Andrew Crust Named as Portland Symphony Orchestra's New Assistant Conductor

Maine's Portland Symphony Orchestra has announced the installment of a new assistant conductor. The appointment of Andrew Crust, a former cover conductor for the Kansas City Symphony, was revealed by the orchestra's executive director, Carolyn Nishon, in a press release on Tuesday.

Crust will be joining the PSO following his recent assistant conducting positions at Opera McGill in Montreal and the Boulder Philharmonic. In addition, Crust assisted in conducting orchestration for the Symphony and Chamber Orchestra at University of Colorado Boulder.

The PSO's statement on Tuesday disclosed that Crust's new job as assistant conductor includes his designation as music director Robert Moody's alternate. In a report from the Portland Press Herald, Moody acknowledged the valuable assistance offered by the incoming conductor, citing his expectation of Crust's reach as a contemporary classical tastemaker:

"Andrew is first and foremost and most important, a stellar musician, and he demonstrated it from the first moment on the podium," Moody said. "Within the first five minutes, I felt well assured of his ability to take the music inside him and inspire the players. Everything else fell into place. He spoke beautifully from the stage, and I loved his vision and his ideas for how to engage the younger generation and how to engage the millennials."

Crust comes to the PSO via a three-way audition held by the orchestra's executive staff last week. The public performance exhibition was borne of an exhaustive hiring search that culminated in the contest event -- the three competing conductors playing, speaking and meeting with the community over a intensive two-day stretch.

In response to his selection, Crust posted on his website: "Thrilled to announce that I have been hired as the new Assistant Conductor and Community Liaison for the Portland Symphony Orchestra!"

Crust holds an orchestral conducting doctorate from UC Boulder and specializes in performances of German composer Johannes Brahms' oeuvre.

Below, watch some of Mr. Crust's conducting portfolio via YouTube.

We want to hear from you. Let us know what you think of Andrew Crust and the Portland Symphony Orchestra in the comments section.

TagsPortland Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Crust, Carolyn Nishon, Kansas City Symphony, Robert Moody, Opera McGill, Boulder Philharmonic, Johannes Brahms