Rebekah O’Brien
Principal Guest Conductor

Music, dance, and friendship were always at the center of Ms. Rebekah O’Brien’s activities as a child and from an early age the question grew: could she create her life out of music, movement, and friendship? As this question continues to inspire her, Rebekah is delighted to experience her childhood dream blossoming through her opportunities to work with musicians of the Newark Symphony. In 2006, during a summer filled with conducting master-classes in America and abroad, Rebekah met Simeone Tartaglione and his wife. This was the beginning of a heartwarming and inspiring friendship. Ms. O’Brien found a teacher and friend in Gerardo Edelstein and completed her studies in conducting under his direction at Penn State University. Currently, Ms. O’Brien serves as the orchestra director at Juniata College and is invited often as a guest clinician by various community orchestras throughout Pennsylvania. Deepening her understanding of movement and its relationship to music, in 2016 Ms. O’Brien completed an intensive training in the art of Eurythmy in Northern California. She shares those gifts now as the Eurythmy teacher at the Susquehanna Waldorf School. She currently lives with her beautiful and quickly growing daughter, Genavieve, in central Pennsylvania.