Molly Turner

“Turner conducted with infectious zest and enthusiasm and drew a large sonic palette from the instrumental forces”
South Florida Classical Review, 2024

Associate Conductor (26/27): Minnesota Orchestra

Described by the Washington Post as “a force of nature from the podium”, rising star, American conductor Molly Turner is an exceptional young talent who directs with fervour and imagination. Turner serves as Associate Conductor of Minnesota Orchestra in the 2026/27 season. She is a former Dudamel Fellow of Los Angeles Philharmonic (2024/25) and a former Conducting Fellow of New World Symphony (2023/24 and 2024/25).

As part of her 26/27 Minnesota Orchestra position, Turner conducts a variety of performances including the 2027 Lunar New Year celebration, Young People’s Concerts and Symphony for the Cities, also making her subscription debut in July 2027. Elsewhere in the US, she debuts with the Louisville Orchestra, Kalamazoo and Alabama symphony orchestras, and returns to the Juilliard Orchestra to make her conducting debut at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in a special Earth Day concert featuring Caroline Shaw’s co-commissioned Trees. The 26/27 season also marks Turner’s first appearance in Japan, with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, while in Europe she continues to expand her presence through debut engagements with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (children’s concert series with radio3), Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester and The Orchestra of Scottish Opera.

Recent highlights include Green Umbrella, Symphonies for Schools and Noon to Midnight engagements with Los Angeles Philharmonic, a debut with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as part of their summer series, a return to Orchestre de Paris to conduct a series of Young Person concerts, as well as successful debuts in the Nordics with Kristiansand Symfoniokester and at the 2026 Bergen International Festival with BIT20 Ensemble. Recent engagements extend to San Francisco Symphony’s SoundBox series, Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music, Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra for a collaborative project of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker with Troupe Vertigo, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Dallas Opera Orchestra, and Grand Rapids Opera for performances of contemporary opera Stuck Elevator.

From Beethoven and Brahms to Stravinsky, Bartók and Barber, Turner’s wide-ranging repertoire also includes a strong interest in contemporary music; she has conducted works by Wynton Marsalis, Jessie Montgomery and Caroline Shaw, to name a few, and has collaborated with composers such as Jimmy Lopez, Donnacha Dennehy, Nico Muhly, Paul Novak and Billy Childs. A composer herself, she has premiered her own works – most recently Open Doors for orchestra. In her own music, she is interested in the balance between strictly dictated elements and more aleatoric notation, and her relationship to the standard repertoire is often integrated in subtle ways beneath the foreground of the music. Pursuing projects outside of the traditional concert hall is also an important part of Turner’s artistic identity, from improvisatory works to multimedia performances.

A 2026 – 28 Award Recipient of the Taki Alsop Fellowship, Turner also took part in the 2026 La Maestra Competition as the first American finalist. She participated in the 2025 Verbier and Lucerne festivals as a conducting fellow and has previously served as cover conductor for New York Philharmonic and as assistant conductor for Berliner Philharmoniker, San Francisco Symphony and Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, among other orchestras. In 2019 she was the youngest conductor invited for a residency at the Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute for Women Conductors. She was also the first recipient of the Judy Rodin Fellowship for an Outstanding Woman Musician. Turner received her artist diploma at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, studying under the guidance of Esa-Pekka Salonen as a Salonen Fellow, and completed her master’s degree in orchestral conducting at The Juilliard School where she studied with David Robertson. She initially trained as a composer, receiving her bachelor’s degree at Rice University.

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Musgrave | Song of the Enchanter © New World Symphony

Farrenc Overture No.1 in E minor / Molly Turner © New World Symphony

Beethoven Leonore Overture No.3 © New World Symphony

Wagner Tristan und Isolde (Prelude to Act I) © New World Symphony

“Conducting fellow Molly Turner led Wagner’s Prelude to Act I of Tristan und Isolde to open the concert. She captured the mystery of the opening chords and kept a natural, organic flow throughout the romantic curtain raiser.”

South Florida Classical Review, October 2024

“A composer and a force of nature from the podium, she drew from her fellow fellows a combustible performance of Adolphus Hailstork’s An American Port of Call, its thrilling mechanistic sound world inspired by the shipyards of Norfolk…”

Washington Post, September 2023

“Turner conducted with infectious zest and enthusiasm and drew a large sonic palette from the instrumental forces”

South Florida Classical Review, September 2023

Molly Turner

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Contacts

Liz Sam

Marissa Pueschel

Elliot Samphier

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Gallery

Molly Turner appointed 26/27 Associate Conductor of Minnesota Orchestra

MOLLY TURNER DEBUTS WITH KRISTIANSAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

MOLLY TURNER DEBUTS WITH ORCHESTRE DE PARIS

CONDUCTOR MOLLY TURNER SIGNS WITH HARRISONPARROTT FOR WORLDWIDE GENERAL MANAGEMENT