Edwin Outwater

Edwin Outwater is a conductor known for crossing between the traditional orchestral repertoire and popular music and multimedia collaborations. He appears with the San Francisco Symphony across a range of formats, from a tribute concert to holiday pops programs to the orchestra's experimental SoundBox series, suggesting a conductor comfortable moving between concert halls and more informal, genre-blending settings.

Outwater's upcoming San Francisco engagements span a wide stylistic range. The tribute concert for Michael Tilson Thomas mixes orchestral staples (Ives's "New England Holidays," movements from Mahler's Symphony No. 6) with American theater and song repertoire, including numbers by Bernstein, Gershwin, and Copland, alongside newer works by Mason Bates and John Adams. His holiday programs, "Holiday Brass" and "Holiday Gaiety," point to seasonal, audience-friendly concerts built around festive orchestral and brass repertoire. A separate date pairs him with the crossover group Pink Martini, suggesting a lighter, cabaret-influenced pops evening. His two SoundBox performances, staged in the San Francisco Symphony's alternative performance space, imply a program built around unconventional staging or repertoire choices rather than a standard concert format. Listeners should expect a conductor who moves fluidly between concert traditions and popular idioms.