Labeled a “rising star” in the conducting world by the Associated Press, conductor Chelsea Gallo has been praised for her ability to “lead the orchestra with grace and fiery command” (The Michigan Daily), with a conducting style described as “fully in control… stylish, skillful and attentive” (The Dallas Morning News). 

During the 2026–2027 season, Gallo begins her fourth season as Resident Conductor of The Florida Orchestra, where she leads more than 50 performances annually across the Masterworks, Pops, Family, Youth, Community, and Soundwaves Chamber Orchestra series while collaborating closely with the organization’s artistic, education, marketing, and executive leadership. She also serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the Orlando Philharmonic and Artist in Residence for the University of South Florida Symphony Orchestra, and returns to the New York Philharmonic to assist. In 2025, Gallo was awarded an OPERA America Marine Opera Grant for a production of “Carmen.” In May 2026 her debut album and premiere recording of the orchestral music of Johanna Senfter with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz was released on the Capriccio label. 

Highlights of the 2026–2027 season include U.S. return engagements with Opera Tampa for Falstaff and the New Mexico Philharmonic as a Music Director finalist, as well as debut appearances with the Charleston Symphony in South Carolina, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra in Pennsylvania as a Music Director finalist, and the Brevard Symphony Orchestra  in Florida as a Music Director finalist. Internationally, Gallo makes her Main Stage debut with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany and conducts the orchestra on tour in Italy. 

Recent conducting highlights include debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Noord Nederlands Orkest (Netherlands), Dayton Opera (Carmen), Utah Symphony, Opera Tampa (Macbeth), Knoxville Symphony, Bozeman Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, and Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco, as well as a return engagement with the Sarasota Orchestra. She has previously appeared with leading orchestras and opera companies including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Opera, North Carolina Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Virginia Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Missouri Symphony, Marigny Opera, Slovak Sinfonietta (Slovakia), Orchestre Colonne, Brno Philharmonic (Czechia), Opera Orlando, and numerous others. 

A passionate advocate for expanding classical music’s reach, Gallo has collaborated with organizations including The Walt Disney Company, the New York Yankees, NASA, Lockheed Martin, the European Space Agency, the National Institute of Aerospace, and Lincoln. She describes her artistic mission as “a devotion to sharing the relevancy and humanity within classical music.” 

Her longstanding fascination with the intersection of science and music has inspired numerous interdisciplinary collaborations. She led recording projects for NASA’s Orion EFT-1 mission, and her ensemble became the official artistic partner for the Hubble Space Telescope’s 25th Anniversary celebrations. She has also collaborated with the University of Michigan’s Department of Nuclear Engineering on projects exploring parallels between orchestral leadership and managing complex scientific systems. Earlier in her career, she served as Music Director of the Cosmos Chamber Orchestra, whose work was selected as an artistic contributor to both NASA’s Orion mission and the Hubble anniversary celebrations.

 A committed champion of living composers, Gallo has conducted the Michigan premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Helix, the American premiere of Michael Gordon’s Bassoon Concerto, and the world premiere of Tucker Fuller’s ballet A Streetcar Named Desire. During the 2025–2026 season, she presented the U.S. premiere of Thierry Caens’s Triple Trombone Concerto. Her operatic repertoire includes Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Die Zauberflöte; Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Verdi’s La Traviata, Falstaff, and Macbeth; Bizet’s Carmen; Bernstein’s Candide; and Shuying Li’s Who Married Star Husbands. 

Gallo is the recipient of the Sir Georg Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award, the Hart Institute Conducting Fellowship with The Dallas Opera, the Helen Wu Graduate Fellowship in Conducting at the University of Michigan, and numerous additional honors recognizing her artistic leadership. She studied conducting in Vienna, Prague, and Banská Štiavnica with Leoš Svárovský and the late Maksimilijan Cenčić, while also pursuing studies in piano and violin in Vienna. She earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Michigan under Kenneth Kiesler and has participated in masterclasses with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle and Daniel Barenboim.