A native of Rochester, New York, Ward Stare is one of the most dynamic and engaging conductors of his generation.  Described as “a compelling figure on the podium” and “one of the hottest young conductors in America” by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mr. Stare recently completed his tenure as Resident Conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.  In April 2009, he made his highly successful Carnegie Hall debut with the orchestra, stepping in at the last minute for Music Director David Robertson, who performed the role of chansonnier in H. K. Gruber’s Frankenstein!!.

In August 2007, Mr. Stare made his critically acclaimed debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Center, The Plain Dealer praising his “clear and vibrant performance [and his] keen ear for phrasing, balance and pacing.”  In recent seasons, Stare has appeared with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Bangkok Symphony, the Colorado Music Festival and the DITTO Festival in South Korea, and has also led the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in multiple engagements.

The 2010-11 season included Mr. Stare’s debut with the Norwegian National Opera in a new production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia.  Critics praised Stare, the cast and orchestra for a“finely tuned [and] magical” production that “radiated musical quality.”  Future opera engagements include appearances at Opera Theater of St. Louis and Stare’s debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, followed by a return engagement in Chicago in 2014-15.

Highlights of the 2011-12 season include being named ‘Musician of the Month’ by Musical America in November of 2011 and an invitation to participate in the prestigious Allianz Cultural Foundation’s 2012 International Conductors’ Academy.  Over the course of four months, Mr. Stare worked intensively with both the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia culminating in Stare’s debut with the LPO in Royal Festival Hall in April of 2012.

Recent and upcoming engagements include the Atlanta Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Québec Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Saint Louis Symphony, where Mr. Stare’s continues to strengthen his relationship with the orchestra as a regular guest conductor on the orchestra’s 2012-13 Family, Special Event and Subscription series.

Stare was the recipient of both the Robert J. Harth Conductor Prize (2006) and the Aspen Conducting Prize (2007) at the Aspen Music Festival before spending the 2007-08 season as a League of American Orchestras Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  Stare has studied conducting with David Zinman, János Fürst and Jorma Panula, and worked with Michel Merlet in composition and musical analysis.

Following in the path of many great orchestral conductors whose careers began as instrumentalists, 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 U.S. and Europe.

Last updated September 2012. Contact Opus 3 Artists for the most up-to-date version.