The extraordinarily varied career of Steven Byess takes him not only to the stages of symphony orchestras and opera companies, but also to the stages and genres of Broadway, jazz and television. He is a dynamic conductor and has been hailed by critics as "masterful and brilliant," "creating the epitome of instrumental elegance" and "a talented interpreter, able to capture the sweep of a piece without neglecting detail."

He is the Music Director of the Tupelo Symphony Orchestra, the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, the Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestras, Principal Guest Conductor for the Ohio Light Opera, Cover Conductor for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and is on the conducting staff at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel. With the Ohio Light Opera he has conducted, to critical acclaim, over 400 performances of 50 diverse operas, operettas, and musical theater works, and has recorded eleven CD recordings by Newport Classics, Albany Records, and Operetta Archives of Johann Strauss’ A Night In Venice, Victor Herbert’s Naughty Marietta, Emmerich Kàlmàn’s Autumn Maneuvers, Countess Maritza, Das Veilchen vom Montmartre, Der Güte Komerad, Rudolph Friml’s The Vagabond King, Schubert's Das Dreimäderlhaus, Sigmund Romberg's Maytime, and Sullivan's The Sorcerer. He is the Music Director Emeritus of the Cobb Symphony Orchestra (Georgia), and the former opera conductor for the Cleveland Institute of Music (Ohio) and California State University - Los Angeles.

Mr. Byess has been a frequent guest conductor at the Pine Mountain Music Festival in the upper peninsula of Michigan where he has conducted productions of Le Tragédie de Carmen (Bizet/Brook), a critically acclaimed production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide with director Joshua Major and the composer’s daughter Jamie Bernstein, and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. At the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel, he has conducted productions of Puccini’s La Bohème and Robert Ward's The Crucible. In 2008, Mr. Byess conducted the members of the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra in a performance at the National Flute Association convention in August and the members of the Cleveland Orchestra in a memorial concert for oboist John Mack. Mr. Byess recently conducted his fifth tour of the U.S. with the Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra from Krakow, Poland, and in May 2011 he will return to Taipei, Taiwan and Nanning, China to lead orchestras in each city. Mr. Byess was formerly on the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Music in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Kennesaw State University in Georgia, and he previously held conducting posts with the Atlanta Ballet and the Augusta Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Byess received his Bachelor of Music Degree in classical performance and jazz studies from Georgia State University, and his Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied conducting with Louis Lane and Carl Topilow, bassoon with George Goslee and David McGill, violin with Carol Ruzicka, and piano with Olga Radosavljevich. He also attended the Pierre Monteux Memorial School for Conductors under the tutelage of Maître Charles Bruck. In addition to his conducting studies with Louis Lane, Robert Shaw, and Carl Topilow, he has worked under the auspices of the American Symphony Orchestra League with such noted conductors as Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, and Otto Werner Mueller. Mr. Byess was an assistant to conductor Robert Shaw at the Shaw Institute in Souilliac, France.

Steven Byess is a passionate advocate for the arts, much sought after for his speeches on the arts, music, music education and general education. An important community leader, he has created and organized frequent and annual collaborations with numerous choruses, chamber music ensembles, and festivals of the arts. He also wrote, co-directed and is featured in a PBS presentation entitled Count On It!, which is designed for children grades K-3, and shows the correlation of music to mathematics.

Mr. Byess was chosen by Walt Disney World Entertainment to conduct the 2000 NFL E*TRADE Superbowl Halftime show. The production had over 400 performers, including the Walt Disney World Millennium Orchestra, and international artists Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, Toni Braxton, and Edward James Olmos, and was broadcast to over 900 million viewers worldwide. Byess is also currently featured in a commercial video taping for the Starz and Encore movie channels, airing internationally.

Guest conducting for 2009-2010 includes a return to the Ohio Light Opera where he will conduct three opera productions, the Guangxi Symphony Orchestra in Nanning, China, a sixth U.S. tour with the Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra (Krakow, Poland), the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra, the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, and a gala orchestral performance for the National Flute Association in Anaheim, California. Additionally, he will direct opera productions of Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Carmen (Bizet), Kismet (Borodin), Iolanthe (Sullivan), El Capitan (Sousa), The Count of Luxembourg (Lehar), and Amahl and the Night Visitors (Menotti).

Steven is an ardent wine aficionado, a passionate Shakespeare enthusiast, and an avid motorcycle rider.