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Margery Deutsch
Music Director Laureate | Guest Conductor

In great demand as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, Margery Deutsch has over forty years of experience on the podium. She has worked with professional, community, youth, and high school orchestras and has traveled the world, performing in more than a dozen countries on four continents.

Deutsch was honored as Professor Emeritus in 2012 after a distinguished career as Director of Orchestras and Professor of Conducting at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she served from 1984 to 2012. Under her leadership, the university orchestra achieved notable milestones, including a performance at Carnegie Hall during the 2012 New York International Music Festival. Her ensemble also performed at the Chicago Symphony Center, the Wisconsin Music Educators Association State Conference, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers, with additional concerts throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois.

Dedicated to working with musicians of all ages and backgrounds, Deutsch served as the Music Director of UWM’s University Community Orchestra from 2006 - 2024. Under her direction, the ensemble had over 125 musicians ranging in age from 12 to 98. The diverse group included college, high school, and middle school students, as well as community members. UCO performed three concerts a year and played a combination of classical, light classical and pops repertoire.
 
In 2024, she established the Milwaukee Community Orchestra (MCO) to continue her commitment to community music-making. MCO gives community members the opportunity to continue playing their instrument in a group setting.
 
Deutsch recently completed her tenure as Music Director of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Senior Symphony, a position she held since 1987. In 2021 she was named MYSO’s Music Director Laureate, becoming the first recipient of this title. MYSO, the largest youth orchestra program in the United States, is recognized as one of the premier youth orchestras in the country. Under her direction, the Senior Symphony toured Ireland, South America, Austria, Hungary, Czechia, China, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Canada, the Pacific Northwest and Scotland, where the orchestra performed as part of the Festival of British Youth Orchestras and the Edinburgh Festival. MYSO was chosen to perform on the Gala Winners’ Concert as part of the 2012 Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival.

Deutsch has conducted MYSO in performances in prestigious venues such as Dublin’s National Concert Hall, Ulster Hall in Belfast, the Musikverein’s Golden Hall in Vienna, Bela Bartok National Concert Hall, Dvorak Hall in the Czech Republic’s Rudolfinum, and the Great Hall of Vienna’s Konzerthaus. In addition, they have performed in Carnegie Hall, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and at the Wisconsin Music Educators Conference (North Central Division) and the Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic. Additionally, Deutsch and the MYSO Senior Symphony were selected by famed bassist and author Barry Green (The Inner Game of Music) to serve as the demonstration orchestra for his series of ensemble workbooks and the accompanying video.
 
An advocate for new music, she has championed the works of many composers including Stella Sung, Gabriela Lena Frank, James Woodward, Kirt Mosier, Crawford Gates, Chen Yi, John Downey, Fischer Tull, Tomas Svoboda, and Andrzes Panufnik.
 
Prior to coming to Milwaukee, Deutsch served as Music Director of the Shreveport (LA) Symphony where she conducted classical, chamber orchestra, pops and children’s concerts, as well as operas. Versed in both orchestral and choral repertoire, she was Music Director of the Long Island Singers Society and, in Milwaukee, has guest conducted the Master Singers, Bel Canto Chorus, Milwaukee Choristers, Lawrence University Choir, Milwaukee Children’s Choir and the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus.
 
A frequent guest conductor for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s Youth, Children’s, and Family concert series, Deutsch has worked with the Sheboygan Symphony, Aurora University’s Music by the Lake Opera Theater, Women’s Philharmonic (CA), Plymouth (MI) Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Charleston (SC) Symphony, Nebraska Sinfonia, Monroe (LA) Symphony, and the South Dakota Symphony.
 
Deutsch is actively involved with high school-age musicians throughout the country as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator. In 2017, she conducted the National Association for Music Education’s All-National Honor Orchestra in Orlando, Florida. In addition, she has led the all-state orchestras of New York, Massachusetts, Kansas, Missouri, Washington, Minnesota, Montana, Delaware and Maine, as well as numerous district and regional all-state festivals throughout the country. She served four terms on the Board of Directors of the League of American Orchestra’s Youth Orchestra Division, which helps establish national policies for youth orchestras.  
 
Deutsch’s numerous accolades include the 2001 Milwaukee Civic Music Association Award for Excellence in Contributions to Music and the 1990 UWM Undergraduate Teaching Award. She has been awarded conducting fellowships and scholarships from the Aspen Music Festival, the Academia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and the Nebraska-based “Festival of a Thousand Oaks.” She was also invited to participate in the conducting seminar at Tanglewood where she took master classes with Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa and Colin Davis. Her other teachers include Thomas Briccetti, Franco Ferrarra, Bruno Bartoletti, Piero Bellugi, Sergiu Comissiona and Dennis Russell Davies; she has also studied flute with Samuel Baron and voice with Jan DeGaetani. A native New Yorker and Regents Scholar, she holds a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting, a Master of Arts degree in Musicology, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Flute and Vocal Performance.

