Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops Announce New Staff Conductors

Alex Amsel and Duo Shen to Join the CSO and POPS as Assistant Conductors Beginning in September 2025

CINCINNATI, OH (June 13, 2025)— The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and Cincinnati Pops (Pops) have appointed Alex Amsel and Duo Shen as assistant conductors for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and May Festival. Amsel and Shen will begin their work with the organization in September 2025. They succeed Daniel Wiley and Samuel Lee whose tenures conclude in August.

Both serving in the Ashley and Barbara Ford Chairs for Assistant Conductor, Amsel and Shen will assist with the Orchestra’s concert preparation and are vital to the success of educational programs and digital initiatives. In addition to other conducting assignments, they will also be responsible for envisioning, rehearsing, and leading Young People’s Concerts and Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra programs. For each CSO, Pops and May Festival program, Amsel and Shen will assist in all rehearsals and performances, providing feedback to the CSO’s Music Director Cristian Macelaru, Cincinnati Pops Conductor John Morris Russell, and guest conductors, enabling them to fine tune the sound and artistic quality of the ensemble. As understudies, Amsel and Shen must also be prepared to step in at a moment’s notice should another conductor become ill or is otherwise unable to conduct.

Amsel and Shen will bring critical insights and valuable experience to their respective roles. Amsel is no stranger to Cincinnati, holding conducting appointments at the Cincinnati Opera for the last two seasons. For the last six years, Amsel has worked closely with the CSO’s new Music Director, Cristian Macelaru. Amsel currently serves as Cover Conductor for Macelaru at L’Orchestre National de France and has been the Associate Conductor for the Phoenix Symphony leading subscription, outreach, and education concerts while transforming the audience’s experience through engaging narration and educational elements that invite them to discover new ways of appreciating music.

Shen is known for his reimagination of classical concerts, collaborating with orchestras like the Grand Rapids Symphony and the New Symphony Orchestra in Bulgaria. He is only the second individual to hold an Associate Conductor position in the Grand Rapids Symphony’s 95-year-history. Both Amsel and Shen will serve as assistant conductors for the CSO, Pops and May Festival starting next season.

Both assistant conductor positions are endowed by Ashley and Barbara Ford.

ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP

Alex Amsel, Assistant Conductor

Argentinian-Mexican conductor Alex Amsel has quickly established himself as a dynamic presence on both orchestral and operatic stages and as a dedicated music educator committed to serving students of all ages. Driven by a belief in music’s transformative power, Amsel works to integrate music into the fabric of each community he serves — reshaping how we think about society and our place within it. In the 2025–26 season, Amsel joins the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Conductor.

Amsel gained international recognition through a televised performance at the George Enescu Competition in Romania, leading to invitations with orchestras across the region. As a music director finalist for the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, he was praised for “a vibrant and textured account maintaining superb balance … punctuating a dynamic performance” (Chicago Classical Review). He served as Resident Conductor at Houston Grand Opera for the 2022–23 season, conducting Verdi’s La traviata and the world premiere of Jeremy Howard Beck’s Another City — a work developed through community dialogue and site visits focused on Houston’s unhoused population. He also held conducting appointments at Cincinnati Opera for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

Amsel concludes two acclaimed seasons as The Phoenix Symphony’s Associate Conductor leading subscription, film, education and outreach concerts. He is the curator and inaugural conductor of the orchestra’s chamber orchestra series, family series and Casual Friday Night concert discussions. Amsel also served on the orchestra’s artistic advisory committee and patron experience taskforce, and he was elected co-chair of the young professionals board.

