ADAM STERN, Music Director of the Seattle Philharmonic, was born in Hollywood in 1955. He began his musical studies at age 5 as a piano student, and began flute lessons two years later. At 15 Stern was accepted at California Institute of the Arts, where he initially majored in flute performance. In his second year, he changed his major to conducting at the urging of his teacher, the late noted conductor and educator Gerhard Samuel. Stern was graduated in 1977 with an MFA in conducting at 21, the youngest Masters degree recipient in CalArts history.

Stern has been active primarily as a conductor, and also as a composer and pianist. He was the Associate Conductor of the Seattle Symphony from 1996 to 2001 (after having served as Assistant Conductor from 1992-96), and conducted concerts in all of the orchestra's major series. Highlights of his programming include the Seattle Symphony premieres of Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 3 ("Pastoral") and Elgar's Symphony No. 2.

In addition to conducting numerous classical concerts, Stern also made several ventures into the "pops" field, collaborating with suchartists as James Taylor, Judy Collins, Art Garfunkel, Doc Severinsen and Frank Sinatra, Jr. Stern was also the Music Director of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra from 1994-2000, and is credited with greatly expanding the orchestra's repertoire, increasing audience support, and generally improving the orchestra's sound and flexibility.

A great believer in music education, Stern produced and conducted many children's and outreach concerts with both the Seattle Symphony and the Northwest Chamber Concert. His love of educating currently has two joyous outlets: as Director of Instrumental Music at the Lakeside Upper School in Seattle and, since 1993, as conductor of the orchestra at the Seattle Center Academy.

Stern has been a guest conductor throughout the United States. He has led concerts with the Milwaukee Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Boulder (Colorado) Philharmonic, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble at Michigan State University, the Sacramento Symphony, and Chamber Music Northwest in Portland. His New York orchestral conducting debut took place in 1998, in an acclaimed all-Baroque concert with the New York Chamber Symphony at Alice Tully Hall. In 2002, Stern conducted two major works for the stage: "The Most Happy Fella" at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre, and "The Marriage of Figaro" with the Rainier Lyric Opera.
A busy pianist, Stern has been featured as a piano soloist and chamber musician with the Seattle Symphony and the Northwest Chamber Orchestra. One of his most famous performances was in January 1998, when he filled in on several hours' notice for an indisposed soloist. Stern performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Seattle Symphony and guest-conductor Yoel Levi, resulting in standing ovations at both performances. Stern has also been heard in concertos by Bach (#3 and #6) and Mozart (#13 and #19, and the Two-Piano Concerto).

As a composer, Stern has had particular success writing for the stage. He has composed incidental music for productions of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "King Lear," "The Winter's Tale," "Waiting for the Parade" and "Sweet Eros." His score for "Richard III" earned him a Los Angeles Dramalogue Award for Best Original Score. Locally, Stern has composed four works for Seattle's A Contemporary Theatre: "The Red and the Black", "Alki", "The Pillowman" and "A Christmas Carol," the latter score used every year since its 1996 premiere. Stern's most recent work for the concert hall is Fanfare Pastorale, written for the SPO's brass and percussion sections.

Stern has enjoyed a widely varied career. In addition to his duties with the SPO, Stern is the Music Director and Conductor of the Port Angeles Symphony, a post that he assumed in 2005. For two years he was a music copyist for Frank Zappa ("one of the nicest persons for whom I've ever worked"); he appeared in the Richard Dreyfuss film "The Competition" as sour-faced pianist Mark Landau; and he had a successful "side-career" as a producer of classical recordings. He is most proud of the extensive series of recordings he made with Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony. In 1990 Stern won a Grammy Award as "Classical Producer of the Year," principally due to his work on the Schwarz/Seattle recordings.

Stern resides in Seattle with his lovely wife Kathleen, a member of the Seattle Symphony violin section. He is the proud father of two beautiful children, Ella and Oscar, and the step-father of Michael and Margaret Davis.