ANDREW CRUST, MUSIC DIRECTOR
American/Canadian conductor ANDREW CRUST has developed a versatile international career as a conductor of orchestral, opera, ballet, film and pops programs.
In his second season as Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Andrew programs and conducts a diverse array of performances throughout the state, collaborates with world-class soloists such as Sir Stephen Hough, Béla Fleck, Bella Hristova, Simone Porter, Joshua Roman and Adam Tendler, and conducted the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s new piano concerto “Sounding” in May of 2024. Andrew also led efforts to create a new Pops series, and revitalized the Young Person’s Concert programming, and continues to pursue collaborations with various arts organizations in Vermont.
In his fifth season as Music Director of the Lima Symphony Orchestra, Andrew programs and conducts the Grand Series, Pops and Educational series and has led collaborations with soloists such as Charles Yang, Amit Peled, Tracy Silverman, Sandeep Das, Awadagin Pratt and Laquita Mitchell. Under his leadership the orchestra has enjoyed its most diverse programming to date, engaged in new recording projects, commissioned new works, and during the difficult pandemic seasons, the orchestra was able to record a number and broadcast classical and educational programs. Andrew is committed to diversity and representation in the concert hall. Under his leadership, LSO programming of BIPOC and female composers has increased by over 35% during his tenure.
In recent and upcoming seasons Andrew conducts the symphony orchestras of Calgary, National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Elgin, Rockford, Nova Scotia, Chattanooga, Winnipeg, Laval, Billings, Vancouver Island, Sewannee, Memphis, Hartford and Bozeman as a guest conductor, including return engagements with the Vancouver Symphony, San Diego Symphony and Arkansas Symphony, collaborating with soloists such as Geneva Lewis, George Li, Zuill Bailey, Wei Luo and Shannon Lee.
We thank the Ann E. Cooper Fund for Artistic Leadership which supports the VSO Music Director position.