Gerald Steichen
Artistic Director

He’s been on symphony stages, sung on opera stages, acted on Broadway stages, accompanied concerts at Lincoln Center, conducted operas in cities from Anchorage to New York City, led Masterwork’s chorales, toured Europe with Phantom of the Opera, and conducted the final performance of CATS on Broadway.  Opera East Texas is proud to announce the signing of Gerald Steichen as Artistic Director for the April Concert of Carmen in Tyler, and Artistic Director and Conductor for Longview’s June production of Tosca. In 2005 he conducted the wildly successful Pirates of Penzancefor Opera ET.

Gerald "Jerry" Steichen most recently made performances of Jonathan Miller's production of Dead Man Walking at New York City Opera.  He made his debut at Lincoln Center at the State Theatre conducting performances of La Boheme.  He recently debuted with Boston Pops Orchestra.  He has conducted Giulio Cesare, The Tales of Hoffmann and Il Barbiere di Siviglia for the Utah Festival Opera and A Christmas Celebration for Augusta Opera and last year conducted Mikado for Utah Opera.  He also serves as the Principal Guest conductor of the Anchorage Opera, having led performances of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Le nozze di Figaro.  As a full-time member of the New York City Opera conducting staff, Mr. Steichen has led performances of The Mikado at the Saratoga performing Arts Center, served as cover-conductor for Xerxes, Of Mice and Men, Macbeth, and the new American opera Central Park.  He has also served as an on-stage pianist for NYCO's acclaimed productions of Porgy and Bess, and Carmina Burana.  Each season, Mr. Steichen conducts readings of new American operas as part of City Opera's American Composer's Showcase.  He has prepared productions for the Santa Fe Opera, Washington Opera, and the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto.

He was recently named the Associate Conductor of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, conducting the Pops series and their summer Parks Concert series.  For Lincoln Center, he continues to perform in the Meet the Artist series as conductor, clinician, and pianist.

No stranger to the stage, Mr. Steichen played the role of Manny, the Accompanist in Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Master Class, starring Dixie Carter.  As associate conductor, he toured nationally with The Phantom of the Opera, Lucy Simon's The Secret Garden, and with Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan.  He has conducted Barnum for Music Theatre of Wichita, Kansas, and the world premiere of Tom Sawyer for Music Theatre Works in New York City.  He spent two years conducting what was until recently the longest-running show in Broadway history, CATS.