Edwin Outwater

Conductor / Curator / Producer

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“Outwater conducted the band with all the energy of a heavy metal rock star. He jumped, pounded his fist, and poured his soul into the performance with a clear grasp of the material and the emotions it conveys.”
Riff Magazine, Mike DeWald, 2019

A truly visionary conductor, curator and producer, Edwin Outwater regularly works with the world’s top orchestras, institutions and artists to reinvent the concert experience. His effortless ability to cross genres has led to collaborations with a wide range of artists, ranging from Metallica to Wynton Marsalis and Yo-Yo Ma. He is, in the words of his mentor Michael Tilson Thomas, “one of the most innovative conductors on the scene today.”

Edwin Outwater is Music Director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, overseeing their ensembles, as well as shaping the artistic initiatives of this dynamic institution as a whole. He is also Music Director Laureate of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony which he led from 2007 – 2017, bringing the orchestra to international acclaim with tours and collaborative projects, and a critically acclaimed recording, From Here On Out.

Recent appearances include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Houston Symphony, Seattle Symphony and New World Symphony as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert series opening the Steinmetz Hall in Florida. As producer and musical advisor for the National Symphony Orchestra’s 50^th Anniversary Concert at the Kennedy Center, he collaborated with a cast of artists including Common, Renée Fleming, Audra MacDonald and Christian McBride.

International appearances include the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, Kyoto Symphony, Nagoya Philharmonic, BBCNOW, the Brussels Philharmonic, the New Zealand Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, Malmö Symphony, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Mexico City Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica de Xalapa, and Hong Kong Sinfonietta. In July 2022, Outwater will make his debut at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London with Cynthia Erivo. In Canada, he has led the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the symphonies of Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Victoria. In October 2022, Outwater will premiere his newest production, Symphony of Terror, with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and co-host and collaborator Peaches Christ.

Edwin Outwater holds a long association with the San Francisco Symphony. The 2021/2022 season sees performances in their SoundBox Series, concert appearances with Boyz II Men, and the world premiere of a Judy Garland Centennial concert. This season also includes the fourth annual performance of Holiday Gaiety, an LGBTQ holiday concert he created with drag performer Peaches Christ. Previously, Outwater was San Francisco Symphony Resident Conductor, Director of Summer Concerts and Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.

In 2022 Outwater is featured in several prominent recordings. He conducts the Chicago Symphony in the Sony Classical release of Mason Bates’s Philharmonia Fantastique. He is also Associate Conductor for the Sony Classical release A Gathering of Friends, with John Williams, Yo-Yo Ma and the New York Philharmonic. He features prominently in Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett’s solo debut EP, Portals, as co-songwriter, arranger, orchestrator and keyboardist.

A native of Santa Monica, California, Edwin Outwater graduated cum laude in English literature from Harvard University, where he was music director of the Bach Society Orchestra and the a cappella group Harvard Din and Tonics, and wrote the music for the 145^th annual production of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. He received his degree in conducting from UC Santa Barbara, where he studied with Heiichiro Ohyama and Paul Polivnick, besides studying music theory and composition with John Stewart, Joel Feigin, and Leonard Stein.