Winner of the prestigious Brian Stacey Memorial Trust Award for Emerging Australian Conductors and the Special Orchestra Prize in the Makris International Conducting Competition in Serbia, and finalist in the Sir Georg Solti Chicago Symphony Orchestra Conducting Competition, Russell Ger is one of the foremost Australian conductors of his generation.

Since 2016, Mr. Ger has been Music Director of the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra in New York, where he conducts six subscription series in addition to sold-out Holiday and Summer Pops concerts. Mr. Ger has transformed the ensemble into a dynamic and vital part of life in the Hudson Valley. Under his leadership, the repertoire has significantly expanded to include living/female/Asian/Latin American & African American composers. The orchestra consistently delivers performances of great artistry for near-capacity audiences.

From 2012-14, Mr. Ger toured North America with revered violinist Itzhak Perlman, promoting a recording of Jewish art-music made for Sony Records. Performances took place at the Hollywood Bowl with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic before an audience of 10,000, and at the Barclays Center arena in New York for an audience of 6,000. The tour also drew capacity houses at the Boca Raton Arts Festival, Boston Celebrity Series at Symphony Hall, Ravinia Festival in Chicago, Long Island, and Toronto. A PBS Special aired in 2014. 

Mr. Ger was invited on scholarship to pursue his Masters of Music in Orchestral Conducting at The Boston Conservatory. He graduated top of his class in 2010. As a proud alumnus of Symphony Australia, the leading conductor-training program in the country, Mr. Ger had the opportunity to work with Australia’s best orchestras. Weeklong residencies were maintained several times a year over four consecutive years with the Adelaide, Melbourne, Queensland, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras.

Music education is one of Mr. Ger’s most ardent commitments, both of young people and of those not yet convinced of the power of orchestral music. He is an outspoken champion of music, giving dozens of multi-media lectures every year to a diverse array of groups from school students to aged care facilities. In addition, Mr. Ger actively nurtured the next generation of musicians through his work with the Norwalk Youth Symphony in Connecticut, which saw hundreds of students perform under his baton over the course of almost a decade.

Mr. Ger is married to Kirsten Hicks, a wonderful Australian woman. Together they reside with their two children in Los Angeles.

VIOLIN I

Adrienne Harmon,
Concertmaster
Michael Champagne Kathleen Feldmen
Mary Ellen Holden
Diane Lang
Cynthia Leher
Allison McCann
Chelsea Needham
Cassity Warnecke
Elise White-Bellorofonte

VIOLIN II

Stephen Minor*

Aaron Bernstein Kristina Rizzo

Rhoda Tillack

Linda M. Kleinhenz Teresa TyceJanine Bergamini Donna Gray Kushner Catherine Lang

Diana Marz

VIOLA

Nancy Wegrzyn*

Nicole Peragine

Pete Kargul

Michelle Metty

Anastasia Solberg

Kaitlyn Wechsler

Josephine Rose

Travis Carpenter

Alex McLaughlin

Lauren Byrne

Natalia Murphy

Mary Bish

Nina Dryer

Brittany Robinson-Chen

CELLO

Naomi Lisowski*

Peter Giorgio**

Kevin Benedetto
Erik Bjorkman
John Bjorkman
Malcolm Callagy
Brandon Codrington
Tamara Moser
Janet Muscat
Shawn Thoma
Jean Vilkelis

BASS

Analise Reed*
Buddy Griffith
Bruce Jackson
Rick McCurdy
Richard Simmons

HARP

Currently Vacant

Flute

Kirsten Economy*

Lynn Cunningham

Piccolo 

Laura Giorgio

Oboe

Joel Evans*
Ann Churukian

English Horn

Guy Johanson

Clarinet

William Stevens*
Katlyn Chester

Abbey Young

Bassoon

Melissa Brown*
Elisabeth J. Romano

ContraBassoon

W. John Knight

Horn

Ryan Walther*
Megan Burke Decker
Tim Takagi
Lucas Workman

Trumpet

Gillian Huff*
Stephen Austin
Sharon Slote

Trombone

Nate Rensink*
Daniel Chester
Samuel Shackleton

Tuba

Larry Zaiden

Timpani

John Wagner

Percussion

Andrew Csisack*

Paul Chambers
Nathan Brewster
Brent Norton