Stephen J. Ramsey

Music Director & Conductor

Stephen J. Ramsey is in his 34th season as the founding music director/conductor of the Dakota Valley Symphony where he conducts the Symphony, the Symphony Chorus, and the Summer Pops Orchestra and Chorale. A well-known conductor in the Twin Cities area, Maestro Ramsey has also been music director and conductor at the Austin Symphony Orchestra (Austin, MN) for 26 years, 10 years with the University of Minnesota Health Sciences Orchestra, and 3 years with the Willmar Area Symphony Orchestra.

Ramsey holds a master of music degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. He has studied with Glenn Block, Lee Humphries, Leonard Slatkin, William McGlaughlin, Max Rudolph, Maurice Jones, Samuel Jones, Harold Farberman, Kirk Muspratt, Eph Ehly, and James Sample.

A well-known conductor in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, Ramsey has led performances at many area colleges, concert halls and churches. He has served as music director and conductor for the Minneapolis Jewish Community Center's Chamber Orchestra, mixed and women's choruses and their Genesis Theater Company, Chimera Theater, Lakeshore Players, Anoka-Ramsey Community College, and Applause Community Theater. He has also been the director of ensembles for Hamline University and the Conducting Associate of the St. Paul Civic Symphony.

As an active guest conductor Ramsey has led the Bloomington Symphony, Health Sciences Orchestra, Minnesota Youth Symphonies, St. Paul Jewish Community Center Orchestra, Kenwood Chamber Orchestra, Linden Hills Chamber Orchestra, and the Central Chamber Orchestra.