Amsel spent three seasons with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, appointed by both Robert Spano and Miguel Harth-Bedoya, where he led symphonic, chamber and educational programs. He was selected for the Aspen Conducting Academy in 2020 and 2021, working closely with Robert Spano, Patrick Summers and Hugh Wolff, and he returned in 2022 as faculty and assistant conductor. He currently serves as cover conductor for Cristian Macelaru at the Orchestre National de France and has collaborated with conductors including Manfred Honeck, Daniele Rustioni and Vasily Petrenko. Amsel is in high demand during the summer season as both a conductor and educator. He has led orchestras at the Aspen Music Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, Round Top Music Festival and the Philadelphia International Music Festival. In 2019, he was appointed Assistant Conductor of the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado, and launched the inaugural chamber orchestra program for advanced students at the American Festival for the Arts Summer Music Festival in Houston — an initiative designed to develop artistic excellence and ensemble collaboration among young musicians.

A passionate educator, Amsel has reshaped the Phoenix Symphony’s education programs to focus on social impact through music, centering on underrepresented composers and themes such as empathy, teamwork and cultural understanding. He also founded the Student Composition Project, in which students ages 18 and under work with Amsel on their original compositions and culminating in premier performances by Amsel and The Phoenix Symphony. He is a frequent clinician and guest conductor for schools and all- region orchestras, designing cross-curricular programs that blend music with classroom learning. While at Peabody Conservatory, he worked with underserved Baltimore schools through the creative leadership immersion and social development initiatives, helping students compose original works that reflected their lived experiences. In 2023, he conducted a production of Massenet’s Cendrillon at the University of North Texas, continuing his commitment to supporting emerging artists. An advocate for living composers, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, he frequently programs works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Carlos Simon, Jessie Montgomery, Eleanor Alberga, Victor Agudelo and Carlos Zamora, among others. He was selected as an associate at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music under Cristian Macelaru and has led recording sessions of world premieres at both the Peabody Conservatory and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Amsel completed his graduate studies under Marin Alsop at the Peabody Conservatory, where he served as her graduate assistant while earning his master’s degree in orchestral conducting. He was also appointed choir master and assistant conductor of the opera theatre and choruses, leading performances of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and Massenet’s Chérubin. He has worked closely with Larry Rachleff, Cristian Macelaru, Miguel Harth Bedoya, and Tito Muñoz and has participated in masterclasses with Hannu Lintu, David Zinman, Hugh Wolff, David Effron and Nicholas McGegan. Amsel holds degrees from the New England Conservatory and The University of Texas at Austin.

Duo Shen, Assistant Conductor

Dr. Duo Shen, associate conductor of the Grand Rapids Symphony — a historic role held by only two individuals in the orchestra’s 95-year history — will be joining the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Conductor for the 2025–26 season.

During his three seasons with the Grand Rapids Symphony, Shen curated and conducted over 90 performances, spanning masterworks and chamber concert series, family and educational concerts, film/pop productions and run-out concerts. His 2024–25 season highlights included a subscription debut at DeVos Performance Hall with double bass virtuoso Joseph Conyers that was praised for its artistry and energy.

Shen has served as assistant conductor to esteemed conductors such as Marcelo Lehninger, JoAnn Falletta, Carlos Kalmar, Vinay Parameswaran, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Ruth Reinhardt, Tianyi Lu, Nicholas McGegan, David Robertson and Robert Spano. In 2022, immediately upon graduation, he was hired as a staff conductor at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he served as prep-conductor and cover conductor for guest artists while also leading subscription concerts. Additionally, Shen has been a cover conductor for the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.

Shen’s conducting mentors include Vinay Parameswaran, Carlos Kalmar, JoAnn Falletta, Marcelo Lehninger, Carl Topilow and Michael Jinbo. He has collaborated with orchestras such as the Grand Rapids Symphony, Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, CIM Orchestra, New Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria) and Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria). Known for reimagining classical works in projects like “A New Imagination of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony” and “A Day with Symphony” at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, he has earned praise for the projects’ accessibility and creativity. Local Spins lauded him as “passionate” and “a talented individual.”

Shen holds a professional studies diploma in orchestral conducting from CIM, a Doctor of Musical Arts in Violin from the University of Maryland, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Delaware.

BIOGRAPHIES: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

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