Kärin Hendrickson brings equal passion to orchestra, opera, and audience. Her career includes some of the world’s leading orchestras, from the London Symphony Orchestra to the Belgian National Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony to the BBC’s flagship ensembles. Kǎrin’s work with young musicians reflects her commitment to passing forward the artistry she values. She has prepared the Concertgebouworkest Young, worked with the LSO/Guildhall Orchestra Artistry program preparing for Michael Tilson-Thomas, and also for Gustavo Dudamel’s LSO/LA Phil youth orchestra collaboration. She has conducted all of the UK’s major conservatories, as well as the Royal Conservatory of Ghent (Belgium), and fulfilled three Guest Artist appointments at North Carolina School of the Arts.

In 2025, Kǎrin accepted the position of Director of Orchestras and Director of Graduate Orchestral Conducting at the University of New Mexico—a deliberate investment into the next generation of orchestral musicians and conductors. Her work at UNM runs parallel to her continued professional engagements, allowing her to bring real-world insight from international podiums directly into the training of those who will follow. UNM is poised to become a major force in American music education: the university is building the $84-million Center for Collaborative Arts & Technology (CCAT), a 60,000-square-foot facility designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (the architects behind Lincoln Center, MoMA, The Broad, and Juilliard facilities worldwide). It will include a 600-seat performance hall, state-of-the-art rehearsal spaces, and collaborative environments. These resources position the university as an emerging destination for serious music study in the American Southwest.

Kǎrin’s conducting studies with Anthony Maiello (George Mason University) and Gustav Meier (Peabody Conservatory) preceded graduating with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music under Colin Metters, where she received two Gordon Foundation awards and the Fred Southall Memorial Prize in her final year. Other recognition includes nomination for the Nestlé-Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award, training at the Mozarteum under Siemens Prize winner Peter Gülke, selection as one of six candidates for the Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute of Women Conductors, and as one of three conductors for the Atelier des Créatrices d’Opéra at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. She has also received talent grants from the Peabody Conservatory and an award through Marin Alsop’s Taki-Alsop Fellowship.

Recognised for her lyrical sensitivity and dramatic musical storytelling, she was awarded the European Network of Opera Academies Young Conductor Residency, selected from candidates representing Dutch National Opera, Snape Maltings Britten-Pears Festival, Helsinki Festival, and Opera Narodowa (Poland).

Conductor Michael Repper’s work spans five continents. In 2023, he became the youngest North American conductor to win a Grammy® Award in Best Orchestral Performance. He has an international reputation for engaging and exciting audiences of all spectrums, and for promoting new and diverse musical talents.

Repper is currently the Music Director of the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, and the Northern Neck Orchestra of Virginia.  He recently concluded tenures as Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony, and as Principal Conductor of Sinfonía por el Perú, the elite youth orchestras and choruses of one of South America's most versatile social impact music programs. Repper was the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Conducting Fellow for two seasons, and he served as the BSO's New Music Consultant. Recognizing his success at these ensembles, and his growing profile as a guest conductor all over the world, Repper was awarded a Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

His album with the New York Youth Symphony, which features debut recordings of works by Florence Price, Jessie Montgomery, and Valerie Coleman, achieved widespread critical acclaim, reached #1 on the Billboard Chart, and won a Grammy® Award, marking the first time a youth orchestra achieved this milestone.

Repper has collaborated on large-scale productions of symphonic and theatrical works with the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia Festival, Peabody Institute of Music, and the New School of Music, among others. An avid pianist, he regularly performs as a soloist alongside his orchestras and choruses, and as an orchestral player as well. Recently, he played in the Chicago Symphony for their performances of Bernstein’s Mass, which was broadcast on PBS Great Performances. ​

​Alongside the standard repertoire, Repper is especially invested in programming new music and showcasing fresh talent. His ensembles have performed dozens of world premieres and pursued innovative commissions, as well as a variety of Carnegie Hall premieres from established and emerging composers.  A trusted ear, Repper is asked to assist and cover at orchestras nationwide, including the St. Louis Symphony, the Van Cliburn Competition, and for Naxos recordings with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra.

His experience with choruses has been recognized with significant positions, including his tenure as the Music Director at the Baltimore Basilica, the first Catholic Cathedral in the United States. Internationally, Repper has performed with highly regarded ensembles and in the world’s greatest venues, including the São Paulo Symphony, and at the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, Carnegie Hall, and others.

His discography includes the aforementioned album of music with the New York Youth Symphony, alongside an album with the Grammy®-Nominated Metropolis Ensemble and Grammy®-Winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus ("Musical America"), and several with the Peabody Institute as an Assistant Conductor. With the New York Youth Symphony during the Coronavirus pandemic, he was one of the first to pioneer the practice of distanced orchestral performance videos, and he made two performance appearances on CNN, the final one with Platinum-Artist Billy Ray Cyrus.

Repper complements his work with professional orchestras with a firm commitment to education, and travels worldwide to work with ensembles of young musicians. As Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Maryland, he ushered in a slate of innovative educational programming, such as the Reinecke Youth Chamber Music Scholarship and Fellowship Program. He has conducted several masterclasses for orchestras from all over the United States on behalf of the New York Philharmonic, and conducts side-by-side and educational concerts with major orchestras, including the Baltimore Symphony and the Colorado Symphony.
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Repper's most influential conducting mentors are Marin Alsop and the late Gustav Meier. He believes that a conductor's main role is to connect people and to use performance as a vehicle for positive change. He aims to promote a diverse and inclusive future for the arts, and to pay forward the passion for community that his mentors demonstrated to him.