About Kyle

American Conductor Kyle Dickson has built a reputation as an inspiring and compelling presence on the podium. In 2023, Dickson was named Assistant Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Youth Orchestra. The recipient of the 2021 Grant Park Music Festival Advocate for Arts Award, the Concert Artists Guild's (CAG) Richard S. Weinert Award, and the Joel Revzen Conducting Fellowship, Dickson is also a recent Salonen Conducting Fellow with the San Francisco Symphony and the Colburn School under the guidance of Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Appointed Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles in 2021, Dickson has appeared as guest conductor with the symphony orchestras of Detroit, San Francisco, Oakland, Wichita, and the National Symphony (Washington, DC). In 2023/24, he will return to the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and make debuts with the Minnesota Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, and the Pasadena, Portland (ME), and Marin Symphony Orchestras. Other recent highlights include appearances with the Festival Orchestra Napa and collaborations with acclaimed artists including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Reena Esmail, Alexander Malofeev, and Carlos Sainz-Villegas.

As Cover Conductor, Dickson has been engaged by the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, and the San Diego Symphony as well as serving as Assistant Conductor for concerts with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Orchestre de Paris, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Passionate about music education and diverse representation in the arts, Dickson has worked regularly with many youth ensembles including the Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra, Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles, Ravinia's El Sistema Program, and the Colburn School's Academy Virtuosi. He served as an Assistant Conductor for Carnegie Hall’s 2022 NYO/NYO2 Tour and this season will appear as guest conductor with both the 2022 ILMEA District 9 Senior Orchestra Festival and the Chicago Youth In Music Festival Orchestra.

Trained as a violinist, Dickson was a prizewinner at the 2010 NANM National Concerto Competition and began his career as an orchestral and chamber musician. He was named the 2017 Hyde Park Artist-In-Residence and has performed with the Grant Park Symphony, Quad City Symphony, and the Chicago Sinfonietta, among others. Dickson appeared regularly as Concertmaster of the Chicago Composers Orchestra and was an avid chamber musician; serving on the Violin and Chamber Music faculty at Chicago's New Music School and holding residencies at Indiana University-South Bend and the United World College of South East Asia (Singapore). Additionally, his playing can be heard on albums by recording artists such as John Legend, Chance the Rapper, and Jessie J as a member of the Matt Jones/Recollective Orchestra.

Dickson studied conducting with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Victor Yampolsky, and Kevin Noe receiving degrees from the Colburn School and Northwestern University. He was a Paul Freeman Conducting Fellow under the mentorship of Mei-Ann Chen from 2019-2022 and was selected as a Conducting Fellow at the 2021 National Orchestral Institute’s Conducting Academy directed by Marin Alsop and James Ross. He also received degrees in Violin Performance and Music Education from DePaul University and Michigan State University studying with Walter Verdehr, Laura Roelofs, and Olga Kaler.