The popular and charismatic Music Director and Conductor, Adrian Gnam, has led the Macon Symphony Orchestra to a continuing high level of artistic success since 1983. A multi-talented musician, conductor, oboist, arranger, administrator, speaker, arts consultant, fund raiser and teacher, he enjoys an international reputation for his superlative musicianship and excellent programming. A former principal oboist of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell and the American Symphony under Leopold Stokowski, Mr. Gnam has studied under some of the major figures in the field: Pierre Monteux, Max Rudolf and George Szell. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Maestro Gnam has guest conducted numerous orchestras including: Alabama, Jacksonville, Florida, Indianapolis, Louisville, Grand Rapids and Puerto Rico Symphonies; the Cincinnati, Erie and Eugene Ballet Companies; the Missouri Regional Opera Company; Spoleto, Interlochen, Chautauqua, Colorado, Hartwick, Eastern and Texas Music Festivals; and major orchestras in Rumania, Venezuela, Italy, Mexico, Yugoslavia, Brazil, Japan and Russia. Mr. Gnam is a former Director of the Music Program at the National Endowment for the Arts. During his eight-year tenure at the Arts Endowment, he was responsible for developing new categories of support, representing the field of music before the U.S. Congress and fundraising for joint private/public ventures. He was awarded a special distinguished Service Award for “outstanding, innovative and precedentsetting contributions to furthering the goals and missions of the Endowment and enhancing the Arts on a national scale.” Mr. Gnam is also the recipient of the National Federation of Music Clubs President’s Award. He is a former President of the Conductors Guild and serves on its advisory council.

During his distinguished career, Maestro Gnam has shared the stage with such notable soloists as Nadia Salerno-Sonnenberg, Gil Shaham, Robert McDuffie, Zuill Bailey, Chee Yun, Cho Liang Lin, Anne Akiko Meyers, Carter Brey, Roberta Peters, Maureen Forrester, Garrick Ohlsson, John Browning, Helen Huang, Christopher O’Riley, Roberto Diaz and Samuel Ramey among others. He is the former Music Director of the Midland, Eugene and Tuscaloosa Symphonies. Maestro Gnam was the Principal Guest Conductor of the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia for fifteen seasons, the Florence Chamber Orchestra for four seasons and was Music Director of the Shreveport Summer Music Festival.

Maestro Gnam is deeply committed to the education of young musicians in the U.S. He was an Associate Professor at Ohio University, was on the artist faculty at Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music and has served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Houston. He has conducted and given oboe master classes at Temple University, the University of Georgia, the University of Delaware, Georgia College and State University, the University of Michigan, Peabody Conservatory, Georgetown University, the University of Oregon, UCLA, the University of Kansas, Oregon State University, Trinity University and the University of Alabama.

Recently, Maestro Gnam has conducted twice in Kurobe, Japan and has appeared as an oboe soloist, conductor and master class faculty member with the St. Petersburg (Russia) Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Middletown Symphony, Ocmulgee Symphony, Gainesville Symphony, Southern Illinois Symphony, South Arkansas Symphony, Seattle Youth Symphony, Orchestra of Illinois and New York’s Orchestra da Camera. He can be heard on Decca, Columbia, Century Advent, Piper Co. and Opus One recordings as well as “Bravo!”, the Macon Symphony Orchestra CD. Maestro Gnam is currently Director of the International Conductors Workshop, and the Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music and Artistic Advisor of the Mercer/Macon Symphony Youth Orchestra and Assistant Professor at Georgia Southern University.