Biography
Adam Glaser is the Music Director of the professional-caliber Juilliard Pre-College Orchestras, Director of Orchestras and Associate Professor of Music at Hofstra University, and Music Director and Conductor of Long Island’s renowned South Shore Symphony. In Fall 2026, he will direct the Columbia University Orchestra as a visiting Adjunct Associate (sabbatical leave replacement). Notable events include two critically acclaimed subscription concerts with violinist Hilary Hahn and the New Jersey Symphony where Glaser filled in last-minute for Music Director Xian Zhang. Previous posts and engagements include Visiting Professor of Conducting and Interim Director of Orchestras at the Hartt School of Music, Principal Conductor of the NYU Orchestras and the Usdan Center for the Arts, a nine-concert residency with the Symphonia Boca Raton, multiple performances with the orchestras of Wheeling, Illinois and Victoria (British Columbia), and collaborations with such distinguished artists as Itzhak Perlman, Joyce Yang, Conrad Tao, Maxim Lando, Vijay Gupta, Timo Andres, Monica Yunus, Robin Zeh and Areta Zhulla. His many conservatory and youth orchestra engagements include the Interlochen Philharmonic, Purchase Symphony Orchestra, All-Eastern Honors Orchestra and multiple All-State Honors Orchestras. Selected awards include the American-Austrian Foundation’s Karajan Fellowship for Young Conductors which sponsored his residence at the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna Philharmonic’s Attergau Orchestra Institute. Earlier in his career, Glaser was selected as a finalist for assistant conductor positions at the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony
An established composer, Glaser’s works have been performed by over 50 orchestras including those of Philadelphia, St. Louis, Baltimore, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Utah, Vancouver, Illinois and Toronto. Commissions include his Passacaglia (2018 string orchestra version, 2025 full orchestra version) and Launch for orchestra and optional chorus. Glaser opera credits include his New York City Opera debut conducting the world premiere of Ted Rosenthal’s Dear Erich, La Tragédie de Carmen (Bizet/Constant) with Curtis Opera Theater, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Gluck’s L’Ivrogne Corrige and Schubert’s Die Verschworenen with Hofstra Opera Theater, and Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne with Ridotto Opera Theater. At the Usdan Center for the Arts, he led several multi-disciplinary performances including a collaboration with the Usdan Center’s ballet company, chorus, vocal soloists and orchestra in selections from Orff’s Carmina Burana.
An active jazz pianist, composer and recording artist, Glaser has released two albums: Wide Awake, with the Adam Glaser Trio, and a solo album, Excursions, featuring 15 original contemporary jazz instrumentals. Notable collaborations include Jane Monheit, Chris Lewis, Justin Faulkner, Tony Miceli, Larry McKenna, Don Liuzzi. In 2024, he was a featured guest artist in the Curtis Institute of Music’s Intersections II: Third Stream/Fourth Stream concert, a special event fusing jazz, classical and bluegrass curated and hosted by Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Timpanist Don Liuzzi. As founding members of Phil Orch Jazz, Glaser and Liuzzi have collaborated and toured with this unique group of Philadelphia Orchestra musicians, appearing at such venues as World Cafe Live and the Kimmel Center Commonwealth Stage in Philadelphia, the Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center in New York, and the Bravo! Vail Music Festival in Colorado. Equally at home across the pop/contemporary spectrum, he has collaborated with groups ranging from the bluegrass-inspired DePue Brothers Band to world-music/fusion group Batik. Following several years as a consultant and marketing manager for Fortune 500 companies, Glaser maintains a keen interest in commercial music, audio branding and the use of music and sound throughout the business world.
Glaser earned graduate degrees in orchestral conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of Michigan, an MBA from the Ross School of Business (University of Michigan), a BA from the University of Pennsylvania in English, Afro-American Studies and Music, and a diploma in composition from the Juilliard Pre-College Division. His primary conducting teachers include Otto-Werner Mueller and Kenneth Kiesler, and his master class teachers include Christoph Eschenbach, Helmut Rilling and Gianluigi Gelmetti.
For more information, please visit www.adamglaser.com.
Updated: September, 2026