Adam Stern

Adam Oscar Stern (born 1955) is an American conductor. Born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States, Stern was trained at the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. He received his MFA in conducting in 1977 at the age of twenty-one, the youngest music student in CalArts' history to receive a master's degree.

Conductor Following years as a freelance conductor, composer and pianist, Stern served as assistant conductor (1992–1996) and associate conductor (1996–2001) of the Seattle Symphony, as well as music director of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra (1993–2000). Stern has guest-conducted throughout the United States, including engagements with the Milwaukee Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Boulder Philharmonic, Symphonic Wind Ensemble at Michigan State University, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, the New York Chamber Symphony, Philharmonia Northwest and the Sacramento Symphony. From 2001 to 2005, Stern was the music director and conductor of the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Other roles Stern has performed as a pianist in concertos by Bach, Mozart, Haydn and Gershwin, and in chamber music performances of repertoire from the Baroque era to the present day.

In 1980, Stern appeared in the Richard Dreyfuss film The Competition. In 2006, he was The Narrator in staged performances of Igor Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat at the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, and in 2015, he returned to Orcas Island as The Reciter in performances of William Walton's Façade conducted by James Paul.

From 2009 through 2015 he was on the faculty at Cornish College of the Arts, where he taught composition, conducting, orchestral repertoire studies and history of film music.

He has conducted the background scores to numerous films, including Runaway Jury, Heist, Thirteen Ghosts, Ghost Rider, Bee Season, Millions, Clifford's Really Big Movie, The Gift and Just Visiting.

Stern was a music copyist for composers Frank Zappa, David Diamond, Gerhard Samuel and Leonard Rosenman.

A lifelong Democrat, Stern has resided in Seattle since 1992.