Described as “a compelling figure on the podium” and “one of the hottest young conductors in America” by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Ward Stare is currently the Resident Conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony—a position created for him in the fall of 2008 by Music Director David Robertson. In April 2009, Stare made his highly successful Carnegie Hall debut with the orchestra, stepping in at the last minute to conduct while Robertson made his debut as chansonnier in H.K. Gruber’s Frankenstein!!.

In addition to his duties with the St. Louis Symphony, Stare is the Music Director of the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and, in June 2010, led the group in its New York City debut at the historic Riverside Church. The New York Times praised the orchestra for their “terrific concert,” noting that “Mr. Stare inspired the musicians to impressive heights.”

In August 2007, Stare made his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at the famed Blossom Music Center. Stare’s performance was lauded by the Plain Dealer as “clear and vibrant, with a keen ear for phrasing, balance and pacing.” Highlights of recent seasons include appearances with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Symphony, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, DITTO festival (Seoul, South Korea) as well as a special performance with the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra as part of the Orchestra's "Great Artists of the World" series celebrating the 80th birthday of the King of Thailand. In 2009, Stare made his debut with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, as second conductor in Ives’ Symphony No. 4, as well as his critically acclaimed subscription debut with the Saint Louis Symphony.

The winter of the 2010-11 season included Stare’s return to the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin as guest conductor, as well as his European operatic debut at the Norwegian Opera in Oslo, in a new production of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. Critics had high praise for Stare, the orchestra, and the cast of Lucretia - noting that the production was “finely tuned”, “magical” and “radiated musical quality.”

Upcoming engagements include performances w ith the Toronto Symphony, the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, and Stare’s debut as guest conductor with the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Stare spent the 2007-08 season as a League of American Orchestras Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and conducted concerts on the orchestra’s Toyota Symphonies for Youth Series. In the fall of 2008, Stare served as assistant conductor to Sir Andrew Davis at the Lyric Opera of Chicago for their new production of Alban Berg’s Lulu.

Mr. Stare was the recipient of both the Robert J. Harth Conductor Prize (2006) and the Aspen Conducting Prize (2007) at the Aspen Music Festival and returned in the summer of 2008 as Assistant Conductor to the Festival and its Music Director, David Zinman. In addition to his studies with Zinman, he has worked with János Fürst and Jorma Panula as well as working with Michel Merlet in composition and musical analysis.

Following in the path of many great orchestral conductors whose careers began as instrumentalists, Stare was trained as a trombonist at the Juilliard School in Manhattan. At the age of 18, he was appointed principal trombonist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and has performed as an orchestral musician with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, among others. As a soloist, he has concertized in both the U.S. and Europe.

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