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Stephen Czarkowski, currently Music Director and Conductor of the Montgomery College Symphony Orchestra, Music Director and Conductor of the Georgia Governors Honors Program Orchestra, and Conductor of the Berkeley County Schools High School Orchestra, graduated from the Catholic University of America Orchestra in May of 2005 with a Graduate Artist Diploma in Conducting studying under Dr. Kate Tamarkin and Dean Murry Sidlin. At CUA, Mr. Czarkowski conducted Mozart’s Magic Flute, Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea , Copland's The Tender Land and Britten’s Albert Herring with the CUA School of Music Opera Theatre. Mr. Czarkowski began his first season as the Music Director/Choir Director of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he led the Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem and repeated the performance with the Neumann Chorus and Delaware Symphony Orchestra. Last year with St. Johns they performed the Durufle Requiem and were invited to participate in a special mass for Cardinal McCarick. Recently, he was hired by Shepherd University (Professor of Cello, Artist in Residence, String Trio) and the Washington, DC Youth Orchestra as Cello and Conducting Faculty. In October 2004 he made his debut with the Friday Morning Club Orchestra, performing with guest pianist Seymour Lipkin. In June of 2005, Mr. Czarkowski made his debut with Kids in Music where he conducted numerous piano concerti at the Reston Pavilion along with Rosita Mang, Founder and Director.
Mr. Czarkowski graduated in the top percentile of his class from the Mannes College of Music (New School University) with a Master of Music degree in both cello and conducting in May of 2002. His conducting teachers were David Hayes, and Barbara Stein Mallow, 'cello. Mr. Czarkowski received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1999 from the Mannes College of Music under the tutelage of Carter Brey, principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic. Mr. Czarkowski led the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC as a debut conductor, in conjunction with being selected for the National Conducting Institute, directed by NSO Music Director Leonard Slatkin. He has also guest conducted the Honolulu Symphony (Samuel Wong, Music Director) in subscription concerts to critical acclaim in performances of numerous concerti with winners of the Honolulu Symphony Youth Concerto Competition. In May 2002, he was invited by JoAnn Falletta to conduct The Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Czarkowski was a fellowship student in the first American Academy Conducting Class at the Aspen Music Festival during the summer of 2000 where he was a student of David Zinman and Murry Sidlin. At Aspen he conducted the American Academy Conducting Orchestra in performance and was a soloist in a reading session of the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the American Academy Orchestra.
Later this month, Mr. Czarkowski will conduct the Washington County All Orchestra Concert Middle School Orchestra. Recently he gave a lecture for the Music Teachers of Washington County on Rehearsal Techniques and has been invited to return this coming spring.
This past May Mr. Czarkowski was invited to participate in the Chorus America Workshop in Philadelphia with Christoph Eschenbach and Otto-Werner Mueller. Last February, he was invited to participate in the American Symphony Orchestra League Donald Thulean Conducting Workshop in Los Angeles where he worked with the American Youth Symphony. Other workshops Mr. Czarkowski has participated in is the Conductors Guild Workshop in Ann Arbor, with Gustav Meier and Kenneth Kiesler and ASOL Workshop in Buffalo with JoAnn Falletta and Jorge Mester.
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