After Nearly Four Decades, Wilmington Symphony Music Director Steven Errante to Retire

In Sunday’s (8/25) Wilmington StarNews (North Carolina), John Staton writes, “For nearly four decades, he’s been Wilmington’s conductor. Now, Steven Errante is retiring from the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra (WSO), which he has led since 1986. But not before one final season. The WSO’s six-concert 2024-25 season, its 53rd overall and Errante’s 39th …, starts Oct. 5 with a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 at Cape Fear Community College … It concludes with what will be Errante’s final time leading the orchestra on May 3 of next year…. A native of Michigan and a graduate of New York’s famed Juilliard School, he taught at universities in Michigan and Virginia before moving to Wilmington in the mid-1980s to both teach in the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Department of Music and lead the Wilmington Symphony … Having a veteran conductor like Errante has ‘meant stability for the orchestra,’ said WSO executive director Liz Scanlon. ‘He’s created these long-lasting relationships with musicians …’ His final concert as conductor on May 3 of next year will include two pieces the symphony performed during Errante’s first year in Wilmington: Mozart’s Don Giovanni Overture and Errante’s own ‘A Celebration Symphony.’ ”