CONDUCTOR · PIANIST · EDUCATOR · ARTS LEADER
Connecting people through music, education, and creative leadership.
Music Director of the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans since 1990, and Professor of Music and Director of the College Honors Program at Delgado Community College.
ABOUT STEVEN
Steven Edwards has spent more than three decades connecting people through music, education, and creative leadership.
Since 1990, he has served as Music Director of the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans, preparing and conducting hundreds of performances with the New Orleans Symphony, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and distinguished musicians at home and abroad. His conducting has taken him to Carnegie Hall and to concert stages in Europe, and his work as a pianist and collaborator, including with OperaCréole, continues to enrich the cultural life of New Orleans.
A Professor of Music and Director of the College Honors Program at Delgado Community College, Steven is also a nationally recognized leader in honors education. He is a Fellow of the National Collegiate Honors Council and the recipient of its 2026 Ron Brandolini Award for Excellence at a Two-Year Institution.
His international work includes a Fulbright Specialist project in Colombia and an Executive Graduate Certificate from the Global Leaders Institute.
Across the concert stage and the classroom, Steven brings together a lifelong dedication to artistic excellence, student achievement, and community engagement.
MUSIC
Steven has been Music Director of the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans since 1990. Over more than three decades he has prepared and conducted hundreds of concerts with the New Orleans Symphony and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and led the chorus in its own concert seasons of major choral-orchestral works.
Since 2015, Steven has worked with OperaCréole as a conductor and pianist, helping bring the music of New Orleans' 19th-century composers back to the stage. He prepared the chorus for the world premiere of Edmond Dédé's opera Morgiane.
The Symphony Chorus of New Orleans performs Mozart's Requiem, May 28, 2023.
More performances are on the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans YouTube channel.
EDUCATION & LEADERSHIP
Teaching is central to Steven's career, not a side line. For nearly three decades he has helped students at Delgado Community College find their voices, in music and in the honors classroom.
A member of the Delgado faculty since 1997, Steven is Professor of Music and Director of the College Honors Program. He has worked to expand interdisciplinary learning and to make room for creative work in the honors curriculum.
Steven is a Fellow of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC). He has chaired its Arts and Creativity Committee and coordinates the Arts Master Classes at NCHC's national conferences. In 2026 NCHC honored him with the Ron Brandolini Award for Excellence at a Two-Year Institution.
Named to the Fulbright Specialist Roster for 2022–2025, Steven led a choral pedagogy project with Fundación Nacional Batuta in Bogotá, Colombia, in March 2023. He serves on the Fulbright Alumni Advisory Group for Community College Faculty and Staff, and earned an Executive Graduate Certificate from the Global Leaders Institute in 2022.
I love our students, and I love my colleagues. Steven Edwards, on receiving the 2026 NCHC Ron Brandolini Award
HONORS
CONTACT
For conducting engagements, guest lectures, master classes, arts collaborations, or honors education, send Steven a note using this form.
Find Steven elsewhere