Gerardo Edelstein, Music Director
A native of Argentina, Gerardo Edelstein, has extensive experience conducting symphony orchestras, choirs, ballet and opera productions in Europe, Asia, South America, and the United States. Audiences, musicians and press alike continuously praise him for his sensitive, charismatic and energetic performances.
Maestro Edelstein has been music director/conductor of the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra for thirteen years and under his leadership, the orchestra has reached new artistic heights and secured financial stability. In addition, he is director of orchestral studies, music director of the Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras and music director of the Penn’s Woods Music Festival at the Pennsylvania State University.
Maestro Edelstein has guest conducted the Israel Sinfonietta and the Jerusalem Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra in Israel, the Bohuslav Martinû Philharmonic in the Czech Republic, the Kharkov Philharmonic in Ukraine, the Tucumán Symphony Orchestra and Choir, the Symphony Orchestra of the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, the Entre Ríos Symphony and the National Symphony and Chorus in Argentina, the Houston Chamber Orchestra, the Houston Ballet, the San Antonio Metropolitan Ballet, the Pennsylvania Chamber Chorale and Orchestra and the Kalamazoo and San Antonio Symphonies in the United States. Maestro Edelstein guest conducted also at the International Orchestra Festival in Dublin, Ireland and at the festival “Recontres Musicales Internationales des Graves” in France. He collaborated with cellist Kim Cook recording a CD with the Saint Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra in Russia.
Maestro Edelstein has collaborated with renown international artists including Joyce DiDonato, Rachel Barton Pine, Jorge Maria Osorio, Randy Newman and Dianne Schurr among others.
With the Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra, he toured Spain and performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh. For the fiftieth anniversary of the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture Maestro Edelstein conducted a full production of Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass” receiving raving reviews.
In Israel he was principal conductor of the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir and Orchestra with whom he appeared on radio and television and toured throughout the country.
In the United States, Maestro Edelstein served as assistant conductor, associate conductor and music advisor for the Richmond Symphony in Virginia for three seasons, conducting a variety of performances including several subscription series. Under his leadership, the Symphony won first prize in the year 2000 for innovative music programming awarded by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.
Committed to the education of young musicians, Mr. Edelstein was conductor of the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio for three seasons and served as clinician and guest conductor for many orchestra festivals in Virginia, Michigan, Texas, Vermont, New York, Colorado and Pennsylvania. He has collaborated in side-by-side concerts with the San Antonio Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony. Maestro Edelstein has given masterclasses and conducting workshops in the United States as well as the Catholic University in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bordeaux, France, Istanbul, Turkey and Jerusalem, Israel.
Gerardo Edelstein graduated with high honors in Piano from the National Conservatory of Music in Buenos Aires. He studied choral conducting at the J. J. Castro Conservatory of La Lucila in Argentina and at the Bachakademie in Stuttgart, Germany. Mr. Edelstein received an Artist Diploma in orchestral conducting from the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music in Israel where he won the Leonard Bernstein Conducting Scholarship awarded by the American/Israel Cultural Foundation conducting the Israel Philharmonic. In the United States he completed a master’s degree in orchestral conducting at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. His teachers include Mendi Rodan, Helmuth Rilling and Larry Rachleff.