The 2018 Mahler Conducting Fellowship program attracted an unprecedented number of applications from outstanding conductors across Europe, Asia, North and South American and Australia.

The three 2018 Fellows will work as assistant conductors to the MahlerFest Orchestra throughout the festival, conduct in the public masterclass with Kenneth Woods, and work with MahlerFest’s team of festival artists, composers and symposium speakers.

2018 Mahler Conducting Fellows (in alphabetical order)

Edo Frenkel is a conductor, composer, and pianist whose work spans the repertoire of the standard western cannon, opera, and contemporary music. His work has been described as “groundbreaking … an integration of raw emotion and music” (Rochestariat). His compositions have been lauded as “A kind of Edgar Varèse-esque cacophony for the Digital Age” (Democrat & Chronicle) that “leaves you aghast.”(kwadratuur.com).

As a conductor, Mr. Frenkel has guest conducted Ensemble Mise-en, the Composer’s Ensemble  at University of Buffalo, and was the assistant conductor to Franck Ollu at the Klangspuren Festival with Ensemble Modern Akademie. Mr. Frenkel served as Barbara Hannigan’s rehearsal pianist, collaborating on the Satie: Socrate project at the Ruhrtriennale Festival in Bochum, Germany and at the Park Ave. Armory in New York city. He served as the assistant music director of Eastman Opera Theatre from 2015-2017 and has worked as the assistant conductor to Brad Lubman and the Eastman Musica Nova ensemble since 2014.

Additionally Mr. Frenkel has appeared in performances and workshops with such notable groups as Tonkünstler Orchester-Neider Östereich, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Meitar, JACK quartet, Ulysses Ensemble, and the String Orchestra of Brooklyn. He has worked in masterclasses with artists such as Susanna Mällki, David Zinman, Pierre-André Valade, Tito Muñoz, and Peter Eötvös.

Mr. Frenkel’s music has been performed in international festivals by artists such as Talea Ensemble, EXAUDI vocal ensemble, JACK quartet, Tonküntsler-Orchester Niederösterreich, and Ensemble Paramirabo. His music has been performed in the US, Canada, Japan, and various countries in Europe. He has been featured in such festival’s as Royaumont Voix Nouvelles (France), CEME (Israel), and the ME_MMIX festival (Spain).

Upcoming engagements include David Lang’s Are you Experienced with members of New World Symphony and serving as Conducting Fellow at the Lucerne Festival

Pak Lok, Alvin Ho is a young dynamic conductor from Hong Kong who is seen on stages from the United States to Europe. Recently, Ho was among the eight young conductors around the globe to be invited to work with Maestro Bernard Haitink and Lucerne Festival Strings at Easter Lucerne Festival 2018. In 2017 May, Ho was also chosen as one of the semi-finalists at the “Das Kritische Orchestra Berlin” by members of major German orchestras such as Berlin Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin and Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, among many others.

Ho has conducted Lucerne Festival Strings, Das Kritische Orchestra Berlin, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, MÁV Symphony Orchestra (Budapest), Bloomington Symphony Orchestra and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Orchestra. At 24, he is currently assistant conductor at the Indiana Opera and Ballet Theater, with repertory including Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos and Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes.  Recently Ho was seen as music director for The Celebration of Pas de deux at Indiana Opera and Ballet Theater in collaboration with the Indiana University Ballet Theater (2017). His mentors include Neeme Järvi, Daniele Gatti, Ludovic Morlot, Lothar Zagrosek, Johannes Schlaefli, Carl St. Clair, Thomas Wilkins and Federico Cortese. Ho has assisted or cover-conducted for Fabio Mechetti, Christoph Perick, Paul Nadler and Daniel Boico.

Ho is currently a Doctoral candidate and holds a Masters’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, studying under Arthur Fagen, David Effron and Thomas Wilkins

Praised for her passionate performances and dynamic presence, Bulgarian-born conductor and violinist Delyana Lazarova is a young artist with a quickly growing international career. Ms. Lazarova is the recipient of the Bruno Walter Conducting Scholarship for the Cabrillo Festival, 2017. Recently she has been awarded the Special Commendation at the Beethoven Conducting Competition in England, performing with London Classical Soloists.

Ms. Lazarova has appeared as a soloist and conductor with prestigious orchestras in Europe, Asia and North America. She has worked and studied with such artists as Paavo Järvi, Leonard Slatkin, Cristian Mâcelaru, Larry Rachleff, Joshua Bell and Mauricio Fuks.

Delyana completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree from Indiana University, where she received a special scholarship for artistic excellence.

From 2013 to 2015 Delyana has served as the Concertmaster and Artist in Residence of Montgomery Symphony Orchestra. Recently Ms. Lazarova has been invited to serve as the guest-concertmaster for the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for the 2017-2018 season.

Ms. Lazarova’s future engagements include concerts with Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra in 2018, 2019. She has been also invited to attend the Southbank BBC Symphony Orchestra Women Conductors Workshop with Marin Alsop in February, and Daniele Gatti’s Conducting Masterclass with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.