Who We Are | Waterbury Symphony

Artistic Leadership

Maestro Leif Bjaland
Music Director & Conductor

Leif Bjaland served as the Artistic Director/Conductor of the Sarasota Orchestra from 1997 to 2012, during which time the orchestra experienced unprecedented artistic growth. As Artistic Advisor to The Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra for the last three seasons, he conducted concerts, led the orchestra on its first statewide tour and administered the search for a new music director.

A popular and active guest conductor, Mr. Bjaland made his debut at the Ravinia Festival conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program entitled "Bernstein on Broadway" also involving soloists, chorus and dancers, and his first CSO Symphony Hall performance sharing the stage with Leonard Bernstein. He has appeared with the San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Florida Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic and the symphony orchestras of Fort Worth, Nashville, Detroit, Rochester, Utah, Madison, San Jose, Rhode Island, Virginia, Harrisburg, Colorado, Long Beach, and New World Symphony. As Music Director of the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra, Bjaland has received enormous enthusiasm and critical praise for his performances and imaginative programming. This included the 2019 premiere of a multi-media program called “The American Sound”, which incorporated rare historic footage of New York City at the turn of the century, and also film and spoken commentary of Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and Aaron Copland. Bjaland is an enthusiastic proponent of music education, having taught for several summers in Venezuela as part of the country’s El Sistema program.

He received his Master’s degree in conducting from The University of Michigan, where he studied with Gustav Meier, and was a student of Leonard Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute.

Alyce Cognetta Bertz
Concertmaster

Alyce Cognetta Bertz is the Concertmaster of the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra. She studied violin with Syoko Aki of the Yale School of Music and with Charles Tregor of the Hartt School of Music.

Ms. Bertz has studied chamber music with the Cleveland Quartet, the Julliard Quartet and Joseph Gingold. As a high school student she performed in Vienna, Austria at the world premier of Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass”. She has performed concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, La Philarmonica de las Americas (Mexico), The Blossom Music Festival (Ohio), and the Waterloo Music Festival with members of the New York Philharmonic. Ms. Bertz has been violin soloist on WQXR in New York. She has appeared as a soloist with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Hartt Symphony Orchestra and has been a featured soloist with the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra on numerous occasions.

As a member of the Cognetta Trio, Ms. Bertz has appeared around New England at Cape Cod Summer Music Festival in Chatham, the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York City, Wolcott Classic Series, Whaling Church Classical Series in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, Woodbury Chamber Music Series, and in solo recitals at Geneva Opera House in New York.

Ms. Bertz performs on an Italian violin made by Postiglione in 1869. She resides in Southbury with her husband, Gary, and teaches privately in her own studio.

WSO Staff

Heidi Stubner
Executive Director

203-574-4283, ext 102

executivedirector@waterburysymphony.org

Heidi Stubner has a wealth of experience in arts management and is a musician herself. Her focus is on forging dynamic and diverse community programs that use the power of music to bring people together.

As a multi-faceted executive administrator and professional musician, Ms. Stubner has enjoyed an extensive career as a violinist in New York’s free-lance community. She was a long-time member of the American Symphony Orchestra, the Bard Festival, and numerous Broadway shows as well as a recitalist and chamber musician both nationally and abroad. For over a decade, she was the Founder, Artistic and Executive Director of the Hudson Highlands Music Festival in the Hudson River Valley.

Ms. Stubner served as Managing Director of Horizon Concerts, an organization that brought music to neglected audiences in New York City, including nursing homes, senior centers, homeless shelters, and AIDS hospices. She organized inter-generational concerts, bringing together senior citizens and public school children, combining visual art and music in live performances at Alice Tully Hall in NYC and other area venues. In addition to procuring grants for Artists-in-Residence at Bard High School Early College, she served on the faculty.

In conjunction with the Hudson Highlands Music Festival, Ms. Stubner’s dedication and commitment to reaching underserved communities was reflected in her development of and fundraising for music programs for at-risk children from the Break Aways program in Manhattan and public schools throughout the Hudson River Valley. Her innovative approach to strategic artistic partnerships and fundraising during her nine-year tenure as Assistant Dean at Manhattan School of Music demonstrated her commitment to the development of young musicians though live music, culminating in prominent events both in the Tri-state area and in Europe.

In an administrative and performing capacity, she has worked with artists including Kurt Masur, Jessye Norman, Andrea Bocelli, The Roots, Harvey Fierstein, Bernadette Peters, Reba McEntire, and Audra McDonald. Before joining the WSO, Ms. Stubner was the Vice President and Associate Director of the Medical Musician Initiative based in NYC. She is a passionate champion for enhancing healing through integrated critical care that incorporates music as medicine.