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Conductor and Music Director of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra
Internationally recognized conductor, Grammy nominee and vibrant leader of one of Lancaster’s foremost cultural treasures, Maestro Stephen Gunzenhauser is equally at home as the revered music director of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra and as a citizen of the world. For 25 years he has created magical musical synergies with the Lancaster Symphony. He also continues to circle the globe, conducting orchestras in Europe, Canada, the British Isles, Korea, Hong Kong, Israel and South America.
One of the few conductors active in the United States, Eastern Europe and South America, Gunzenhauser not only serves as music director and conductor of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, but also as artistic advisor and principle conductor for the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra in Bogota, Colombia. He received that appointment in 2004.
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The fifth most recorded American conductor, Stephen Gunzenhauser has recorded 66 albums and sold over 2 million compact discs. The recording of a performance he conducted of the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz of Benjamin Lees’ Symphony No. 5 “Kalmar Nyckel” received a Grammy nomination as 2003’s best classical contemporary composition. The 1988 recording of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 which he conducted with the Slovak Philharmonic was the top-selling recording of Tchaikovsky in Moscow
Photo courtesy of Allan Holm Photography |
Born in New York and a graduate of the city’s High School of Music and Art, Gunzenhauser received a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College and a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory. He also holds an honorary doctorate degree from Widener University, has been awarded three Fulbright grants and has an artist’s diploma from the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.
Gunzenhauser served both Igor Markevich in Monte Carlo and Leopold Stokowski in New York as assistant conductor before becoming executive and artistic director of the Wilmington Music School in 1974.
In 1979, Gunzenhauser was named music director and conductor of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, where he served until 2002. Through his leadership of that orchestra, he was honored in 1990 by being named the state’s first Cultural Ambassador. In 1999, he received Delaware’s Order of the First State, the highest accolade they confer.
The same year he joined the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Gunzenhauser was appointed music director and conductor of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra. In his 25 years with the Lancaster Symphony, he has taken it to new levels of excellence and guided it maturation into one of the country’s finest regional, professional orchestras.
Today the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra presents six concert weekends at the historic Fulton Opera House, an annual, free patriotic concert in Long’s Park and a New Year’s Eve concert at the American Music Theatre. The “Only in Lancaster” brand he has created for the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra — a unique blending of beloved works of the past and groundbreaking new compositions at the hands of talented musicians and internationally acclaimed guest artists — has caught the attention of critics and musicians around the world.
This past summer, Maestro Gunzenhauser completed his first season as Artistic Director of the first International Music Festival in Pennsylvania-The Endless Mountain Music Festival in Wellsboro Pennsylvania.
During the 2006/07 season Maestro Gunzenhauser will conduct in Budapest, Bogotá, and in Israel. His invitation to Israel is to perform with Israel's leading ensemble-the Israel Sinfonietta.
Gunzenhauser has two grown daughters and lives in Avondale, Pennsylvania, with his wife Shelly.
Contact Stephen Gunzenhauser!
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Last updated Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 3:29:54 PM
Nancy LeVasseur, Web Content Manager
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