The Ditson Conductor's Award honors conductors who have a distinguished record of performing and championing contemporary American music. Established in 1945, it is the oldest continuing award of its kind.

 

 

Year Conductor
2024 Vimbayi Kaziboni
2023 James Baker
2022 Delta David Gier
2021 John Adams
2020 Steven Schick
2019 Bradley Lubman
2018 Oliver Knussen
2017 Marin Alsop
2016 Cliff Colnot
2015 John Mauceri
2014 Harold Rosenbaum
2013 Jeffrey Milarsky
2012 George Manahan
2011 Alan Gilbert
2010 Osmo Vänskä
2009 James Levine
2008 Robert Spano
2007 Gil Rose
2006 David Robertson
2005 David Hoose
2004 Donald Portnoy
2003 David Alan Miller
2002 Joel Sachs
2000 James DePreist
1999 Christoph von Dohnanyi
1998 JoAnn Falletta
1997 David Zinman
1996 James Bolle
1995 Gustav Meier
1994 Gerhard Samuel
1993 Michael Tilson Thomas
1992 Herbert Blomstedt
1991 Christopher Keene
1990 Mstislav Rostropovich
1989 Gerard Schwartz
1988 Lawrence Leighton Smith
1987 Dennis Russell Davies
1986 Efrain Guigui
1985 Jorge Mester
1984 Leonard Slatkin
1983 Julius Hegyi
1982 Russell Patterson
1981 Michael Charry
1980 James A. Dixon
1979 Sergiu Commissiona
1978 Gregg Smith
1977 Eugene Ormandy
1976 Jose Serebrier
1975 Antal Dorati
1974 Lukas Foss
1973 Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
1972 Louis Lane
1971 Maurice Abravanel
1970 Gunther Schuller
1969 Frederick Fennell
1968 Alan Carter
1967 Igor Buketoff
1966 William Strickland
1965 Jacob Avshalomov
1964 Emerson Buckley
1963 Milton Katims
1962 Guy Frasier Harrison
1961 Richard Franko Goldman
1960 Richard Bales
1959 Julius Rudel
1958 Leonard Bernstein
1957 Howard Mitchell
1956 Victor Alessandro
1955 Robert Shaw
1954 David Broekman
1953 Walter Hendl
1952 Robert Whitney
1950 Isler Solomon
1949 Thor Johnson
1948 Dean Dixon
1947 Alfred Wallenstein
1946 Leon Barzin
1945 Howard Hanson