Photo by Daniel Knight of Studio B Photography

     Alfred Savia is no stranger to the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, where he served as Music Director for 31 years. Now the EPO’s Conductor Laureate, Savia leads the Orchestra and Chorus in Handel’s Messiah, his first return since conducting Puccini’s Turandot in May, 2022.
     As Music Director, Maestro Savia led the Philharmonic through a period of unprecedented innovation and growth. Under his leadership the Orchestra created two Youth Orchestras and incorporated the Philharmonic Chorus and Eykamp String Quartet. He introduced Messiah and Nutcracker performances, Music Alive residencies, concerts in outlying communities, and fully-staged operas. His successes were documented in Musical America, Symphony Magazine, and on CNN. In 2013 he was made a Sagamore of the Wabash.
     A native of Livingston, N.J., Savia graduated from Butler University. Conducting studies at the American Symphony Orchestra League’s Institute of Orchestral Studies and the Tanglewood Music Center led to his first professional appointment as Assistant Conductor of The Omaha Symphony. Subsequently, he served as Resident Conductor of the Florida Philharmonic and New Orleans Symphony Orchestra, Associate Conductor of the Florida Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Orlando Opera. He conducted the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (New Orleans) in one of their first post-Katrina concerts in 2006. He served as Associate Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from 1990 to 1996, and continues to conduct their “Star- Spangled Symphony” concerts each summer. 
     In 2020 he began serving as Artistic Advisor & Principal Conductor for the Indianapolis Opera where he conducts two MainStage productions plus Opera in the Park each season.  He also coaches the Indy Opera Resident Artists in preparation for their roles, cover roles and numerous outreach events.
     Savia’s North American guest conducting appearances include performances with the Saint Louis, Detroit, Phoenix, Savannah, Columbus, Memphis, Portland (Maine), Winston-Salem, Roanoke, San Antonio, Spokane, and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Louisville Orchestra and Dayton, Rhode Island, Naples (FL), Lexington, and Fresno Philharmonic Orchestras. He has conducted orchestras in Europe, Central and South America, and Asia. In 2013 he conducted La Traviata on the island of Giglio in Tuscany to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Verdi’s birth. Festival appearances have included Chicago’s Grant Park Symphony and the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival in Virginia. He recorded Russell Peck’s The Thrill of the Orchestra with London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Respighi’s Piano Concerto with pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi and the Evansville Philharmonic.