Conductor Stephen Gunzenhauser was born in New York. After earning degrees at the Oberlin and New England conservatories, he received three successive Fulbright grants to study at the Salzburg Mozarteum. He served as assistant to three legendary conductors—Igor Markevitch in Monte Carlo, Istvan Kertesz at the Cologne Opera, and Leopold Stokowski with the American Symphony Orchestra in New York. In 1979, he was appointed music director of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 2002, and remains music director of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra. Gunzenhauser has become well known internationally for his recordings, numbering over seventy, including a critically acclaimed complete cycle of the Dvořák symphonies with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2006, Gunzenhauser founded the first international music festival in Pennsylvania, the Endless Mountain Music Festival, which continues to grow each season presenting concerts mixing classical masterpieces with contemporary works over a two-week period.
