Born in France while his father was serving in the U.S. Foreign Service, Wolff spent his primary-school years in London. He received his higher education at Harvard and Peabody Conservatory. Between Harvard and Peabody, he spent a year in Paris where he studied composition with Olivier Messiaen and conducting with Charles Bruck.[1] At Peabody, he studied piano with Leon Fleisher.
In Europe, Wolff was chief conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony from 1997 to 2006. In September 2017, he became chief conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra. He is scheduled to stand down as chief conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra at the end of the 2021–2022 season, and subsequently to take the title of dirigent emeritus (conductor emeritus) for two seasons.[7]
Wolff has recorded extensively for Teldec, Sony and others, has been nominated three times for a Grammy and has twice won the Cannes Classical Award. His discography includes the complete Beethoven symphonies with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra. As a conductor he has accompanied recordings by Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Dawn Upshaw, Thomas Hampson, Jennifer Larmore, and jazz guitarist John Scofield. Wolff is director of orchestras and teaches orchestral conducting at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
Wolff lives in Boston with his wife, the harpist and author Judith Kogan. They have three sons.[8]
