George Edward Stelluto
LVMF Music Director
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Las Vegas Music Festival Music Director George Stelluto is quickly becoming known for his engaging, insightful, and energetic performances. His innate artistry and dramatic intensity on the podium bring increasing demand for his services in repertoire ranging from the Baroque to present day. His 2004-2005 guest conducting engagements include debut appearances in Ukraine with the Kiev Chamber Orchestra and in New York for concerts at The Juilliard School and at Symphony Space with the International Contemporary Ensemble. In addition to his guest conducting appearances, 2005 marks his sixth year as Music Director of the Las Vegas Music Festival, his seventh as Music Director of the UNLV Symphony Orchestra and the UNLV Opera Theater, and his second as Artistic Advisor to the Chernihiv Winter Festival in Ukraine. In March 2005, he conducted three performances of Mozart's Don Giovanni with the UNLV Opera Theater. In 2004 he became the first conductor ever invited to join The Juilliard School's prestigious Artist Diploma Program. As part of his responsibilities in the program, he serves as assistant to James DePreist and often leads rehearsals of the school's two main orchestras. He was recently engaged as cover conductor for the Juilliard Orchestra's 2005 100th Anniversary Tour to Switzerland, Germany, Finland, and England. Recent past engagements include guest appearances with the Ukrainian National Orchestra, Transylvania State Philharmonic (Romania), Kiev Philharmonic, Wieniawski String Orchestra of Poland, and the Nevada Symphony Orchestra among others. In 2000, he made his international debut at the Kiev International Music Festival giving the Ukrainian premiere of Samuel Barber's Second Essay for Orchestra . He gave the Ukrainian premiere of William Schuman's Symphony #5 with the Kiev Chamber Orchestra in March 2005. His performances, interviews, and recordings have been broadcast on radio and television throughout the United States and Eastern Europe.
Since arriving in Las Vegas in 1998, George Stelluto has brought both the Las Vegas Music Festival and the UNLV Symphony Orchestra to new artistic heights. Musicians from the world's major conservatories and orchestras participate and top soloists are featured regularly at the festival. The UNLV Symphony performs numerous concerts each season in programs ranging from standard repertoire to new music, opera, jazz, and popular music. Guest soloists with both these orchestras include violinists Hilary Hahn, Charles Castleman, Caitlin Tully, and Frank Huang, bassist Edgar Meyer, vocalists Samuel Ramey and Jane Dutton, pianists James Giles, Jerome Lowenthal, and Mykola Suk, and Jazz/Popular artists Marvin Hamlisch and Marvin Stamm. Maestro Stelluto has premiered the works of composers Virko Baley, Kati Agocs, Huang Ruo, Fisher Tull, Carolyn Yarnell, Elena Roussanova, Samuel Barber (First & Second Essays - Ukrainian Premieres) and William Schuman (Symphony #5 - Ukrainian Premiere).
Extending his musical knowledge to the business world, he has published several articles on leadership and given speeches to organizations regarding conductors as leadership models for business. He recently co-authored an article on this subject for Leadership Quarterly 's special issue on creative leadership (2004). He served on the boards of the Victoria Bach Festival (TX), Lubbock Arts Alliance (TX), and the Minnesota Orchestra Association's Rochester Series . An avid speaker and writer on behalf of the arts, he has given speeches or presentations throughout the United States and Eastern Europe. His main topic of discussion is something he calls Building Cultural Infrastructure © a series of presentations on ensuring the future of the Arts.
George Stelluto holds two Master's Degrees (Violin & Conducting) from the Yale School of Music and a Bachelor's Degree in Violin from West Virginia University. His conducting teachers include James DePreist, Otto-Werner Mueller, Murry Sidlin, and Eleazar DeCarvalho.
Call Back Magazine, a national musical trade publication, said of his performance of Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro (UNLV Opera Theater 2002): "A Professional-level performance...Stelluto conducted with taste, balance, and firm control of players and singers".
