Michael Zearott

Michael Zearott (born August 22, 1937, in San Francisco, California) is an American conductor, composer, pianist and music educator. A First Prize, Gold Medal winner of the Dimitri Mitropoulos International Conducting Competition, he formerly conducted the New York Philharmonic in Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and has also been invited to conduct for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Symphony, California Chamber Symphony, San Diego Symphony and others in the United States as well as Europe. Zearott was the first student to earn a Ph.D. in Composition at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Michael Zearott was born in San Francisco, and spent most of his early years in the Los Angeles area, graduating from Westchester High School in 1955. Zearott earned a Ph.D. in Composition at UCLA, the first to do so. In 1969 he was awarded the Gold Medal (First Prize) of the Dimitri Mitropoulos International Conducting Competition by Leonard Bernstein at the Philharmonic Hall of Lincoln Center, which as a result saw him become associate conductor of the Orchestre National de Monte Carlo for two years, performing to the likes of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly. He was selected as the Acting Artistic Director of the San Diego Symphony in 1970. In 1972, he served as Musical Director of the Ojai Music Festival, in Ojai, California. and guest conductor with the Glendale Symphony Orchestra. He conducted two of Frank Zappa's orchestral concerts at UCLA's Royce Hall in September 1975, which was released four years later on the Zappa album Orchestral Favorites.