festival, and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.  

In January 2012, William Caballero began collaboration with the Internet music teaching company ArtistWorks.com based in Napa, California. His teaching website was released in September 2012 as the only complete horn teaching curriculum available via the internet for horn students worldwide.   

William Caballero is also in demand as a chamber musician collaborating with musicians such as violinists Gil Shaham, Joseph Silverstein and Philip Setzer, and pianists André Previn, Christoph Eshenbach, Orli Shaham and Andre Watts. William has also performed and worked with jazz musician and composer Chris Brubeck, as well as ensembles that include the Tokyo String Quartet, Trio Johannas, Principal Strings of the Berlin Philharmonic, Center City Brass, Bay Chamber Concert Series, St. Barth’s Music Festival and the Grand Teton Music Festival. He is also a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Brass, which includes fellow colleagues of the Pittsburgh Symphony Brass section.   

Recent chamber music performances include performing Brahms’ Horn Trio in E-flat major with Gil and Orli Shaham in Zankel Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York and appearing several times live on National Public Radio’s (NPR) “Performance Today” in NPR’s Washington, D.C. studios.   

William Caballero solo’s regularly with the Pittsburgh Symphony with most recent collaboration as soloist under Maestro Honeck. In April 2014, Caballero performed the world premiere of Robert Levin Edition of Mozart’s 1st Horn Concerto in D, and in September 2012 performed the Pittsburgh Symphony premiere of Strauss Horn Concerto No. 1. Previous solo performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra have included Richard Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat with Maestro Maazel, Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat with Maestro Andre Previn, Mozart Concerto fragments with Pittsburgh Symphony Concertmaster Andres Cardenes, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with Maestro Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and tenor Anthony Griffey, Schumann’s Konzertstück in F for four horns and orchestra with his Pittsburgh Symphony horn colleagues under the baton of Maestro Sir John Elliot Gardener, and the John Williams Horn Concerto under the baton of Maestro Leonard Slatkin.  

Other recent solo appearances outside of the Pittsburgh Symphony  have included performances in Montenegro with Maestro Ronald Zollman and with the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic at New York City’s Carnegie Hall under the baton of former Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Dale Clevenger.  

In May 1992, William Caballero premiered Benjamin Lees’ Concerto for Horn and Orchestra with the Pittsburgh Symphony under the baton of then-Music Director Lorin Maazel. Following the performances in Pittsburgh, he performed Lees’ Concerto in Spain, Germany, and England with the Pittsburgh Symphony on tour. In May 1996, Caballero recorded the concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Lorin Maazel for New World Records.  

Caballero holds the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Anonymous Foundation Principal Horn Chair.