As Music Director for Center Stage Opera,
Brian Onderdonk, is extremely
proud to have had the opportunity to conduct the company’s inaugural
season and looks forward to contributing toward the development of the company
into one of the premiere regional opera houses in the Los Angeles area. Now
entering his second year as Music Director of the company, Mr. Onderdonk continues
his dedication to bringing music of the highest caliber to the San Fernando
Valley, and looks forward to a bright and prosperous future of achieving this
goal with Center Stage Opera. An enthusiastic conductor of all genres, Mr.
Onderdonk has a particular passion for opera conducting, sparked three years
ago by an opportunity to step in for the ailing Music Director of the California
State University Northridge Opera Theater and conduct a live performance of
Mozart’s Cosí Fan Tutte with only a few hours’
notice. Since then, he has conducted performances of a wide range of opera
and musical theater repertoire, including Donizetti’s L’Elisir
d’Amore, Britten’s Albert Herring, Strauss’
Die Fledermaus, Rogers and Hammerstein’s Carousel,
and most recently Rossini’s La Cambiale di Matrimonio and Donizetti’s
Lucia di Lammermoor with Center Stage Opera. In addition to his work
with Center Stage Opera and CSUN, Mr. Onderdonk has participated in a number
of national and international conducting workshops and seminars. In July 2004,
he was invited as a guest conductor for performances of Tchaikovsky’s
Eugene Onegin and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with
the Burgas Opera and Philharmonic Society in Bulgaria. Additionally, for the
past three years he has held the Conducting Fellowship position with the nationally
acclaimed American Youth Symphony led by Los Angeles Philharmonic Concertmaster
Alexander Treger. Brian Onderdonk holds his Master’s Degree in Conducting
from California State University Northridge, where he studied conducting with
Dr. John Roscigno, David Aks, and Gary Pratt.
