Stephen L. Gage has served as instrumental music coordinator, professor of conducting, and director of bands at Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music since 1993. He holds degrees from the University of Illinois, the Eastman School of Music, and State University of New York at Fredonia. He has studied conducting with Harry John Brown, Donald Hunsberger, David Effron, Roy Ernst, James Keene, H. Robert Reynolds, and Paul Vermel.
Stephen Gage is currently the music director of the Youngstown Symphony Youth Orchestra and began serving as assistant conductor of the Dana Symphony Orchestra in January 2006. He has written numerous publications on conducting, rehearsal techniques, and literature, and is an active wind band and orchestral guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator of international repute, having guest conducted and held clinics in 24 states, Canada, and Ireland. He has received critical acclaim from a number of distinguished composers for his interpretation of their music, including Joseph Schwantner, Samuel Adler, Karel Husa, Eric Ewazen, Frank Ticheli, and David Gillingham. In 1999 he was inducted into the American Bandmasters Association and was named Distinguished Professor at YSU. Gage and the YSU SWE made their Carnegie Hall début in March 2005.
