Leslie Stewart

Biography

Leslie Stewart has served as director of String Pedagogy since 2006 and was named conductor of the Concert Orchestra at Colorado State University in 2012. Professor Stewart has served on the CSU music faculty since 2006, teaching a variety of classes including applied violin, chamber music, violin/viola pedagogy and undergraduate conducting. She also served as director of CSU’s Summer Conducting Seminar, which offers working music educators from around the world the opportunity to earn a Master of Music, Music Education – Conducting Specialization.

Professor Stewart has been music director of the Health & Wellness Community Orchestra (a collaboration with Front Range Community College) since it was founded in 2008. In 2013, she was honored with the “Outstanding Service Award” by the CSU College of Liberal Arts for her work with this ensemble. The mayor and City Council of Fort Collins declared February 20, 2018 to be “Leslie Stewart Day” in recognition of the orchestra’s 10th anniversary season.

Previous academic posts include Old Dominion University where Ms. Stewart served as assistant professor of violin and Director of Orchestral Activities beginning in 2000 and received the “Most Inspirational Faculty Member” award from the College of Arts and Letters in 2006. She has also served on the faculties of Christopher Newport University and the Governor’s School for the Arts (both in Virginia), Chowan College in North Carolina and Dominican College of San Rafael in California.

An active guest conductor and clinician, Ms. Stewart has worked with numerous youth symphonies, honor orchestras, and community symphonies throughout the United States, as well as in Germany, Scotland, and Brazil. She has also taught masterclasses in violin, chamber music and conducting at the Vietnam National Music Conservatory in Hanoi.

Professor Stewart has been a member of numerous professional orchestras including the Puerto Rico Symphony, the Alabama Symphony, Pro Musica Colorado Orchestra and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California. She has also performed frequently with the Marin Symphony, Virginia Symphony and Fort Collins Symphony. She currently serves as assistant principal second violin of the Cheyenne Symphony and often performs on CSU faculty chamber music concerts.

A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Ms. Stewart holds bachelor and master's degrees in music.