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The esteemed American conductor, Gerard Schwarz, commenced trumpet lessons when he was 8. After attending the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan (summers, 1958-1960), he studied at New York’s High School of Peforming Arts. He also received trumpet instruction from William Vacchiano (1962-1968), and completed his training at the Juilliard School (B.S., 1972). He played in the American Brass Quintet from 1965 to 1973, and the American Symphony Orchestra from 1966 to 1972.
Gerard Schwarz made his debut as a conductor in 1966. He was appointed musical director of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, the Eliot Feld Dance Company, the Waterloo Festival, the New York Chamber Symphony, and the Los Angeles Chamber Symphony by 1976. In 1981, he established the Music Today contemporary music series, serving as its Music Director until 1989. He first conducted opera with the Washington Opera at the Kennedy Center in 1982 with Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and he has led performances with the Seattle and San Francisco Operas, the Juilliard Opera Theatre, and the Kirov Opera in St. Petersburg's historic Mariinsky Theatre.
Gerard Schwarz has been Music Director of the Seattle Symphony since 1985, of the New York Chamber Symphony since 1976, and of New York's Mostly Mozart Festival since 1982. Under his leadership, he has amassed a vast recording profile of award-winning albums for the Seattle Symphony and brought them to their new home in Benaroya Hall in a gala concert on September 12, 1998; his appearances with Mostly Mozart have continued their prestige as New York's favorite summer festival and brought them a large television viewing audience on the PBS network as well as an international profile with tours; and he has brought the New York Chamber Symphony from a fledgling organization to a full concert season at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. His appearances as a guest conductor have brought him to several major orchestras, including the Washington Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Kirov Opera, and the Seattle Opera. In addition, he was the Artistic Advisor to Tokyo Bunkamura's Orchard Hall from 1994 to 1997, in conjunction with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
In the 2001-2002 season, Gerard Schwarz conducted eleven subscription series concerts in the Seattle Symphony's new home, Benaroya Hall, as well as special concerts with solists Mstislav Rostropovich and Itzhak Perlman and five concerts in the "Musically Speaking" series.
Gerard Schwarz' many recordings with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra have been devoted to music of American composers such as Howard Hanson, Aaron Copland, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Walter Piston, William Schuman, Donald Hovaness, David Diamond, Paul Creston, as well as music of Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, Béla Bartók, Ravel, Schumann, Shostakovich, and Wagner. These recordings have earned accolades and "Best Classical Album" awards from Stereo Review Magazine, as well as more than ten Grammy nominations. He has recorded extensively with other orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart, the New York Chamber Symphony, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
Gerard Schwarz has received the Ditson Conductor's Award from Columbia University, an honorary Doctorate of Music from The Juilliard School, and other honorary degrees from Fairleigh Dickinson University, the University of Puget Sound, and the Seattle University. In 1994, Maestro Schwarz was named Conductor of the Year by Musical America. |
