About Victoria
Lauded by critics for her “strong sense of style and drama” (The Washington Post) and her “enthusiastic and perceptive conducting”, conductor Victoria Gau brings a wide range of musical experience and expertise to her work. Maestra Gau is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Capital City Symphony (DC). In 2019 she left a nine-year tenure as Associate Conductor of National Philharmonic to assume the role of Artistic Director of Cantate, where she now conducts both the Cantate Chamber Singers and Concert Choir.
Maestra Gau has a passion for fostering ongoing expression in music and is known as a strong advocate for American composers, with a particular interest in female and BIPOC composers. Her interests extend to supporting young artists. She founded the Cantate Young Artists of Color program, where the chorus facilitates opportunities for and mentorship of young artists who are in residence for a season. The program was recently rebranded and expanded as Lift Every Voice, supporting a quartet of young artists. Gau continues to support the work of young composers through Cantate’s biannual Young Composer’s Competition, and to present young artists at Capital City Symphony through partnerships with the Novik Piano Competition and the Johansen Internationl Competition.
Gau is in demand as a leader of concerts for young audiences as well as a conductor and string educator at youth orchestra festivals and workshops. For a number of years she conducted National Philharmonic’s annual concerts for Montgomery County 2nd graders as well as the Junior Summer String Institute Orchestra. She is the former conductor of the Young Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, an elite group of string players from the DC Youth Orchestra Program, as well as the Akron Youth Symphony, and has conducted youth orchestra festivals in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. Gau has conducted Side-by Side events with DC-area youth orchestras and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, the SOGO Conservatory Orchestra (Olympia, WA), the Vermont All-State Orchestra Festival, and both the Maryland Senior and Junior All-State Orchestras. She is in demand in the region as an orchestral clinician, and teaches conducting both privately and at workshops, most recently at the 2022 American String Teachers Association National Conference. Upcoming conducting includes the NC All State Orchestra in Fall ’24.
Orchestral guest conducting includes the Alexandria (VA) and Akron (OH) Symphonies, the Friday Morning Music Club Orchestra, the Kennedy Center Messiah Sing-Along, the Open Page Ensemble, and the Columbia (MD) Symphony. She has been active as Artistic Director of the Takoma Ensemble and is the former Conductor and Music Director of the Richmond Philharmonic Orchestra in Richmond, VA.
Maestra Gau started her career music directing opera. She has served as Artistic Director and Music Director/Conductor of the Other Opera Company in Bethesda, Maryland, which she co-founded. She has also served as music director for such Washington area companies as The Washington Savoyards, Victorian Lyric Opera Company, Annapolis Opera Musicales, the Eldbrook Opera Ensemble, and the IN-Series. Maestra Gau has served on the opera faculty at George Mason University and worked with vocalists privately and in the Crittenden Opera Studio. She has toured with Odyssey Opera Theatre and the Baltimore Opera Company, performing educational outreach in schools throughout the state of Maryland.
Gau has worked with such choruses as the Fairfax Choral Society, the Metropolitan Chorus, Capitol Hill Chorale, and the Congressional Chorus. She assisted in preparation of the 150-voice National Philharmonic Chorale for approximately 6 concerts per season, and served as Co-Director of the National Philharmonic Singers, and Director and Co-Conductor of the National Philharmonic Summer Choral Institutes.
Maestra Gau holds degrees in Viola Performance and Conducting from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she won the Phi Kappa Lambda Prize for Musicianship.
