Richard Scerbo artistic director
With a career spanning conducting, teaching, and arts leadership, Richard Scerbo has been a thought leader in the orchestral world for nearly two decades. He is the newly appointed Music Director of the Columbia Orchestra, Artistic Director and Conductor of Inscape Chamber Orchestra, and Artistic Director of Jackson Hole Chamber Music. At the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, he serves as co-director of artistic programming and director of the National Orchestral Institute + Festival.
As Artistic Director and Conductor of Inscape Chamber Orchestra, Scerbo has recorded numerous albums of American music, including the GRAMMY-nominated Sprung Rhythm. Their concerts and recordings have received acclaim in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Gramophone Magazine. Recent highlights include a North American premiere by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, chamber operas from Bernstein to Stravinsky, and collaborations with Mason Bates's Jukebox series at the Kennedy Center featuring artists like techno legend Juan Atkins and electronica artists from Thievery Corporation. A passionate advocate for new music, he has commissioned over fifty works from American composers including Osvaldo Golijov, Allison Loggins-Hull, Anna Clyne, and Julia Adolphe.
Under Scerbo's leadership, the National Orchestral Institute + Festival has experienced a decade of transformational growth through innovative training in orchestral performance, professional development, and community engagement. For this work, he was selected as an Innovator by Musical America and profiled in their "30 Professionals of the Year." NOI+F has forged partnerships with Naxos Records, Wolf Trap Opera, the Sphinx Organization, and Washington National Cathedral. Their collaboration with Naxos Records to record American composers earned a GRAMMY nomination for "Best Orchestral Performance" for works by Steven Stucky, John Harbison, and Carl Ruggles. Scerbo recently led the festival's appointment of Marin Alsop as its first Music Director and the creation of annual composer and conductor training academies.
An active arts community member, Scerbo serves on the board of the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and recently completed a multi-year term on the board of the American Composers Alliance. He has served on panels with the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County and adjudicated competitions for the Montpelier Arts Center. In 2016, he co-founded Jackson Hole Chamber Music, curating summer and winter festivals in the Grand Teton foothills. As an educator of all ages, he has held positions as Principal Conductor of the DC Youth Orchestra and Music Director of the NIH Community Orchestra.
Scerbo grew up near Annapolis, Maryland, crediting his public school music teachers for inspiring his musical journey. He studied bassoon with Daniel Matsukawa, Linda Harwell, and Sue Henieman at the University of Maryland, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music and Master's degree in Orchestral Conducting with James Ross.
As Artistic Director and Conductor of Inscape Chamber Orchestra, Scerbo has recorded numerous albums of American music, including the GRAMMY-nominated Sprung Rhythm. Their concerts and recordings have received acclaim in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Gramophone Magazine. Recent highlights include a North American premiere by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, chamber operas from Bernstein to Stravinsky, and collaborations with Mason Bates's Jukebox series at the Kennedy Center featuring artists like techno legend Juan Atkins and electronica artists from Thievery Corporation. A passionate advocate for new music, he has commissioned over fifty works from American composers including Osvaldo Golijov, Allison Loggins-Hull, Anna Clyne, and Julia Adolphe.
Under Scerbo's leadership, the National Orchestral Institute + Festival has experienced a decade of transformational growth through innovative training in orchestral performance, professional development, and community engagement. For this work, he was selected as an Innovator by Musical America and profiled in their "30 Professionals of the Year." NOI+F has forged partnerships with Naxos Records, Wolf Trap Opera, the Sphinx Organization, and Washington National Cathedral. Their collaboration with Naxos Records to record American composers earned a GRAMMY nomination for "Best Orchestral Performance" for works by Steven Stucky, John Harbison, and Carl Ruggles. Scerbo recently led the festival's appointment of Marin Alsop as its first Music Director and the creation of annual composer and conductor training academies.
An active arts community member, Scerbo serves on the board of the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and recently completed a multi-year term on the board of the American Composers Alliance. He has served on panels with the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County and adjudicated competitions for the Montpelier Arts Center. In 2016, he co-founded Jackson Hole Chamber Music, curating summer and winter festivals in the Grand Teton foothills. As an educator of all ages, he has held positions as Principal Conductor of the DC Youth Orchestra and Music Director of the NIH Community Orchestra.
Scerbo grew up near Annapolis, Maryland, crediting his public school music teachers for inspiring his musical journey. He studied bassoon with Daniel Matsukawa, Linda Harwell, and Sue Henieman at the University of Maryland, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music and Master's degree in Orchestral Conducting with James Ross.