Mitch Glickman

Award-winning composer, conductor, and producer, Mitch Glickman's diverse music career covers the fields of concert, jazz, recordings, film, and opera. He is the founder and music director of the 68-member Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, and also serves as director of music programs for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Mr. Glickman formerly served as associate music director of the American Jazz Philharmonic, created by composer/conductor Jack Elliott.

As a composer, Mr. Glickman's concert works have been commissioned and premiered by a wide range of leading American ensembles including the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, American Jazz Philharmonic, Oberlin Orchestra, Turtle Island String Quartet, MENC, Third Wheel, and the Angel City Chorale.  His choral, chamber and symphonic works have been performed in concert halls across the country including Royce Hall, Ford Amphitheater, Walt Disney Theater at CalArts, Cerritos Center for the Arts, and Broward County Performing Arts Center. His composition, Blues & Fuguette, was a winner of the American Composers Forum – Chamber Music competition. As an arranger, he has written such diverse singers and instrumentalists as Kurt Elling, Barry Manilow, Bud Shank, Jane Monheit, Luciana Souza, Leon Redbone, Raul Midón, Keyon Harrold, and Phil Perry.

His film credits include scores for the acclaimed independent films, Street of Pain starring Steve Carell and Proudheart, starring Lorrie Morgan, along with such notable television series as Cheers, Life Goes On, Night Court, Grammy Living Legends, and the annual Grammy Awards telecast. 

Mr. Glickman has conducted numerous concerts across the country featuring legendary artists Ray Brown, Bud Shank, Turtle Island String Quartet, Phil Woods, and The Yellowjackets, and has led such diverse ensembles as the American Jazz Philharmonic, United Kingdom Symphony Orchestra and the South Florida Youth Orchestra. He also served as Assistant Musical Director of the New York Lyric Opera's production of Monteverdi's opera, Coronation of Poppea.

Mr. Glickman has produced a number of Grammy nominated recordings including The Bud Shank Sextet Salutes Harold Arlen, Young Musicians Debut Orchestra with Lalo Schifrin, the American Jazz Philharmonic for GRP Records, as well as the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra for Mack Avenue Records featuring Christian McBride, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin and Bill Cunliffe. He has produced over 1,200 concerts across the country in his 35+-year career ranging from a concert at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics to national concert tours featuring such artists as Ray Charles, Stan Getz, and Dionne Warwick, along with house concerts featuring George Duke, Al Jarreau, Dianne Reeves and Diane Schuur.

Mr. Glickman produces and hosts the weekly radio series, Beyond Symphonic Jazz, heard on KJazz 88.1 FM. The two-hour show has featured interviews with such jazz legends as Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny, George Benson, Terri Lyne Carrington, Béla Fleck, Ramsey Lewis, Maria Schneider, Lalo Schifrin, Billy Cobham, Ian Anderson, Carla Bley, and Chick Corea. As an educator, he leads assemblies, master classes and workshops across the country, and was named the 2021 Jazz Educator of the Year by the L.A. Jazz Society.  He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and studied at the Schoenberg Institute in Vienna.