Described as “a compelling figure on the podium” and “one of the hottest young conductors in America” by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Ward Stare is in his last season as Resident Conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra – a position that Music Director David Robertson created expressly for him in 2008 – and serves concurrently as Music Director of the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra.  In April 2009 Stare made an unexpected and highly successful Carnegie Hall debut with the SLSO, stepping in at the last minute when Mr. Robertson was forced to replace a delayed chansonnier—the composer H.K. Gruber—in the latter’s work Frakenstein!!. The following year he led the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra in its New York City debut at Riverside Church.  The New York Times praised the orchestra for their “terrific concert,” noting that “Mr. Stare inspired the musicians to impressive heights”.

In August 2007 Mr. Stare appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra for the first time, at the Blossom Festival.  The Plain Dealer lauded Stare’s performance as “clear and vibrant, with a keen ear for phrasing, balance and pacing.”  He has also conducted the Memphis Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra - both in Russia and on tour in North America.  In 2009 Mr. Stare made his official German debut with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and a critically acclaimed subscription debut with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

The 2010-11 season included a re-engagement with the DSO Berlin and his widely praised European operatic debut at the Norwegian Opera in Oslo, conducting performances of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia.  Recent and upcoming engagements also include concerts with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, appearances at the DITTO Festival in Seoul (South Korea) and the Colorado Music Festival, and subscription concerts with the Madison Symphony and soloist Lynn Harrell as well as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra with soprano Christine Brewer.  In 2012-13 Mr. Stare’s makes his debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he returns the following season to conduct a second production. As one of just three conductors chosen to participate in the prestigious Allianz Cultural Foundation’s 2012 International Conductors’ Academy, Mr. Stare works intensively with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducting the latter in a shared program at Royal Festival Hall in April 2012.

Mr. Stare spent the 2007-08 season as a League of American Orchestras Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and conducted concerts on the orchestra’s Toyota Symphonies for Youth Series.  In the fall of 2008, Mr. Stare served as assistant conductor to Sir Andrew Davis at the Lyric Opera of Chicago for their new production of Alban Berg’s Lulu.

Mr. Stare received the Robert J. Harth Conductor Prize (2006) and the Aspen Conducting Prize (2007) at the Aspen Music Festival and returned in the summer of 2008 as Assistant Conductor to the Festival and its Music Director, David Zinman.  In addition to his studies with Mr. Zinman, he has worked with Janos Furst and Jorma Panula and studied composition and musical analysis with Michel Merlet.

Following in the path of many great orchestral conductors whose careers began as instrumentalists, Mr. Stare was trained as a trombonist at the Juilliard School in Manhattan.  At the age of 18, he was appointed principal trombonist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and has performed as an orchestral musician with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, among others.  As a soloist, he has concertized in both the US and Europe.

Last updated October 2011. Contact Opus 3 Artists for the most up-to-date version.