Sammi Cannold

Sammi Cannold is one of Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 in Hollywood & Entertainment and has worked on and off Broadway as well as for CBS, ABC, Nickelodeon, Apple TV, and Cirque du Soleil. Credits:  Evita (A.R.T., New York City Center), Sunset Boulevard (Kennedy Center), Carmen (Rose Hall, Lincoln Center), Endlings (NYTW, A.R.T.), How to Dance in Ohio (Syracuse Stage), Ragtime on Ellis Island, and Violet (A.R.T.). Additional: A.R.T. Artistic Fellow, member of Cirque du Soleil’s Creative Cognoscenti, Sundance Institute Fellow. B. A., Stanford University; M.A., Harvard University.

National Symphony Orchestra

The 2022–2023 season marks the National Symphony Orchestra’s 92nd season, and Gianandrea Noseda’s sixth season as its music director. The Italian conductor serves as the Orchestra’s seventh music director, joining the NSO’s legacy of such distinguished leaders as Christoph Eschenbach, Leonard Slatkin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Antal Doráti, Howard Mitchell, and Hans Kindler. Its artistic leadership also includes Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke and Artistic Advisor Ben Folds.

Since assuming the leadership of the NSO, Gianandrea Noseda has brought a renewed sense of energy and focus to the orchestra, which has resulted in wide-ranging recognition from local, national, and international publications, increases in subscription and single ticket sales, and the expansion of the Orchestra’s reach through live streamed concerts and recordings. The New York Times called the NSO and Noseda’s 2019 Carnegie Hall appearance “spectacular,” while the Washington Post wrote that “There’s a certain flair going on at the National Symphony Orchestra,” consistently reinforcing that this artistic partnership continues to gain momentum.

The National Symphony Orchestra label was launched in 2020 with its first release, Dvořàk’s Symphony No. 9. Both George Walker’s Sinfonia No. 4, the first of the NSO’s complete collection of George Walker’s Sinfonias, and the initial release of the NSO’s Beethoven Symphony cycle (Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3) was released in 2022.

Founded in 1931, the Orchestra has always been committed to artistic excellence and music education. In 1986, the National Symphony became an artistic affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where it has performed a full season of subscription concerts since the Center opened in 1971. The 96-member NSO regularly participates in events of national and international importance, including official holiday celebrations through its regularly televised appearances on PBS on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol, live-streamed performances from the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on medici.tv, and local radio broadcasts on Classical WETA 90.9 FM, making the NSO one of the most-heard orchestras in the country.

Additionally, the NSO’s community engagement projects are nationally recognized, including NSO In Your Neighborhood, an annual week of performances in schools, churches, community centers, and other unexpected venues; Notes of Honor, which offers free performances for active, veteran, prior service, and retired members of the military and their families; and Sound Health, a collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its affiliated organizations. Career development opportunities for young musicians include the NSO Youth Fellowship Program and its acclaimed, tuition-free Summer Music Institute.

Sean O’Loughlin

Sean O’Loughlin is the Principal Pops Conductor of Symphoria in Syracuse, NY and the Principal Pops Conductor of the Victoria Symphony in B.C., Canada.  His diverse background includes collaborations with some of the leading symphonies and popular artists of today. As a conductor, he has led performances with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony and the San Diego Symphony amongst others. He has served as conductor for symphony tours with Josh Groban, Sarah McLachlan, The Decemberists and the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration. He has appeared on Good Morning America and the PBS Special “Stages” with Josh Groban in addition to NBC’s “A Very Pentatonix Christmas.”

Recent collaborations include such artists as Alicia Keys, Josh Groban, Journey, a-ha, Jason Mraz, The Beach Boys, Sarah McLachlan, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Pentatonix, Kelly Clarkson, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Blue Man Group, Janelle Monáe, Audra McDonald, Hall and Oates, the Indigo Girls, The Go-Go’s, Bonnie Raitt,  Pink Martini, Brandi Carlile, Weird Al Yankovic, Melissa Etheridge and others. Through his growing number of commissioned and published works, Sean is excited to continue contributing to the rich history of orchestral and wind band literature. His music is published by Excelcia Music, Hal Leonard and Carl Fischer. An annual ASCAP Special Awards winner, Sean was a composition fellow at the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles, and holds composition degrees from New England Conservatory and Syracuse University.