Born in 1953 in Paris of American parents. After graduating from Harvard, Wolff returned on a fellowship to Paris, where he studied conducting with Charles Bruck and composition with Olivier Messiaen. He then continued his studies with Leon Fleisher in Baltimore.
In 1979 he became Associate Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington under Mstislav Rostropovich. In the years 1985-92 he was Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. In 1988 he became Principal Conductor of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, then its Music Director (1992-2000). In the years 1997-2006 he was Principal Director of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, with which he made several recordings, as well as appearances at festivals in Salzburg, Rheingau, Mozart Festival in Würzburg and in France, Italy, and Estonia, as well as on a highly acclaimed three-week tour of Japan. The Sunday Times wrote of their recording of George Antheil’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 6: “the Frankfurt Radio SO under Wolff dazzles throughout.”
Hugh Wolff appears regularly with the major North American orchestras, including those of Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Toronto, and he has conducted leading ensembles in Australia and Japan. His European engagements include appearances with the Leipzig Gewandhaus, NDR Hamburg, Philharmonia Orchestra and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, BBC Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Danish National Radio Symphony, Orchestre Nationale de Lyon and Czech Philharmonic orchestras.
Wolff has an extensive discography (Teldec), with works ranging from Haydn to Stravinsky with the St Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra. For Decca he recorded a disc with works by Aaron Jay Kernis with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Argo) and a disc with Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, for Sony Classical he recorded Barber and Meyer Violin Concertos with Hilary Hahn. The recording, along with the disc of Antheil Symphonies won a 2001 Cannes Classical Award.