About Austin

Austin Stewart, PhD, is currently the director of planned and major gifts at the Curtis Institute of Music. He was previously the director of development for Opera Lafayette, and director of operations for Boston’s Chorus pro Musica, one of America’s most storied avocational music ensembles. Production credits include Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields with Chorus pro Music and the Bang on a Can All-Stars, the nationally covered Requiem for Orlando, and concerts at NEC’s Jordan Hall, Ann Arbor’s Hill Auditorium and the UM Museum of Art, and venues across Metro Detroit, from the Detroit Institute of Arts to the Detroit Zoo.

At Michigan Opera Theatre (now Detroit Opera) he managed government and foundation relations, preparing program and infrastructure proposals that received nationally competitive awards. From 2015-2017, he served as audience engagement coordinator at MOT, where he worked closely alongside David DiChiera, and oversaw community programs for adult and college-aged audiences, Opera Clubs, and the volunteer Ambassadors program, representing the company across Detroit.

Austin received his PhD in historical musicology from the University of Michigan, having attained candidacy by passing comprehensive exams in music of the Baroque and early Classical periods (1637 to 1759) and the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His research interests include opera and civic identity, the American West, artistic citizenship, and nineteenth-century opera. His dissertation committee was chaired by Mark Clague, and included luminary scholars Naomi André (UNC-Chapel Hill), Philip J. Deloria (Harvard), Katherine Preston (William & Mary), and Gabriela Cruz and Steven M. Whiting (Michigan). Through the UM EXCEL Program, Austin also studied arts leadership with Ken Fischer, President Emeritus of the University Musical Society.

Austin received his Master of Music in opera conducting from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelor of Music with high honors from the University of Michigan, where he studied voice with George Shirley. He was a student at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he also worked several summers with Ed Berkeley, sang with the Opera Theatre of Lucca, the vocal ensemble sounding light, and is a member of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart under Helmuth Rilling and Hans-Christoph Rademann.

He was raised in Ludington, Michigan, roamed the secret passages of the Ramsdell Theatre, and is an alumnus of Interlochen Arts Academy.

Austin is committed to creating relevant and engaging musical and theatrical experiences, and strives to cultivate in others an affinity for classical music and opera.