STEVEN M. CRAWFORD
Conductor, Accompanist
maestrocrawford@earthlink.net

            Maestro Crawford, whose final season with the Metropolitan Opera included two performances of La Bohème of which one was his Sirius radio broadcast debut, is one of today’s most versatile opera conductors.  Shortly following those performances, he was chosen to conduct the world premiere of HONOR, a requiem for orchestra, chorus and soloists composed by Christian McLeer in honor of those who have died in service to our country. Recently, he conducted the professional premiere of Glory Denied by Tom Cipullo for the Remarkable Theatre Brigade, La Boheme for the Inwood Shakespeare Festival, Otello for Kentucky Opera, and Turandot for Dayton Opera. In the year since he left the Met, Maestro Crawford has conducted performances of Les Contes d’Hoffmann for his second season with Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance (for whom his performances of Don Giovanni last summer were noted by the New York Times as “lively, taut, and polished”), Don Giovanni for Dayton Opera, Otello with Vero Beach Opera, and The Medium/Pagliacci for Syracuse Opera. On a different note, Maestro Crawford was recently awarded the honor of Vocal Coach of the Year by Classical Singer magazine.

While still a member of the conducting staff at the Met, his most recent projects included Faust, the world premiere of An American Tragedy, and the critically acclaimed revival of Cyrano.  He recently conducted Kirke Meecham’s Tartuffe in Portland OR, and earlier La Cenerentola with the Cincinnati Opera, where he had been called "the find of the evening" for stepping in on twelve hours notice to conduct Il Barbiere di Siviglia, simultaneously accompanying the recitatives on the fortepiano.

        After working as Music Director of the Illinois Opera Theatre, Maestro Crawford was engaged as resident conductor of the Florida Grand Opera for five years.  During that time, he conducted fifteen different productions, working with such great artists as Sherill Milnes, Carol Neblett, Justino Diaz, and Barbara Daniels.  Maestro Crawford has also conducted productions for Chautauqua Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, Nevada Opera and Opera Northeast.  Upon his arrival in New York City, he was immediately engaged by the Metropolitan Opera Guild as Music Director for their production of a newly commissioned opera for young people.

        An excellent symphonic conductor and proponent of contemporary music, Maestro Crawford was engaged by the New York Philharmonic as cover conductor for Maestro Kurt Masur for the American premiere of Minoru Miki's Symphony for Two Worlds.  During the '98 season, he made his New York City conducting debut in the NYC City premiere of A Chekov Trilogy by Richard Wargo. Before leaving South Florida, he was asked to conduct the New World Symphony in the Concerto for Saxophone by Don Martino and returned the following year as guest soloist for the world premiere of John Nelson's Fantasies and Flourishes, an interactive concerto for disklavier and orchestra.

           Maestro Crawford continues to have an active career in accompanying when his conducting schedule permits.  He has in the past accompanied Justino Diaz and Pablo Elvira in Puerto Rico, Aprile Millo in Sao Paolo, Richard Cowan on Belle Île en Mer, and Ortrun Wenkel and Håkan Hagegåard in Miami.

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