Internationally recognized conductor, conductor of a Grammy nominated score, and artistic director and conductor of the Endless Mountain Music Festival (EMMF), 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 EMMF artistic director and conductor, but music director and conductor of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, as well. In 2004, he served as artistic advisor and principle conductor for the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra in Bogotá, Colombia.
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 Conservancy. 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 its maturation into one of the country's finest regional, professional orchestras.
In addition to his duties with EMMF and the Lancaster Symphony, Maestro Gunzenhauser will conduct in Budapest, Bogotá and in Israel during the 2007 season. Gunzenhauser has two grown daughters and lives in Avondale, Pennsylvania, with his wife Shelly.
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