Festival Director & Musicians

Music Director & Conductor

Gerardo Edelstein

A native of Argentina, Gerardo Edelstein has conducted symphony orchestras, choirs, and ballet and opera productions in Europe, Asia, South America, and the United States. Critics and audiences have hailed his performances as sensitive, charismatic, and energetic. Edelstein is currently director of orchestral studies, music director of the Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras, and artistic director of the Penn’s Woods Music Festival at Penn State. In addition, he is music director/conductor of the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra, and Pennsylvania Center Orchestra.

In Israel he was principal conductor of the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir and Orchestra, with whom he appeared on radio and television and toured throughout the country. In the United States, Edelstein served as associate conductor and music advisor for the Richmond Symphony in Virginia.

Edelstein has guest conducted the Israel Sinfonietta, Israel Kibbutz Orchestra, Jerusalem Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, Kharkov Philharmonic in Ukraine, Tucuman Symphony Orchestra and Choir, Symphony Orchestra of the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Argentina, Houston Chamber Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony, and San Antonio Symphony in the United States, and at festivals in Dublin, Ireland, and Bordeaux, France. Most recently he collaborated with cellist Kim Cook, recording a CD with the Saint Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra in Russia.

With the Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra, he toured Spain and performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh, and at Alice Tully Hall in New York with the Penn State Chamber Orchestra. For the fiftieth anniversary of the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture, Edelstein conducted a full production of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, receiving rave reviews.
Committed to the education of young musicians, Edelstein was conductor of the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio and served as clinician and guest conductor for many orchestra festivals in Virginia, Michigan, Texas, Vermont, New York, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. He has collaborated in side-by-side concerts with the San Antonio Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony. Edelstein has given masterclasses and conducting workshops in the United States, as well as at the Catholic University in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bordeaux, France; Istanbul, Turkey; and Jerusalem, Israel.

Edelstein received degrees from the National Conservatory of Music in Buenos Aires; the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music, where he won the Leonard Bernstein Conducting Scholarship awarded by the American/Israel Cultural Foundation; and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

2024 Festival Musicians coming soon! 

2023 Festival Musicians

Violin

• James Lyon*+, Concertmaster, State College, PA
  
• Allison Smith*, Tyler, TX
  Ellie Lewis Chair
• Mark Minnich, State College, PA
• Joanne Feldman, State College, PA
• Gregory Glessner, Boalsburg, PA
• Sally Minnich, State College, PA
• May Zia, Harisburg, PA
• Trevor Thompson, Reynoldsburg, OH
• Ian Duh, State College, PA
• Sarah Hamm, Williamsport, PA
• Vinicius Vieira, São Paulo, Brazil
• Emily Long, Boalsburg, PA
• John Brauer, State College, PA
• Spenser Stover, Southampton, PA

Viola

• Melinda Daestch*, Ithaca, NY Pieter and Lida Ouwehand Chair
• John Roxburgh, Dunedin, New Zealand
• Taylor Shea, Billings MT
• Andrea Alvarado, Mexico City, Mexico

Cello

• Stephen Feldman*, Conway, AK
  Howard and Judith Bond Chair
• Carol Lyon, State College, PA
• Jonathan Dexter+, State College, PA
• Hudson Webber, Rockford, IL
• Ruth Stokes

Bass

• • Joshua Davis*, State College, PA
    David Frego and James Bliek Chair
  • Patricia Weitzel*, State College, PA

David Frego and James Bliek Chair

• Kevin Huhn, West Hartford, CT

Flute

• Naomi Seidman*+, State College, PA
  Dan and Eleanor D. Armstrong Chair
• Laura Zabanal*, Arlington, VA
  Dan and Eleanor D. Armstrong Chair
• Cathy Herrera, State College, PA

Oboe

• Andreas Oeste*+, State College, PA
• Robyn Dixon Costa+, State College, PA

Clarinet

• Anthony Costa*+, State College, PA
  Keith Karako and Janelle Bessette Chair
• Sam Schreiber

Bassoon

• Margaret Fay*+, State College, PA
• Joey Smith,

Horn

• Sarah Schouten*+, State College, PA
• Lisa Bontrager, State College, PA
• Samantha Duhe Jones, Stanley, MD

Trumpet

• Langston J. Fitzgerald III*+, State College, PA
  Gordon and Carol De Jong Chair
• Jesse Hamilton

Percussion

• Kyle Haust, State College, PA
• Kyle Scully, State College, PA

Piano/Harpsichord

• Bryan Jones, Warrenton, VA

HARP

• Ruth Hunter*, McAllistervile, PA

*Principal
+School of Music faculty