Lois Ferrari

Italian-American conductor Lois Ferrari has served as Music Director of the Austin Civic Orchestra since 2002. In recent years, Maestra Ferrari was awarded 2nd place (2019, 2016, and 2012) for the American Prize in Community Orchestra Conducting. Judge David Katz remarked, “She reminds me of the eminent Margaret Hillis.” Under her baton, the ACO was also awarded 2nd place (2016) for the American Prize in Community Orchestra Performance.

Over the years, Dr. Ferrari has brought many celebrated guest artists to the ACO stage, including Peter Bay, Michelle Schulmann, and Anton Nel. She has also been intimately involved with nurturing future virtuosi through the ACO’s Pearl Amster Youth Festivals and with the Texas Rising Stars Contest, presented in collaboration with the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas.

An enthusiastic champion of new music, Maestra Ferrari founded the ACO Composition Contest and is proud to have premiered many new works during the course of her career. One such composition was nominated by the Austin Critics’ Table for Best Symphonic Performance of 2009. In 2012, Dr. Ferrari and the ACO were commissioned by composer David Amram to present the Texas premiere of his Symphonic Variations on a Song by Woody Guthrie. In regard to this experience he wrote, “The whole country needs to get behind the arts in their own communities, just as Lois and the ACO are doing in Austin.”

Dr. Ferrari is also Professor Emeritus of Music at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas and was a member of its faculty from1993-2022. She conducted the SU Orchestra and Wind Ensemble, taught conducting courses, and served as host and clinician of the SU Conductors’ Institute. Her ensembles premiered numerous works, performed at professional conferences, and welcomed renowned guest artists. Several of Dr. Ferrari’s conducting students have gone on to pursue graduate conducting degrees at prestigious institutions such as the Peabody Institute, the Moores School of Music, and the Ithaca College School of Music.

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where she earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting, Dr. Ferrari was the recipient of a full doctoral fellowship and was appointed Associate Conductor of the renowned Eastman Wind Ensemble. She also earned a Master of Music in conducting and a Bachelor of Music with a double major in performance and music education from the Ithaca College School of Music. Her principal teachers over the years include: Donald Hunsberger, Rodney Winther, David Effron, Pamela Gearhart, Lawrence Doebler, and Donald Neuen.

When she isn’t busy with musical endeavors, Maestra Ferrari indulges an interest in playwriting/screenwriting and has won several awards for her efforts. She is also an avid Harley Davidson motorcycle rider, golf enthusiast, and amateur chef. Originally a Long Islander, Dr. Ferrari now resides in Georgetown, Texas with her husband Dr. Paul Gaffney and their twin sister black kitties, Hilda and Zelda.

2022-2023 is Lois Ferrari’s 20th season with the ACO.

W.P. Sterneman III

Gus has joyfully served as the Assistant Conductor of the ACO since 2014. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Theory from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas; a Master’s degree from Butler University in Indianapolis with a double major in Conducting and Music History; and a Doctorate in Opera and Musical Theatre Conducting at Arizona State University.

In addition to his work with the ACO, Gus serves as the Director of Worship and Arts at Abiding Love Lutheran Church. Gus is also the Music Director for the Heart of Texas Chorus, an acappella barbershop chorus in San Marcos, and is an active clinician with the Barbershop Harmony Society. His passion for stagecraft can be seen on display with Austin’s One Ounce Opera as their Technical Director.

Gus spends his free time playing tabletop games with his wife, teaching his two children the finer points of musical theatre, and practicing his passion for lutherie. He feels Menotti is the epitome of English text setting and hesitantly admits to preferring Verdi over Wagner, but always comes home to Beethoven. He enjoys a good pun, but loves a really bad one. And coffee. Lots of coffee.