Cristian Măcelaru had previously been named Artistic Director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California in 2017 and has also been Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival in Romania since 2021.

Măcelaru appears as guest conductor with many leading orchestras in America and Europe, these including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Staatskapelle Dresden and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.

Măcelaru began as a violinist and became the youngest concert-master in the history of the Miami Symphony Orchestra at the age of nineteen. He later moved to the Houston Symphony as concertmaster and made his conducting debut in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at Houston Grand Opera in 2010. His international conducting career was launched in 2012 when he stood in for Pierre Boulez at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.