“Humankind has been the recipient of unspeakably beautiful gifts bestowed upon us by the great composers. From the motets of Palestrina and Gesualdo to the symphonies of Mahler and Tchaikovsky, the legacy of these great artistic masterpieces are reflections of the human condition.”

As a teacher, mentor and scholar Stephen Rogers Radcliffe has been a passionate advocate for the continued study, performance and appreciation of these gifts. For over a decade, Stephen Rogers Radcliffe led the Seattle Youth Symphony, the nation’s largest youth orchestra training program. Under his leadership the program grew to include five academic-year orchestras, three summer music festival sessions, a Conservatory for music academics, and a nationally recognized public-school outreach program.

Stephen Rogers Radcliffe was the Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he conducted the Symphony Orchestra, led the Five College Opera Consortium, taught conducting classes and served on accreditation and academic committees. He has been a regular conductor and guest clinician at state and regional conferences and conducted the New York All-State String Orchestra in the Eastman Theater in 2018.

As Music Director of the Cape May Music Festival, Maestro Radcliffe served on committees tasked with the design of the music curriculum for the state of New Jersey. His innovative educational programming integrated music learning into core curriculum classrooms and was featured on the cover of SYMPHONY Magazine.

The thousands of dollars for educational programming raised by Maestro Radcliffe from government, corporate, individual and foundation sources, includes the creation of a $1 million educational endowment for the Sioux City (IA) Symphony Orchestra that included a string quartet residency program and the creation of a community music school. In 2007 Maestro Radcliffe received a Wallace Foundation Excellence Award for the creation of a vertically aligned program focused on recruitment, retention and advancement for instrumental music education in underserved neighborhoods in Seattle. In 2016, through Maestro Radcliffe’s efforts, the Seattle Youth Symphony assumed the direction of the Seattle Conservatory of Music, leading to a growth in the organization’s profile and service to the community.

Maestro Radcliffe’s students have matriculated into some of the most prestigious music schools in the country including the Colburn, Curtis, Juilliard, and Eastman Schools of Music, the New England Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute to name a few. His students currently serve in principal positions in the symphony orchestras of Detroit, Nashville, Minnesota, Tucson, and Seattle.