by Mark Wagoner

T o many people’s surprise, Greensboro is home to one of America’s leading orchestra conductors. Well, at least for a few weeks.

From late June until early August, Maestro Gerard Schwarz comes to the Gate City as music director of the Eastern Music Festival. The five-week event unites some of the most talented students, teachers, and performers in the classical music world.

But the Eastern Music Festival is, in fact, more than just a festival — it’s an institute for young musicians. The premise behind EMF is to bring together an exclusive group of 200 students to study classical music alongside talented professionals at Guilford College. It’s this educational aspect of the Festival that drew Schwarz to it initially.

Having already cemented himself as one of the nation’s top conductors, Schwarz agreed to serve as a guest conductor at EMF for a week in the summer of 2000. “I just loved the whole Eastern concept,” Schwarz says. “What they were doing educationally, as well as musically, really struck a chord with me.”

Schwarz left an equally sound impression on EMF officials. Shortly after his weeklong guest-conducting gig, officials asked him to become the Festival’s principal conductor. A few years later, his title was changed to music director, which Schwarz says he believes is “more appropriate” for the work he is doing.

As music director, Schwarz has a hand in every aspect of the annual Eastern Music Festival. He helps choose the faculty, selects guest artists, and instructs students. He also lends his lauded conducting talents to the majority of the orchestra concerts.

“I help in any area I can,” Schwarz says. “Apart from my specific duties is an overriding responsibility for the artistic quality of the Festival.”

Clearly, EMF’s artistic quality is in good hands with Schwarz. Aside from his 11 Grammy nominations, Schwarz was named Musical America’s “Conductor of the Year” in 1994, making him the first American to win the award. He also recently garnered an Emmy nomination for his production of Mozart’s Requiem on Live from Lincoln Center .

Schwarz’s musical roots can be traced back to age 5, when his Austrian-born parents enrolled him in piano lessons. While Schwarz excelled at the instrument, it wasn’t until he picked up a trumpet at age 8 that his true gift for music was revealed. Behind his trumpet talents, Schwarz was admitted to a number of prestigious performing art schools, including New York’s Juilliard School of Music.

At the young age of 24, Schwarz accepted an invitation to play in the New York Philharmonic — his self-professed dream job. He played with the orchestra for several years as co-principal. Shortly after, Schwarz made the switch from performer to conductor. He cited a “desire to get more connected to the music” as the primary reason for the switch.

Since then, Schwarz has led orchestras across the world, including the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, and the National Orchestra of France.

He currently serves as the music director for the Seattle Symphony, a position he’s held since 1985.

When it comes to his individual style as a conductor, Schwarz says he aims to infuse a rich, dark tone over his orchestras. He says it’s important to consider what each note means and where each phrase is trying to go creatively. More than tonal quality, however, Schwarz strives for an essential honesty in all of his music.

“We conductors are interpretive artists; we’re not creative artists,” he says. “Someone else created [the piece], and it’s our job to interpret their creation. And, as such, you can impose your own personality as much as you like. You have to.

“On the other hand, you try to do it in an honest way,” he continues. “Of course you want the interpretation to have some magic about it for the audience, but really, the music isn’t about me. It’s about Beethoven; it’s about Brahms; it’s about Mozart. The answer lies in the music, and it’s my job to help make the answer clear.”

The Eastern Music Festival begins with a performance by renowned violinist Midori on July 5, and continues through August 2. Most performances will be held in Guilford College’s Dana Auditorium, although a select number will be taking place throughout the Greensboro community.