Steven Mercurio

Steven Mercurio is an Italian American conductor and composer.

Steven Mercurio was born in Bardonia, New York in 1956. He is married to Lisa Mercurio (née Lisa Levine), former Sr. Vice President of Universal's Crossover Division and a trained pianist. She is currently the co-founder of BedtimeNetwork.com.

Like Leonard Bernstein, who wrote three symphonies as well as West Side Story, Maestro Steven Mercurio inhabits both the classical and pop worlds – a thoughtful and sophisticated American composer both versatile and unconventional. He possesses a gift for writing unforgettable melodies and orchestral works, and lives a parallel career as an acclaimed conductor of opera and orchestral music.

After receiving his master's degree from the Juilliard School, he became Music Director of the Spoleto Festival for five years, and, Principal Conductor of the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Maestro Mercurio is also a sought after collaborator for many award-winning recordings, arrangements and film projects.

For the stage, he has conducted more than forty-five different operas in seven different languages. His engagements have taken him to many of the world’s best loved opera houses including the Teatro dell’Opera, Roma; Teatro Bellini, Catania; Teatro Filarmonico, Verona; Teatro Reggio, Torino; Teatro Verdi, Trieste; Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Bonn Opera, Teatro Massimo, Palermo; English National Opera as well as the American opera companies of San Francisco, Washington, Philadelphia, Seattle, Detroit, Opera Pacific, Florida Grand, Pittsburgh, Dallas and Cincinnati. In addition to Maestro Mercurio’s operatic repertoire, his symphonic appearances have included: the London Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, the Royal Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Luxembourg, Prague Philharmonia, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Pannon Philharmonic, Tokyo New City Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and the Sacramento and San Diego Symphony Orchestras in addition to his own Spoleto Festival Orchestra.

Maestro Mercurio has conducted opera and symphonic pieces for several telecasts including the “Christmas in Vienna” series with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra for Sony Classical highlighted by the 1999 concert featuring “The Three Tenors.” He also conducted the now classic, PBS broadcast special, “American Dream – Andrea Bocelli’s Statue of Liberty Concert” with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Also for PBS, Maestro Mercurio led the 20th Anniversary Richard Tucker Opera Gala with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Maestro Mercurio led the worldwide tour of Sting, featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for “Symphonicities,” culminating in the DVD “Live in Berlin.”

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