Gerardo Edelstein
Conductor, Educator
“...it’s hard to imagine a performance with better timing, more finesse or feeling than the one Edelstein obtained from the symphony.”
“With music director Gerardo Edelstein at the podium, the orchestra tuned in an excellent performance. Nuances were well-crafted, balances were pleasing and - particularly in the Tchaikovsky- Edelstein kept momentum at a smooth, logical flow.”
“The National Symphony Orchestra and Choirs captivated with rich and dramatic sonorities...The performance was precise, with emphasis on the orchestral palettes and with dynamics that ranged from exultation to reflexion...(Translated)”
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A native of Argentina, Maestro Gerardo Edelstein has extensive experience conducting symphonic music, opera, and choral-orchestral works in four continents. Audiences, musicians, and press alike continuously praise him for his sensitive, charismatic, and energetic performances.
Edelstein was principal conductor of the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir and Orchestra in Israel, appearing on radio and television on several occasions and touring throughout the country. In the United States, he served as assistant conductor, associate conductor, and music advisor for the Richmond Symphony in Virginia conducting a variety of performances including appearances featuring internationally renowned artists. Under his leadership, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) awarded the symphony first prize for innovative music programming in 2000 and 2001.
Gerardo Edelstein has guest conducted the Israel Sinfonietta and the Mendi Rodan Symphony Orchestra in Israel, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic in the Czech Republic, the Kharkov Philharmonic in the Ukraine, the Tucumán Symphony Orchestra and Choir, the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo and the National Symphony and Choirs in Argentina, the Orquestra Sinfônica of the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil, the Houston Chamber Orchestra, the Houston Ballet, the San Antonio Metropolitan Ballet, the Pennsylvania Chamber Chorale and Orchestra, and the Kalamazoo, Williamsport and San Antonio symphonies in the United States. In 2004, Edelstein was invited to guest conduct in the first international orchestra festival in Dublin, Ireland and, most recently, in the Recontres Musicales Internationales des Graves in Bordeaux, France. Recent commercial recordings include collaborations with the State Symphony Orchestra in Saint Petersburg, Russia and the Penn’s Woods Festival Orchestra in Pennsylvania.
For the fiftieth anniversary of the Penn State School of Arts and Architecture, Maestro Edelstein conducted a performance of Bernstein's Mass that waspraised as one of the finer full versions undertaken of this almost impossibly difficult work in Broadwayworld.com.
Committed to the education of young musicians, Maestro Edelstein has served as clinician and guest conductor for many orchestra festivals in Virginia, Texas, Vermont, Michigan, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. He has also collaborated with the San Antonio Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony in side-by-side concerts with youth and college orchestras. He has presented masterclasses and conducting workshops in the United States as well as Argentina, Israel, France, Brazil and Turkey. His students have been consistently held positions with prestigious institutions and orchestras in the USA and abroad.
Maestro Edelstein toured with the Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain giving concerts to full auditoriums and enthusiastic audiences. He has also performed with the Penn State Orchestras at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh and the Capitol One Hall in Washington, DC.
Maestro Edelstein graduated with high honors from the National Conservatory of Music in Buenos Aires (piano) and the J. J. Castro Conservatory of La Lucila (choral conducting) in Argentina. He continued his studies in orchestral conducting in Israel obtaining an Artist Diploma from the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music where he won the Leonard Bernstein Conducting Scholarship awarded by the American/Israel Cultural Foundation. In the United States, he received a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. His teachers included Antonio Russo, Helmuth Rilling, Mendi Rodan and Larry Rachleff.
Currently, Edelstein serves as director of orchestral studies and professor of conducting at the Pennsylvania State University. He is the conductor of Penn State Philharmonic and Chamber orchestras as well as the artistic director of the Penn’s Woods Summer Music Festival. In addition, he is music director and conductor of the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra and the Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra.
