Stephen Rogers Radcliffe
Stephen Rogers Radcliffe continues to fulfill the promise recognized when he made his Lincoln Center conducting debut with Metropolitan Opera sopranos Jan DeGaetani, Susan Graham and Dawn Upshaw. Since then Mr. Radcliffe has conducted orchestras on four continents, produced compact disc recordings of operatic, orchestral, and chamber music works, and has fostered the development of audiences through innovative educational and artistic programs. An Assistant Conductor of the Boston Lyric Opera, Radcliffe was Founder and Music Director of the New York Chamber Ensemble - performing for over a decade at Lincoln Center, Artistic Director of the Cape May Music Festival, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Hungarian Virtuosi, which he led in international touring, television and radio broadcast performances and recording projects. Stephen Rogers Radcliffe served as the Director of Orchestral and Operatic Activities at the University of Massachusetts and Music Director of the Five College Opera Project. Mr. Radcliffe holds a degree in Music Education from the New England Conservatory and has led youth orchestra programs throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. He holds a Masters Degree in conducting from the University of Michigan and has studied at the Aspen and Tanglewood Music Centers as well as at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Sienna. Mr. Radcliffe is currently the Harry and Mildred Remis Endowed Fellow at Brandeis University. His principal teachers include Gustav Meier, Leonard Bernstein and Franco Ferrara.
Stephen Rogers Radcliffe is the Music Director of America’s largest Youth Orchestra training program. An artist, educator and scholar, Maestro Radcliffe was the Harry and Mildred Bemis Endowed Fellow in Musicology at Brandeis University, Director of Orchestra and Opera Programs at the University of Massachusetts, and Assistant Conductor of the Boston Lyric Opera. Maestro Radcliffe has been recognized for his electrifying, musically acute performances, his passionate dedication to the nurturing of young talent and his innovative approach to audience development and artistic enrichment in the musical institutions with which he has served. Mr. Radcliffe is the Founder and Laureate Music Director of the New York Chamber Ensemble, which appeared regularly from 1987 to 1997 at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, as well as on recordings, radio broadcasts and international tours. As Principal Guest Conductor of the Hungarian Virtuosi, Maestro Radcliffe appeared regularly at the Franz Liszt Academy and Pest Vigado in Budapest, as well as on international tours, radio and television broadcasts and recordings.
Stephen Rogers Radcliffe is equally at home in the repertoire of symphony, ballet, opera and musical theater. He has conducted the major operatic works of Puccini and Verdi, and has led "Opera in the Park" performances for thousands of music lovers in New York City. From 1991-94, he annually led over 15 light opera performances as Music Director of the Blue Hill Troupe. His Albany Records CD of operatic works by Gian Carlo Menotti, Douglas Moore and Paul Hindemith has been acclaimed in Gramophone and the American Record Guide.
The roster of internationally acclaimed artists appearing in concert with Maestro Radcliffe is both distinguished and varied. Recent collaborations include performances with pianists Van Cliburn and Andre Watts; Metropolitan Opera stars Frederica von Stade, Dawn Upshaw, Susan Graham and Veronika Kinces, and pops artists the Moody Blues, Blood Sweat and Tears and P.D.Q Bach. Guest conducting has taken Stephen Rogers Radcliffe to leading orchestras throughout the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latin America, Africa and China. He has also been widely heard in annual broadcasts over National Public Radio. An enthusiastic advocate of the composers of our own time, Stephen Rogers Radcliffe has commissioned and premiered numerous works, including major compositions by the distinguished American masters John Corigliano, John Harbison, George Rochberg, Ned Rorem, Aaron J. Kernis and Joan Tower. CDs of 20th Century scores include "The Music of George Rochberg" on the New World label and "American Portraits," featuring chamber orchestra works by Copland, Griffes, Piston and Rorem, on Albany Records. In 1995, Albany also released his eagerly awaited recording of Menotti's classic opera, The Telephone. Mr. Radcliffe's albums, "Serenade" - music of Brahms, Dvorak, Strauss and Suk - and a recording of Brahms's Serenade #1 in D, were released on Roméo Records in 2001. A prize winner of the 1988 Arturo Toscanini International Conductor's Competition, Stephen Rogers Radcliffe was a student of Leonard Bernstein, Franco Ferrara and Gustav Meier. He has conducted at the Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festivals as well as at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy.