DePreist, James Anderson (1936- )

US symphony conductor. After serving with the US State Department as a specialist in US music, he conducted in Bangkok, Thailand. His US conducting debut was with the New York Philharmonic, and he went on to conduct many major symphony orchestras.

He was born in Philadelphia, the nephew of the black American contralto Marian Anderson. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his musical studies at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. He won first prize in the Mitropoulos competition in 1964. His European debut was with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and he enjoyed special associations with the National Symphony in Washington, DC, and L'Orchestre Symphonique de Québec. He conducted the Oregon Symphony from 1980.