Edwin Outwater

Edwin Outwater is the newly appointed Music Director of the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony in Ontario, Canada. He begins his tenure in September 2007.

Edwin Outwater recently concluded his tenure as Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony. While there, he worked closely with Michael Tilson Thomas, accompanied the orchestra on tour and conducted numerous concerts each season. He made his subscription debut in 2002 with Kurt Masur conducting Britten’s War Requiem, and has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Evelyn Glennie, and many others. His programs were consistently innovative and featured the works of composers such as John Adams, Thomas Adès, Chen Yi, Gabriela Lena Frank, HK Gruber, Lou Harrison, Robin Holloway, Nathaniel Stookey, and Tan Dun. During the 2003-2004 season, Mr. Outwater stepped in on two subscription programs for an ailing Michael Tilson Thomas, conducting performances of Stravinsky’s complete Pulcinella, as well as works by Beethoven and Cherubini. In July 2006 Mr. Outwater conducted the world premiere performance and recording of The Composer is Dead, by Nathaniel Stookey and Lemony Snicket for an eventual HarperCollins release. He will return to the San Francisco Symphony in 2006-2007 for additional concerts and recording projects.

From 2001-2005 Mr. Outwater was Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. During his tenure, he led the orchestra in all of their concerts as well as on tour to Europe in the summer of 2004. During the tour, the orchestra made its debut at Vienna’s Musikverein, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and returned to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.

In the 2006-2007 season Mr. Outwater returns to the Chicago Symphony, as well as symphony orchestras of Utah, Louisville, New World,and Portland (ME). He has also conducted the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as the Symphony Orchestras of Baltimore, Houston, Detroit, Seattle, and Indianapolis, among many others.

This season he also makes his debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the New Zealand Symphony, and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Other international appearances include the Adelaide Symphony, and the Orchestre de Bretagne.

Before joining the San Francisco Symphony, Mr. Outwater served as Resident Conductor and Associate Guest Conductor of the Florida Philharmonic. He has also held posts as Associate Conductor of the Festival-Institute at Round Top (a renowned music-training program based in Texas), Principal Conductor of the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival in Molise, Italy, and Assistant Conductor of the Tulsa Philharmonic.

Mr. Outwater’s work in music education and community outreach has been widely acclaimed. In 2004 his education programs were given the Leonard Bernstein award for excellence in educational programming, and his Chinese New Year Program was given the MET LIFE award for community outreach. At the San Francisco Symphony, he conducted Family Concerts, Adventures in Music performances, which are heard by more than 25,000 students from San Francisco schools each year, and Concerts for Kids, which serve students from throughout Northern California. In Florida, Mr. Outwater designed the Florida Philharmonic Family Series and its Music for Youth program, which was heard annually by more than 40,000 fifth-grade students in South Florida. He appears frequently with training orchestras and music festivals throughout the United States and across the world, including the National Youth Orcehstra of New Zealand, the Music Academy of the West, the National Orchestral Institute, the Festival-Institute at Round Top, and the Mannes Conservatory Orchestra. Mr. Outwater has served as music director of the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony, and has been on the faculties of the University of Tulsa, the Idyllwild Arts Academy, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

A native of Santa Monica, California, Edwin Outwater attended Harvard University, graduating cum laude in 1993 with a degree in English literature. While at Harvard, he was music director of the Bach Society Orchestra, the Harvard Din and Tonics (an acclaimed a cappella group), and wrote the music for the 145th annual production of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. He received his master’s degree in conducting from UC Santa Barbara, where he studied with Heiichiro Ohyama, and Paul Polivinick. He also studied music theory and composition with John Stewart, Joel Feigin, and Leonard Stein.