Richard Scerbo is Director of the National Orchestral Institute and Festival where he leads one of the nation’s most prestigious training programs for young orchestral musicians. For over ten years, Scerbo has worked in various capacities to oversee the artistic growth of the Institute and its innovative training curriculum in orchestral performance, conductorless chamber orchestras, professional development and community engagement.  For his work, he was recently selected as a 2016 Musical America Innovator and is profiled in Musical America’s Innovators: 30 Professionals of the Year.

Active as a conductor, Scerbo is the founding Artistic Director of Inscape Chamber Orchestra where he has recorded numerous albums of American music, including the GRAMMY-nominated album Sprung Rhythm. A passionate advocate for new music, he has commissioned over twenty-five works from emerging American composers. In recent seasons, he led a North American premiere by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies; conducted chamber operas ranging from Bernstein to Stravinsky and a pantomime by Manuel de Falla; and has appeared in concerts at venues such as the Kennedy Center, Strathmore Music Center and the National Gallery of Art.  He was guided in his conducting studies by James Ross, Leonard Slatkin, Heinz Fricke, Gustav Meier, and Johannes Schlaefli at the Musikhochschule Zurich.