James Judd is Music Director of the Israel Symphony and the Little Orchestra Society. Previous directorships include the New Zealand Symphony, the Orchestre National deLille, Adelaide Symphony and the Florida Philharmonic. A regular guest conductor with major orchestras around the globe, he leads an annual tour of Asia with the Asian Youth Orchestra, as an opera conductor he has led the English National Opera, Glyndeboune Opera Festival and Florida Grand Opera, and as a recording artist he has amassed an extensive discography with the Naxos, Decca, Philips and EMI labels. His recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 was awarded both Diapason’s Gold Medal and the Toblacher Komponierhauschen. He is the Founder and former Artistic Director of the Miami Music Project, an el Sistema based model of music education that offers free music instruction and performance opportunities to children in underserved communities. He is the recipient of two honorary doctorates, and has conducted and taught at The Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute and the University of Miami, and has given master classes in Europe, Australia and Asia.