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, ranging from Metallica to Wynton Marsalis, Renée Fleming, and Yo-Yo Ma. He is, in the words of his mentor Michael Tilson Thomas, “one of the most innovative conductors on the scene today.”
Outwater is Music Director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, overseeing their ensembles as well as shaping the artistic initiatives of this dynamic institution as a whole. From 2024, he holds the position of Principal Guest Conductor and Curator of the BBC Concert Orchestra, performing multiple concerts with the ensemble for the coming three seasons. He is also Music Director Laureate of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony which he led from 2007–2017, bringing the orchestra to international acclaim with tours and collaborative projects and a critically praised recording, From Here On Out.
Recent appearances include performances with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and New World Symphony, as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a multi-concert series opening the Steinmetz Hall in Florida. As a producer and musical advisor for the National Symphony Orchestra’s 50th Anniversary Concert at the Kennedy Center, he collaborated with a cast of artists including Audra MacDonald, Christian McBride, and Common.
Last season, Outwater returned to the BBC Proms with the BBC Concert Orchestra in their highly acclaimed Northern Soul concert. He made his Proms debut in 2022 alongside Cynthia Erivo. Other international appearances include the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, Kyoto Symphony, Nagoya Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Brussels Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, Malmö Symphony, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Mexico City Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica de Xalapa, and Hong Kong Sinfonietta. In Canada, he has led the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the symphonies of Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, and Winnipeg.
Since the 2021 season, Outwater has been the main conductor for Stewart Copeland’s Police Deranged for Orchestra concerts, conducting orchestras such as San Diego Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Utah Symphony Orchestra. He is also the primary conductor for Coltrane: Legacy for Orchestra, which premiered with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in May 2024 and has future planned performances with the BBC Concert Orchestra at London Jazz Festival and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Outwater holds a long association with the San Francisco Symphony, with recent seasons including subscription appearances with the orchestra, and performances with Sting, Seth McFarlane, and Ben Folds. Previously, Outwater was San Francisco Symphony Resident Conductor, Director of Summer Concerts and Music Director of San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Outwater has recently featured in several successful recordings. February 2024 saw the release of Lara Downes’ Rhapsody in Blue Reimagined (Gershwin/Colón) with the SFCM Orchestra, as well as The Residents’: Secret Show recording live from San Francisco. Outwater also conducted and co-produced the recordings of Stewart Copeland’s Police Deranged for Orchestra and Police Beyond Borders, both released in 2023. He conducted the Chicago Symphony in the Grammy-winning Sony Classical release of Mason Bates’s Philharmonia Fantastique, and was also Associate Conductor for the Sony Classical release A Gathering of Friends, with John Williams, Yo-Yo Ma, and New York Philharmonic. He features prominently in Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett’s solo debut EP, Portals, as co-songwriter, arranger, orchestrator, and keyboardist.
A native of Santa Monica, California, 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 wrote the music for the 145th annual production of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. He received his degree in conducting from UC Santa Barbara, where he studied with Heiichiro Ohyama and Paul Polivnick, beside studying music theory and composition with John Stewart, Joel Feigin, and Leonard Stein.