Dr. Steven Errante
Conductor, Wilmington Symphony Orchestra

At an early age Steven Errante began arranging, composing and conducting for various musical groups in the Detroit area where he grew up.  By the time he graduated from high school, his music was being performed by  leading orchestras and musicians.

At college, he studied composition and conducting at the University of Michigan and  the Juilliard School, studying with Leslie Bassett, Vincent Persichetti, and Uri Mayer.  During this time, he wrote the score for The Boar's Head Festival, a work heard  annually in Detroit since 1972.

Steven Errante has been Conductor of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra and a member of the   UNCW Department of Music  faculty since 1986. He is also founding conductor of the Wilmington Symphony Youth Orchestra and accompanist for the   Girls’ Choir of Wilmington.  Dr. Errante has degrees from the University of Michigan and the Juilliard School and  has previously taught at the University of Michigan, Northern Michigan University, and  the University of Richmond. He has also been active as a composer and arranger,  his  Battleship North Carolina March  has been performed throughout the region by the  North Carolina Symphony, and many of the guest artists performing jazz and popular music with the Wilmington Symphony have been backed up by his arrangements.

Errante’s approach to music centers on his belief that performance and education  enhance each other, so in addition to his teaching at UNCW, he gives presentations in  area schools, organizations, and before each concert in which he illuminates the music  being heard. His comments and musical illustrations can also be heard in the form of  audio blogs on the WSO website and on the Wilmington Symphony   Facebook page.  He lives in Wilmington with his wife Sandy, who is the founder and director of the Girls’  Choir of Wilmington and owner of   Kindermusik with Sandy Errante. Their daughters Emmy  and Casey are in college.

Education
D.M.A., Composition, 
The Juilliard School, 
New York, NY

M.M., Composition, Conducting,
The University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, MI

B.M., Composition, 
The University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, MI

Steven Errante has a special gift for making music an exciting adventure, whether  it is through his teaching, conducting, or composing. Those who have experienced  his genuine warmth and intense enthusiasm for music may attest to the deeper  understanding and heightened emotional experiences they have discovered under his musical direction and in his compositions.

Dr. Steven Errante, conductor of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra since 1986  and founding conductor of the Wilmington Symphony Youth Orchestra, teaches upper-level theory courses, MIDI composition and film scoring. His compositions and arrangements have been recorded by the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra, the North  Carolina Symphony, and the London Symphony. He has written a number of commissioned  works and frequently makes orchestrations and arrangements to accompany WSO  guest artists. He was recently chosen as the first composer commissioned for the Vanguard Premieres series sponsored by the Vanguard Voices choir.