Adam Stern (conductor)

Adam Oscar Stern (born 1955) is an American conductor. Born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States, Stern was trained at the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. He received his MFA in conducting in 1977 at the age of twenty-one, the youngest music student in CalArts' history to receive a master's degree.

Conductor

Following years as a freelance conductor, composer and pianist, Stern served as assistant conductor (1992–1996) and associate conductor (1996–2001) of the Seattle Symphony, as well as music director of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra (1993–2000). Stern has guest-conducted throughout the United States, including engagements with the Milwaukee Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Boulder Philharmonic, Symphonic Wind Ensemble at Michigan State University, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, the New York Chamber Symphony, Philharmonia Northwest and the Sacramento Symphony. From 2001 to 2005, Stern was the music director and conductor of the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra. From 2005 to 2014, Stern was the music director and conductor of the Port Angeles Symphony, during which tenure he introduced dozens of works to the orchestra's repertoire and was credited with raising its playing standards to unprecedented heights.

He has been the music director of the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra since 2003, and music director of the Sammamish Symphony Orchestra since 2014. In July 2016 he guest-conducted the "Pops" concert at the Oregon Coast Music Festival, and was named the Festival's permanent associate conductor and "Pops" Conductor a few days later.

A devotee of unjustly neglected works, Stern is particularly noted for his frequent performances of English music, especially that of Ralph Vaughan Williams.