A truly visionary conductor, curator and producer, Edwin Outwater regularly works with the world’s top orchestras, institutions, and artists to reinvent the concert experience. His effortless ability to cross genres has led to collaborations with a wide range of artists, from Metallica to Wynton Marsalis, Renée Fleming, and Yo-Yo Ma. Mr. Outwater is music director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, overseeing its ensembles, as well as shaping the artistic initiatives of the institution as a whole. He is also music director laureate of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, which he led from 2007 to 2017. His recent appearances include with the New York, Royal, Brussels, and Nagoya philharmonics; the Cleveland Orchestra; and the San Francisco, Chicago, San Diego, Seattle, New World, Tokyo, Kyoto, New Zealand, Adelaide, and Toronto symphonies. He made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2019. As a producer and musical advisor for the National Symphony’s 50th Anniversary Concert at the Kennedy Center, he collaborated with artists including Audra McDonald, Christian McBride, and Common.
Since 2021 Mr. Outwater has been the main conductor for Stewart Copeland’s Police Deranged for Orchestra concerts. In October 2022 he premiered his newest production, Symphony of Terror, with the Vancouver Symphony and co-host and collaborator Peaches Christ and in December 2022 he premiered A Christmas Gaiety at the Royal Albert Hall with Peaches Christ and the BBC Concert Orchestra, featuring prominent guest stars from the world of drag, pop, and musical theater.
A native of Santa Monica, California, Mr. Outwater graduated cum laude in English literature from Harvard University, where he was music director of the Bach Society Orchestra and the a cappella group Harvard Din and Tonics; he also wrote the music for the 145th annual production of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. He received his conducting degree from UC Santa Barbara, where he also studied music theory and composition.