Pratik Gandhi (he/him/his) is a conductor, percussionist, clinician, and researcher based in Toronto. He currently serves as music director of the Rouge River Winds and resident conductor of the Toy Piano Composers Ensemble. He is a finalist for music director positions with the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra and the Oakville Symphony, and is scheduled to lead both groups in concerts during the 2021-22 season. He also served as assistant conductor of Symphony on the Bay (now the Burlington Symphony Orchestra) for five years, and as associate conductor with the Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra for three years. Pratik is a doctoral student at York University in Toronto, researching issues of equity and representation among wind band composers in Canada.
In frequent demand as a guest conductor and adjudicator across southwestern Ontario, Pratik serves as adjudicator and Vice-Chair (Syllabus and Sight-reading) for the concert band division of MusicFest Canada, as well as syllabus coordinator for the OBA Provincial Band Festival. He adjudicated concert bands at the 2017 Alberta International Band Festival in Calgary. Pratik regularly presents workshops on conducting techniques, wind repertoire, and percussion pedagogy.
Pratik’s conducting experience covers a wide variety of genres and repertoire. He has led orchestras in performances of symphonies, concertos, and overtures; he has served as music director for stage works including operas, musicals, and cabarets; and he has conducted chamber ensembles, wind bands, choirs, and many different collaborative projects. Collaborative music-making is one of Pratik’s passions, and he particularly enjoys directing works for multiple performing forces. Pratik was the founding music director of Soup Can Theatre, and his work during his ten-year tenure with the company received rave reviews. Pratik is also a champion of new music, and has conducted the premiere of numerous works.
As a freelance percussionist, Pratik is frequently called upon to play with orchestras, wind bands, chamber ensembles, and in pit orchestras.
Pratik received a B.Mus. in music education and an M.Mus. in conducting from the University of Western Ontario, where he studied conducting with Dr. Colleen Richardson, Jerome Summers and James McKay, and percussion with Dr. Jill Ball. He received numerous entrance and in-course scholarships and awards, including the Western Scholarship of Excellence, the London Music Scholarship Foundation Endowment Award, and the Silver Medal for Excellence in Leadership. During his graduate work at Western, he also founded and directed a string orchestra called Gli Archi, which presented two full-length concerts and recorded several new works for local composers including Anthony Aceti and Jeff Smallman.
Toronto, Canada
pratikgandhi.music@gmail.com