A flexible, creative and highly accomplished conductor, Rosalind Erwin is welcome on podiums both in the USA and abroad. Her credentials include performances with the Sofia Philharmonoc in Bulgaria; in concert under the auspices of NATO in Zagreb, Croatia; performances in Western Europe; and at home where, in six years, she built a fledgling regional orchestra in the suburbs of Philadelphia to one attarcting international attention, record executives and European solo artists.
Rosalind Erwin received her Bachelor's Degree in Clarinet Performance from the New School of Music in Philadelphia where she received an NEA Fellowship, and her Masters in Performance from Esther Boyer College of Music at Temple University where she studied with Anthony Gigliotti, Principal Clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra and was appointed Resident Conductor of the Composition Department. Rosalind Erwin is an accomplished instrumental performer, having appeared as clarinet soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony and having performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has studied with and been mentored by some of the great names in the conducting world, including Loren Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Leonard Slatkin and David Zinman. She has been honored by the Leopold Stokowsky Memorial Conducting Competition sponsored by the Rittenhouse Square Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Rosalind Erwin was the founder and creative force behind Musica 2000 – The Symphony Orchestra (2000 - 2005). Erwin commissioned works by emerging American composers, presenting world premieres both in the USA and abroad. Unique to Musica 2000, Erwin developed effective educational outreach programs, introducing not only instruments and music styles, but also involving students in the art of composition .
During her tenure as Music Director of the Pottstown Symphony Orchestra, Rosalind Erwin elevated this regional orchestra to exceptional artistic heights, expanded educational outreach, and brought contemporary music into the mainstream of concert programming. Among other works, Erwin commissioned and premiered the overture simple by Guggenheim Fellow and internationally respected composer, Robert Maggio; Alabanza by Philadelphia composer Kile Smith; and conducted the regional premiere of Joan Tower’s ASOL/Ford Foundation commissioned work, Made in America. Beginning in 2005, Erwin and the Orchestra’s concerts were regularly rebroadcast on Philadelphia NPR station WHYY’s Symphony Space. During Erwin’s tenure the PSO was offered a rare recording opportunity with American independent label Newport Classics. Her guest conducting engagements have included orchestras in Portugal, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, as well as throughout the USA. She was featured conductor in 2003 during American Music Week with the Sophia Philharmonic in Bulgaria. In 2009 Erwin guest conducted Sinfonijski orkestar Hvratska vojske, performing the Croatian premier of David Gillinghams’ Marimba Concerto No. 2 with renowned soloist Ivana Bilic.
Rosalind Erwin has been highly acclaimed as a conductor and educator by the legendary composer and author Samuel Adler of the Eastman School of Music. Erwin has been invited by Pennsylvania and New Jersey Music Educator Associations to guest conduct All-State, Regional and District Festival Orchestras to great acclaim. Erwin is the former Music Director and Conductor of the Delaware County Youth Orchestra, Luzerne Music Center Orchestras and Settlement Music School Advanced Studies Chamber Orchestra and Ensemble, with which she performed at The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and Independent Study Proffesor of Conducting at The College of New Jersey. Erwin has served as guest lecturer for Arcadia University's Community Scholars program, and Guest Lecturer and Celebrity Guest for the Philadelphia Orchestra Lecture/Luncheon Series.
Rosalind Erwin was hired by the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra organization in 2014 as Director and Conductor and Artistic Staff for the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, feeder orchestra to the renowned Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, now under the administrative umbrella of the PYO Music Institute. Erwin currently teaches conducting at the Bryn Mawr Conservatory and was hired as adjunct professor of Advanced Conducting at Temple University Boyer College of Music and Dance in 2019.