The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is pleased to announce Andrew Crust as Assistant Conductor. Mr. Crust will step into the role on September 1, 2019 succeeding Assistant Conductor William Rowson who held the position for three years. The VSO Assistant Conductor position is a key member of the artistic and community programming team. Crust will conduct a number of subscription concerts, Kids’ Concerts, VSO Pops, as well as the innovative Annex Series, and popular Tea and Trumpets Series each season. He is a versatile conductor with broad experience conducting orchestras, ballet and opera across North and South America and Europe.
“We are very excited to announce Andrew Crust as the VSO’s new Assistant Conductor. He brings a wealth of talent and experience to the role and will be a great addition to our team when he starts in September,” said Musical Director Otto Tausk.
Crust was Assistant Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra from 2017-2019 where he conducted over thirty-five concerts each season. He also served as Conductor of the Memphis Youth Symphony Program. As the Assistant Conductor of the Portland Symphony Orchestra in Maine from 2016-2018, he conducted a variety of concert series, helped coordinate the orchestra’s extensive educational programs, and helped lead a program for concertgoers under 40 called “Symphony and Spirits”.
Crust was the Assistant Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of the USA (NYO-USA) in the summers of 2017 and 2018, assisting Michael Tilson Thomas on an Asian tour, as well as Giancarlo Guerrero, Marin Alsop and James Ross at Carnegie Hall and in a side-by-side performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also served as Cover Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony and Nashville Symphony, Assistant/Cover Conductor of the Boulder Philharmonic and Assistant Conductor of Opera McGill. As a winner of the 2018 Ansbacher Fellowship, selected by members of the Vienna Philharmonic, Crust was invited to the Salzburger Festspiele throughout August 2018 with full access to all Festival performances and rehearsals. Furthermore, Crust was the only American invited as a semi-finalist for the 2018 Nestlé and Salzburg Festival‘s Young Conductors Award, and worked with the Austrian Ensemble for New Music in May of 2018.
Recent and upcoming guest engagements include concerts with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Hartford Symphony, Lima Symphony Orchestra, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, l’Orchestre de la Francophonie in Québec, the Boulder Opera Company, the Colorado New Music Ensemble and the Pendulum New Music Series. Abroad, he has led concerts with the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana in Italy, Hamburger Symphoniker at the Mendelssohn Festival in Germany, the Moravian Philharmonic in the Czech Republic, the Filharmonia “Mihail Jora” of Bacau, Romania, and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile in Santiago. In 2017 he was awarded first prize at the Accademia Chigiana by Daniele Gatti, receiving a scholarship and an invitation to guest conduct the Orchestra di Sanremo in Italy.
About the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Founded in 1919, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is one of Canada’s most active and successful performing arts institutions; the largest performing arts organization west of Ontario and the third largest symphony orchestra in the country.
The VSO performs to an annual audience of over 250,000 people and features more than 50 celebrated guest artists each season. Over 170 concerts are performed annually by the VSO in the historic Orpheum Theatre and numerous additional venues throughout the Lower Mainland. 2018/2019 marks the organization’s 100th season.
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