"Under the baton of music director Douglas Kinney Frost
the orchestra consistently presents concerts that are
interesting, stimulating and thought-provoking"
Douglas Kinney Frost has led orchestras and opera companies on four continents, consistently thrilling audiences and inspiring the musicians with whom he works. “Under the baton of music director Douglas Kinney Frost the orchestra consistently presents concerts that are interesting, stimulating and thought-provoking,” says the Deseret News.
In concert, the breadth of his repertoire has been highlighted in performances with the National Symphony of Mexico, the Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and orchestras in Brazil and Uruguay, Russian Federal Orchestra in Moscow, St. Petersburg Festival Orchestra, Kharkov Philharmonia in Ukraine, and the National Orchestra of Korea in Seoul, and in the U.S. with the Baltimore, Utah, Virginia, Syracuse, Santa Barbara, Mississippi and Richmond Symphonies, Grand Teton Music and Colorado Bach Festivals, Rochester Philharmonic, and Westminster College, among others.
Labelled a Britten specialist by Maestro James Conlon, Frost was invited to serve as associate conductor for his work on Benjamin Britten Operas numerous times including: The Turn of the Screw, Albert Herring, and Billy Budd with Los Angeles Opera and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Curlew River and The Prodigal Son with the Fondazione Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, and The Burning Fiery Furnace with the Ravinia Festival. In 2015, he was asked to return to Los Angeles Opera for John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and il barbiere di Siviglia.
In 2019 he joined the dynamic conducting and opera faculty of the University of Texas at Austin. He holds the title of Principal Conductor of the Butler Opera Center which presents three to five fully-produced productions each academic year. In his tenure he has conducted La Traviata, Pique Dame, TEA: A MIrror of Soul (Tan Dun), La bohème, Carmen, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, L’elisir d’amore, The Turn of the Screw, Don Giovanni, Missy Mazzioli’s Proving Up, Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and concerts featuring music inspired by Shakespeare. In his role he conducts productions and concerts with the University Symphony Orchestra and the acclaimed New Music Ensemble. He mentors young opera composers through a biannual commission for UT composition students. Last year’s premiere was Maria written by Josiah Garza about his family’s struggle to live across national borders. Douglas also maintains a competitive private conducting studio training the next generation of maestri in musical and leadership projects.
In 2015 he led important projects in Los Angeles and New York City. The LA Times commented, “…orchestra and chorus conducted by Douglas Kinney Frost were excellent, and at times it was fun watching Frost with his colorful style of conducting,” about his performances of Figaro 90210. This 21st century update of Mozart’s classic played to sold-out houses and added performances at LA Opera. He also served as Music Director and conductor for a co-production of David Lang’s Difficulty of Crossing a Field for Beth Morrison Projects which received a concert performance in New York and was recorded and released in June 2015 on Cantaloupe Records. The recording is receiving rave mentions including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Philadelphia Examiner.
DAVID LANG AND THE HARLEM STRING QUARTET RECORDING the difficulty of Crossing a field
Other recent highlights include performances of Porgy and Bess at the prestigious Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, La bohème at Florida Grand Opera, Madama Butterfly for Utah Opera, L’elisir d’amore for Opera Saratoga, the Boston première of Little Women and The Turn of the Screw at The New England Conservatory, The Prodigal Son with University of Southern California, Gluck’s Armide and Argento’s Postcard from Morocco at the University of Michigan, a double-bill of Suor Angelica/Gianni Schicchi at the Mississippi Opera, a new production of Madama Butterfly and La traviata with Anchorage Opera, and the associate conductor and chorus master for Opera Colorado’s production of Nixon in China, which was recently released on the Naxos record label. With Opera on the James, where he served as Music Director, he conducted the company’s productions of Madama Butterfly, Die Fledermaus, Die Zauberflöte, Gianni Schicchi/Suor Angelica and Don Pasquale.
Annual OPERATHON for WCNY Radio in Syracuse
As Music Director, and later Artistic Director of Syracuse Opera for eight years, Douglas Kinney Frost refocused the company’s artistic vision and redefined its commitment to the community. He broadened main-stage programming by conducting the company’s first new production of an American work, Mark Adamo’s Little Women, while maintaining a commitment to producing the standard repertoire with distinction. He inaugurated a Resident Artist Program whose members appear throughout upstate New York in Kinney Frost's many creative audience development initiatives. He also created the country’s first professional opera conducting training program with Ithaca College.
He led their productions of Rigoletto, Don Pasquale, Roméo et Juliette, La bohème, Susannah, Die Zauberflöte, Hänsel und Gretel, La traviata, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Le nozze di Figaro, La tragedie de Carmen, Porgy and Bess, Die Fledermaus, and Il barbiere di Siviglia, concert performances of Into the Woods, Guys and Dolls, Man of La Mancha and Der fliegende Holländer featuring international opera artists Greer Grimsley and Lori Phillips.
Mr. Kinney Frost was previously the Head of Music Staff and Chorus Master at Florida Grand Opera in Miami. Opera Now magazine credits him with “transforming the FGO Chorus into a superb, well-blended group.” The Miami Herald “would venture that FGO’s chorus can match even the best the world’s opera houses have to offer.” He has prepared choruses for over 20 FGO productions, in addition to being a house conductor and managing the company’s musical resources. He also served as a faculty member of the FGO’s acclaimed young artist program as Conductor.
DOUGLAS HAS A NATIONAL REPUTATION FOR FRAMING MUSIC IN A LIVELY AND APPROACHABLE WAY
Before coming to Miami, Mr. Kinney Frost spent six seasons as Associate Conductor and Chorus Master for Utah Opera, providing musical leadership over 25 productions, and conducting main-stage productions. He also led several cutting edge productions with the company’s young artist program, and created the Company’s nationally recognized educational programming.
In 2006, he completed seven seasons as Music Director of the Opus Chamber Orchestra in Salt Lake City, appearing with leading international instrumental and vocal artists. The Orchestra gave many premières by prominent composers under Maestro Kinney Frost’s direction, including the world première production of Libby Larsen’s Dreaming Blue at the Kennedy Center’s Imagination Celebration. In addition, he led their performances of Fidelio, Maria de Buenos Aires, and a new production of Alcina.
As an advocate for arts education Mr. Kinney Frost has created numerous education and outreach programs for orchestras and opera companies. One of his opera education programs, OPERAMANIA!, was broadcast for two seasons on PBS. He is frequently asked to lecture about music and the training of young vocalists and conductors. He has been a panelist at conferences for the National Endowment for the Arts, American Symphony Orchestra League, Conductor’s Guild, Utah Arts Council, Opera America and Virginia Commission for the Arts.
His training includes conducting study with Kenneth Kiesler and Jorge Mester. He trained in workshops with Marin Alsop, Gustav Meier, and Carl St. Clair. Maestro Kinney Frost is a three-year participant in the Conductors Retreat at Medomak, and now serves on the Board of Directors of the conducting program as Alumni Chair.