After four years of service, Ernesto Estigarribia will step down as the Quad City Symphony Orchestra (QCSO) Associate Conductor and Quad City Symphony Youth Ensembles (QCSYE) Music Director at the end of July to serve on faculty at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.
Ernesto leads and conducts the Youth Symphony Orchestra, Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, and QCSO Pops Concerts, including the Quad City Bank and Trust Riverfront Pops and QCSO At the Movies. He was instrumental in designing the QCSYE Chamber Institute, which serves to provide QCSYE students with chamber music experience.
“The Quad City Symphony is indeed fortunate to have enjoyed the passion, artistry, and commitment to music and to young musicians that Ernesto Estigarribia has demonstrated day in and day out,” says QCSO Music Director and Conductor Mark Russell Smith. “He is the best of colleagues and could not have served our organization better. While it is certainly gratifying to see him take the next natural step in his conducting career, we will sorely miss him. He is a gifted, hardworking young musician with an incredibly bright future.”
“Ernesto has served as a transformational artistic leader of the Quad City Symphony Youth Ensembles over his tenure. He has many accomplishments to highlight, culminating in our YSO’s Concert Tour of Europe to take place this summer, ” said QCSO Executive Director Brian Baxter. “He will be dearly missed, and we look forward to carrying on this impact for Quad City students next season and beyond. We wish him well on the next step in his journey!”
A transition plan has been developed and the QCSO will be releasing the details about an interim conductor and a timeline for a national search to seek a new associate conductor/QCSYE music director.