Noted for her “combination of musicality, seriousness, and initiative”, Elizabeth Askren is the founding Music Director of Orchestre 2021 and Assistant Conductor to David Stern and Opera Fuoco since 2006 for productions throughout Europe.

Highlights from recent seasons include guest conducting the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, premiering several contemporary works with Orchestre 2021, directing the Fondation des Etats-Unis’ 8-part cultural cycle, “Un siècle d’Elliott Carter/A Century of Elliott Carter”, and working with Lorin Maazel as a Conducting Apprentice at the inaugural edition of the Castleton festival.

Winner of Adami’s « Jeune Talent chef d’orchestre » 2010 prize, Ms. Askren is a 2008-09 Aldeburgh Conducting Fellow and  laureate of the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Fondation des Etats-Unis, and the Fondation Royaumont.  She holds diplomas in conducting and piano from the Juilliard School, Oberlin Conservatory, and Bard College in the United States, and from Ecole Normale de Musique and the Schola Cantorum in France.