Described by The Washington Post as “a force of nature from the podium,” rising American conductor Molly Turner is an exceptional young talent who directs with fervor and imagination. She served as conducting fellow of the New World Symphony during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, leading the orchestra in subscription, family, education and holiday concerts. She was also a Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2024-25.
In 2025-26, Turner returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic for a performance in the Green Umbrella new music series and to the Orchestre de Paris to conduct a series of Young Person concerts. Following her successful 2025 debut with the Minnesota Orchestra as part of its education concert series, she rejoins the ensemble for multiple projects throughout 2025-26, including performances of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker and the Season Sampler concerts. Other notable engagements this season include a Nordic subscription debut with the Kristiansand Symfoniorkester and performances of the contemporary chamber opera Stuck Elevator with Opera Grand Rapids.
Highlights of Turner’s LA Phil Dudamel Fellowship included a “Noon to Midnight” performance with the New Music Group and a “Symphonies for Schools” concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. At the New World Symphony, Turner shared the podium with artistic director Stéphane Denève and guest conductors Edward Gardner, Carlos Miguel Prieto and Leonidas Kavakos, among others. Recent engagements include the San Francisco Symphony’s SoundBox Series, Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music, the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn, the Juilliard Orchestra and the Dallas Opera Orchestra. In 2019, Turner was the youngest conductor invited to participate in a residency at the Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute for Women Conductors. She is also the first recipient of the Judy Rodin Fellowship for an Outstanding Woman Musician.
From Beethoven and Brahms to Stravinsky, Bartók and Barber, Turner’s wide-ranging repertoire includes a strong interest in contemporary music. She has conducted works by Wynton Marsalis, Jessie Montgomery and Caroline Shaw and has collaborated with composers including Jimmy Lopez, Donnacha Dennehy, Nico Muhly and Paul Novak. A composer herself, she has premiered her own works, most recently Open Doors for orchestra. Her music explores the balance between strictly dictated elements and aleatoric notation, and subtle references to the standard repertoire often appear beneath the surface. Pursuing projects outside the traditional concert hall is also an important part of Turner’s artistic identity, from improvisatory works to multimedia performances.
Turner participated in the 2025 Verbier and Lucerne festivals as a conducting fellow and has served as cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic and assistant conductor for the Berliner Philharmoniker, San Francisco Symphony, Utah Symphony, San Diego Symphony and Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. She earned an artist diploma from the Colburn Conservatory of Music, studying under Esa-Pekka Salonen as a Salonen Fellow, and completed a master’s degree in orchestral conducting at The Juilliard School, where she studied with David Robertson. She initially trained as a composer and earned a bachelor’s degree from Rice University. Turner has also participated in the Gstaad Festival Conducting Academy, Aspen Conducting Academy and Eastern Music Festival.
HarrisonParrott represents Molly Turner for worldwide general management.