Conductor Michael Stern has long been devoted to building and leading highly acclaimed orchestras known not only for their impeccable musicianship and creative programming, but also for collaborative, sustainable cultures that often include a vision of music as service to the community. He also is passionate about working with young musicians not only in music making, but also to incorporate the idea of “service” into their experiences as they become the artists and advocates of the future who will take classical music into the 21st century and beyond.

Stern currently holds four artistic leadership positions: with the Kansas City Symphony, where he will be concluding his 19-year tenure at the end of the 2023-2024 season; with the National Repertory Orchestra, a summer music festival in Breckenridge, CO; with the newly rebranded Orchestra Lumos (formerly the Stamford Symphony); and with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. And, following a 22-year tenure as founding Artistic Director of Iris Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee, he now serves the newly reimagined Iris Collective as Artistic Advisor.

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Living composers whose music Stern will conduct this season:

July 2, 2022 National Repertory Orchestra    
Carlos Simon: Amen! (2017)
Arturo Márquez: Danzón No. 2 (1994)

Sep 16-18, 2022 Kansas City Symphony      
James Lee: Amer'ican (2019)

Oct 7-9, 2022 Kansas City Symphony          
Iman Habibi: Jeder Baum Spricht (2019)
Adam Schoenberg: Losing Earth (2019)

Oct 15-16, 2022 Orchestra Lumos                
Ivan Enrique Rodriguez: Luminis (2015)
Jessie Montgomery: Rounds (2022)

Nov 1-4, 2022 Edmonton Orchestra             
Braden: The Raven Conspiracy (World Premiere of the chamber orchestra version / 2013 for String Quartet)

Nov 19-20, 2023 Orchestra Lumos               
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Into the heart of light (2012)

Mar 4-5, 2023 Orchestra Lumos                   
Joseph Schwantner: Chasing Light (2008)
Juan Ramirez: Suite Latina (2016)

Apr 1-2, 2023 Orchestra Lumos                   
Stacey Garrop: Spectacle of Light (2021) 

May 4-6, 2023 Edmonton Orchestra             
Vivian Fung: Prayer (2020)
Jessie Montgomery: Hymn for Everyone (2021)

June 2, 2023 Kansas City Symphony            
Jessie Montgomery: Five Freedom Songs (2017-18)

June 16, 2023 Kansas City Symphony          
Carlos Simon, Amen! (2017)

2022-23 Season Highlights

June 29 – August 16, 2022
National Repertory Orchestra
This is Michael Stern’s second season as Music Director of this summer music festival in Breckenridge, CO which, for over 60 years, has provided an intensive, unique fellowship program for aspiring young musicians, and whose alumni populate every major orchestra across the United States.
July 8: The Voice and the Violin with Joshua Bell and Soprano Larisa Martinez
July 9: Bell, Stern and Bernstein
July 26: Music and the Mountains Free Concert
August 3: Bartok Intrigue and Rachmaninoff Dances
August 6: Mahler’s Titan

July 29, 2022
Stern leads the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in a program of Berlioz, Smetana and Verdi, featuring violinist Joshua Bell and soprano Larisa Martinez.
Event page with full program

Sept 16–18
Kansas City Symphony OPENING NIGHT
James Lee III’s vivacious Amer’ican (2019), a work inspired by paintings emblematic of America, is a 21st-century response to Antonín Dvořák’s call for American composers to embrace Black and Indigenous music. Filled with colorful flourishes and dense textures, Amer’ican offers Lee’s unique perspective on our country’s history and his hope for the future. 
Event page with full program  

October 7-9, 2022
Kansas City Symphony / Stern has been a champion of Adam Schoenberg’s music, and conducts his percussion concerto, Losing Earth (2019), on a program of music inspired by the Earth and concern for the environment. Also on the program is Iman Habibi’s Jeder Baum Spricht (Every Tree Speaks, 2019) and Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony. 
Event page with full program  

Oct 15-16, 2022
Orchestra Lumos (Formerly Stamford Symphony) OPENING NIGHT
Puerto Rican composer Ivan Enrique Rodriguez describes his orchestral fantasy Luminis as “the encirclement of light by darkness.” Completing the program, the outstanding American pianist Awadagin Pratt plays a new dance-inspired work by Jessie Montgomery, Rounds for Piano and String Orchestra.
Event page with full program

November 4-6, 2022
Edmonton Symphony / Stern conducts his first concert with the Edmonton Symphony in the role of Artistic Advisor, with pianist Roman Rabinovich. / World premiere of the chamber orchestra version of Braden’s The Raven Conspiracy, plus music by Grieg, Ravel and Stravinsky
Event page with full program

May 4-6, 2023
Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
Stern conducts thoughtful and reflective pieces by two of today’s celebrated women composers, Vivian Fung’s Prayer and Jessie Montgomery’s Hymn for Everyone, both written since the onset of the pandemic. The program concludes with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the famously powerful “Ode to Joy.”
Event page with full program

June 2-4, 2023
Kansas City Symphony
Stern conducts a KC Symphony co-commission by Jessie Montgomery, Five Freedom Songs, performed by soprano Julia Bullock, on a program with Frederick Delius’ The Walk to the Paradise Garden and Mahler’s fourth symphony.
Event page with full program

June 16-18, 2023
Kansas City Symphony
Stern conducts Carlos Simon’s Amen! (2019) on a program with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Emanuel Ax and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
Event page with full program