Andrew Crust

American/Canadian conductor Andrew Crust has developed a versatile international career as a conductor of orchestral, opera, ballet, film and pops programs.  

In his third season as Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Andrew programs and conducts a diverse array of performances throughout the state, collaborates with world-class soloists such as Sir Stephen Hough, Béla Fleck, Bella Hristova, Simone Porter, Joshua Roman, Adam Tendler, Jennifer Koh, Tracy Silverman and conducted the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s new piano concerto “Sounding” in May of 2024. Andrew also led efforts to create a new Pops series, and revitalized the Young Person’s Concert programming, and continues to pursue collaborations with various arts organizations in Vermont. 

In his sixth season as Music Director of the Lima Symphony Orchestra, Andrew programs and conducts the Grand Series, Pops and Educational series and has led collaborations with soloists such as Charles Yang, Geneva Lewis, Amit Peled, Sandeep Das, Awadagin Pratt and Laquita Mitchell. Under his leadership the orchestra has enjoyed its most diverse programming to date, engaged in new recording projects and commissioned new works. Andrew leads or collaborates in many innovative community and educational events, including free chamber music performances for children at the public library “Mornings with the Maestro” and, recently, the entire LSO performed at a local prison with a choir made up of one hundred inmates.   

In Canada, Andrew has performed as a guest with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic, l’Orchestre Métropolitain, and the symphony orchestras of Vancouver, Nova Scotia, Winnipeg, Laval, Vancouver Island and Saskatoon. In the United States, he has performed as guest conductor with the symphony orchestras of San Diego, Arkansas, Hartford, Memphis, Rockford, Elgin, Chattanooga, Billings, Bozeman, Sewannee, Wichita, Mostly Modern Festival and others. Abroad, he has performed with the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, the Hamburger Symphoniker, the Moravian Philharmonic and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile.   

As Associate Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony from 2019-2022, Crust led over forty performances annually and made dozens of recordings. From 2017-2019 he was Conductor of the Memphis Youth Symphony, and Assistant Conductor with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and from 2016-2018 he was Assistant Conductor and Community Liaison with the Portland (ME) Symphony.  

Among several prestigious awards, Crust received the Vienna Philharmonic’s Ansbacher Fellowship, which included a residency at the Salzburger Festspiele, and the 2020 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award.