A native of Schenectady, New York, Kenneth Schermerhorn was a trumpet player before beginning his conducting career with the United States 7th Army Symphony.
From 1963 until 1965, Kenneth Schermerhorn presided over the New Jersey Symphony as Music Director. Previously, following studies with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood, he had served as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic for the 1959-60 season.
Music director of the Milwaukee Symphony from 1968 until 1980, Schermerhorn is credited for its development into one of America's major orchestras. Highlights of his tenure with the Milwaukee Symphony included eight national tours, as well as leading the orchestra in its Carnegie Hall debut and at five return engagements.
During his time as Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, he was credited with dramatically developing and enhancing the orchestra, shaping it into something substantial, as he did in Milwaukee. By the time Schermerhorn left Hong Kong, the orchestra was held by most critical observers to be Asia's finest classical ensemble.
An active opera conductor, Maestro Schermerhorn led the gala celebration of the Metropolitan Opera's Centennial in 1983, which was broadcast worldwide on PBS. He has also conducted the opera companies of San Francisco, San Diego, Edmonton, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Milwaukee (Florentine), and Nashville.
Kenneth Schermerhorn is a most versatile conductor, equally at ease with symphonic repertoire, opera and ballet. Music director of The Nashville Symphony since 1983, he has steered the ensemble to new levels of artistic achievement and public support. On September 25, 2000, he led the Orchestra in its debut performance on the "world's stage," Carnegie Hall. The Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tennessee is named in his honor.
Schermerhorn's career has led him to podiums around the world, including appearances in Australia, China and Japan. In the USA his guest conducting engagements include the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, New Jersey, San Antonio, Columbus, Delaware, Chattanooga and Seattle.
For Naxos, Kenneth Schermerhorn has conducted the Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in a recording of Sibelius and latterly his own Nashville Symphony in "American Classics" discs of Hanson (Naxos 8.559072) and Ives (Naxos 8.559076). On Marco Polo he has conducted the Hong Kong Philharmonic in recordings of Glazunov, Villa-Lobos, Richard Strauss and, with Takako Nishizaki as soloist, a particularly well-received recording of Cesar Cui's Suite Concertante Op. 25 (Naxos 8.220308). Schermerhorn also conducts on a disc of works by Chinese composers made by the orchestra on the occasion of the First Contemporary Chinese Composers' Festival held in 1986.
Kenneth Schermerhorn passed away in April 2005.