Margery Deutsch
Music Director Laureate | Guest Conductor

In great demand as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, Margery Deutsch has over forty years of experience on the podium. She has worked with professional, community, youth, and high school orchestras and has traveled the world, performing in more than a dozen countries on four continents.

Deutsch was honored as Professor Emeritus in 2012 after a distinguished career as Director of Orchestras and Professor of Conducting at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she served from 1984 to 2012. Under her leadership, the university orchestra achieved notable milestones, including a performance at Carnegie Hall during the 2012 New York International Music Festival. Her ensemble also performed at the Chicago Symphony Center, the Wisconsin Music Educators Association State Conference, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers, with additional concerts throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois.

Dedicated to working with musicians of all ages and backgrounds, Deutsch served as the Music Director of UWM’s University Community Orchestra from 2006 - 2024. Under her direction, the ensemble had over 125 musicians ranging in age from 12 to 98. The diverse group included college, high school, and middle school students, as well as community members. UCO performed three concerts a year and played a combination of classical, light classical and pops repertoire.
 
In 2024, she established the Milwaukee Community Orchestra (MCO) to continue her commitment to community music-making. MCO gives community members the opportunity to continue playing their instrument in a group setting.
 
Deutsch recently completed her tenure as Music Director of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Senior Symphony, a position she held since 1987. In 2021 she was named MYSO’s Music Director Laureate, becoming the first recipient of this title. MYSO, the largest youth orchestra program in the United States, is recognized as one of the premier youth orchestras in the country. Under her direction, the Senior Symphony toured Ireland, South America, Austria, Hungary, Czechia, China, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Canada, the Pacific Northwest and Scotland, where the orchestra performed as part of the Festival of British Youth Orchestras and the Edinburgh Festival. MYSO was chosen to perform on the Gala Winners’ Concert as part of the 2012 Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival.

Deutsch has conducted MYSO in performances in prestigious venues such as Dublin’s National Concert Hall, Ulster Hall in Belfast, the Musikverein’s Golden Hall in Vienna, Bela Bartok National Concert Hall, Dvorak Hall in the Czech Republic’s Rudolfinum, and the Great Hall of Vienna’s Konzerthaus. In addition, they have performed in Carnegie Hall, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and at the Wisconsin Music Educators Conference (North Central Division) and the Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic. Additionally, Deutsch and the MYSO Senior Symphony were selected by famed bassist and author Barry Green (The Inner Game of Music) to serve as the demonstration orchestra for his series of ensemble workbooks and the accompanying video.
 
An advocate for new music, she has championed the works of many composers including Stella Sung, Gabriela Lena Frank, James Woodward, Kirt Mosier, Crawford Gates, Chen Yi, John Downey, Fischer Tull, Tomas Svoboda, and Andrzes Panufnik.
 
Prior to coming to Milwaukee, Deutsch served as Music Director of the Shreveport (LA) Symphony where she conducted classical, chamber orchestra, pops and children’s concerts, as well as operas. Versed in both orchestral and choral repertoire, she was Music Director of the Long Island Singers Society and, in Milwaukee, has guest conducted the Master Singers, Bel Canto Chorus, Milwaukee Choristers, Lawrence University Choir, Milwaukee Children’s Choir and the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus.
 
A frequent guest conductor for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s Youth, Children’s, and Family concert series, Deutsch has worked with the Sheboygan Symphony, Aurora University’s Music by the Lake Opera Theater, Women’s Philharmonic (CA), Plymouth (MI) Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Charleston (SC) Symphony, Nebraska Sinfonia, Monroe (LA) Symphony, and the South Dakota Symphony.
 
Deutsch is actively involved with high school-age musicians throughout the country as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator. In 2017, she conducted the National Association for Music Education’s All-National Honor Orchestra in Orlando, Florida. In addition, she has led the all-state orchestras of New York, Massachusetts, Kansas, Missouri, Washington, Minnesota, Montana, Delaware and Maine, as well as numerous district and regional all-state festivals throughout the country. She served four terms on the Board of Directors of the League of American Orchestra’s Youth Orchestra Division, which helps establish national policies for youth orchestras.  
 
Deutsch’s numerous accolades include the 2001 Milwaukee Civic Music Association Award for Excellence in Contributions to Music and the 1990 UWM Undergraduate Teaching Award. She has been awarded conducting fellowships and scholarships from the Aspen Music Festival, the Academia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and the Nebraska-based “Festival of a Thousand Oaks.” She was also invited to participate in the conducting seminar at Tanglewood where she took master classes with Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa and Colin Davis. Her other teachers include Thomas Briccetti, Franco Ferrarra, Bruno Bartoletti, Piero Bellugi, Sergiu Comissiona and Dennis Russell Davies; she has also studied flute with Samuel Baron and voice with Jan DeGaetani. A native New Yorker and Regents Scholar, she holds a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting, a Master of Arts degree in Musicology, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Flute and Vocal Performance.