A regular guest with leading orchestras worldwide, Stefan Asbury has worked with renowned ensembles across the globe in recent seasons. In North America, his recent engagements include the Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Montréal, Seattle and Vancouver symphony orchestras, as well as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Florida Orchestra. Internationally, he has conducted the Copenhagen Philharmonic, Pacific Philharmonia Tokyo, Auckland Philharmonia, China National Symphony Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. Notable appearances include conducting the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra at Beethovenfest Bonn and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao at the Musika-Musica Festival in 2019. Stefan has also held prominent roles as Chief Conductor of the Noord Nederlands Orkest, Chief Guest Conductor of the Tapiola Sinfonietta (Finland) and founder and Music Director of the Remix Ensemble (Portugal).
Highlights of the 2025-26 Season include his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, performances with Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, the Grossman Ensemble at the Library of Congress, Symphony Nova Scotia and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice.
Stefan Asbury maintains close collaborations with many living composers, including Steve Reich, Wolfgang Rihm, Unsuk Chin, and Mark-Anthony Turnage. He conducted the world and U.S. premieres of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s Piano Concerto with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, alongside the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Following Birtwistle’s passing, Stefan led a memorial performance of Earth Dances with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony in January 2023. As a recording artist, his album featuring works by Jonathan Harvey with Ensemble Intercontemporain received the Monde de la Musique CHOC award. Additionally, his complete cycle of Gérard Grisey’s Les Espaces Acoustiques with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne won a Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik award.
Opera and musical theatre are integral to Stefan’s career. His notable projects include John Adams’ A Flowering Tree at the Perth International Arts Festival, which won the Helpmann Award for Best Symphony Orchestra Concert; Porgy and Bess at the Spoleto Festival USA; Wolfgang Rihm’s Jakob Lenz for the Wiener Festwochen; Britten’s Owen Wingrave with the Tapiola Sinfonietta; and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle in Poland. He also conducted A Quiet Place during the Leonard Bernstein centenary celebrations at Tanglewood. Stefan’s work in dance includes collaborations with the Copenhagen Philharmonic and Danish Dance Theatre on a new production of The Firebird, and with the Mark Morris Dance Group on productions of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts, performed at venues such as Lincoln Center in New York, London’s Barbican, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
In December 2024, it was announced that Stefan Asbury would join the conducting faculty at the New England Conservatory beginning in the 2025/2026 season. He previously served on the faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center for more than 30 years. Additionally, he has led masterclasses at the Hochschule der Künste Zürich, the Ensemble Modern International Academy, and the conservatories of Venice and Geneva.
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
