What a coincidence! The two former AAF Young Conductors Fellows, Levi Hammer and Leonard Weiss, recently met in Berlin, where both have several performances in 2026:
Levi Hammer will conduct the Konzerthausorchester Berlin on March 22, 2026, and will perform his celebrated solo piano program Gershwin in Vienna: Gershwin and the Second Viennese School at the Austrian Embassy in Berlin on March 24, 2026. He then travels to the US, where he will serve as Assistant Conductor to Gustavo Dudamel who is conducting the LA Philharmonic in Richard Wagners Die Walküre.
Leonard Weiss is currently working as Assistant Conductor at Deutsche Oper Berlin during the 2025-26 season, where he will assist conductors Alessandro De Marchi (Rossini: L’Italiana in Algeri), Friedrich Praetorius (Verdi: Don Carlo ), and Stefano Montanariin (Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto) in spring 2026.
Hammer and Weiss both received the AAF Young Conductors Fellowship and have had the chance to closely observe the work of the world’s leading conducturs during the Salzburg Festival in 2010 and 2023 respectively.
We are currently accepting applications for the AAF Young Contuctors Fellowship 2026. The deadline to apply is April 17, 2026. Further information and the application form are available here.