The Catskill Symphony Orchestra is pleased to welcome Interim Music Director, Glen Cortese, to our team for our 2023-2024 Season. Glen has had hundreds of guest engagements as the conductor of dozens of orchestras, opera companies and summer festivals around the world. 

He has appeared with the New Jersey Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony, the Florida Philharmonic, the Belarus State Philharmonic, Sofia Philharmonic, the National Romanian Radio Orchestra the the Slovak Radio Orchestra and the Mexico City Philharmonic. His opera credits include the New York City Opera, the Florida Grand Opera, Wolftrap Opera, the Cleveland Lyric Opera and the Eugene Opera. 

His credits in the world of dance include performances with the Connecticut Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet, the Elisa Monte Dance Company and he appeared regularly for five years as music director for the Erick Hawkins Dance Company at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Joyce Theatre and on national tours. 

A champion of new music, Glen  has conducted over 150 premieres, working in direct collaboration with composers such as Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, George Crumb, Richard Danielpour, Peter Maxwell Davies, Lukas Foss, Hans Werner Henze, and Ralph Shapey.

His work in education is extensive, including leading the orchestra at the Manhattan School of Music for twelve seasons, where he was the eight-time recipient of the ASCAP New and Adventuresome Programming Award for his work there. He has created community outreach programs, educational concerts and children's videos on classical music.

He was an assistant conductor to the New York Philharmonic from 1990–92 for Zubin Mehta and in July of 1993, he was invited by Kurt Masur to guest conduct a reading with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.

Glen is also an award-winning composer, having won the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a two-time winner of the Joseph E. Bearns Prize.

At present he is the artistic director of the Schenectady-Saratoga Symphony Orchestra and the artistic director of the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. He just completed twelve seasons as music director of the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra and was named music director emeritus of the Oregon Mozart Players after serving as artistic director for nine seasons.

For more information about Glen, visit GlenCortese.com