Dr. Kevin Sütterlin is an internationally sought-after conductor and pedagogue. He believes in the power of music. To him, music is the most effective tool to bring together people from all backgrounds. His life’s work is dedicated to building bridges and belonging, fostering dialogue, building friendships, and contributing towards a more open and more peaceful world, one note at a time. 

Sütterlin is Director of Orchestral Activities and Opera and Associate Professor of Conducting at Concordia College, as well as Distinguished Guest Professor at Ocean University of China. Under his leadership, the program at Concordia has grown into one of the Midwest’s premier destinations for 21st century orchestral training. The Concordia Orchestra has received two EMMY awards, and has won the prestigious American Prize. Sütterlin is Music Director of the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra, one of Wisconsin’s finest professional orchestras, and winner of the American Prize in the Professional Orchestra division 2023 (Sütterlin himself won 2nd prize in the professional orchestra conducting category). Together with his best friend, Dr. Mathias O. Elmer, he is Music Co-Director of Sinfonietta Memphis, an ensemble that provides free concerts and educational experiences for the Greater Memphis communities. The only orchestra in the U.S. with a co-directorship model, and celebrating its 12th season, Sinfonietta Memphis’s conductors Elmer and Sütterlin proudly represent the orchestra’s credo: friendship through music. They also co-direct The Sinfonietta Academy for Historically Informed Performance Practice which has recently been recognized as one of the country’s leading period performance practice institutes. Since 2019, Sütterlin has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Qingdao Concert Hall Symphony in China where he just returned from a highly praised series of concerts. Sütterlin serves as Principal Conductor of Fargo-Moorhead Opera, where he most recently directed productions of Rossini’s La Cenerentola and Humperdinck’s Hänsel and Gretel to great acclaim, and regularly conducts their opera gala. This upcoming season, he will conduct Puccini’s Tosca.

Considering himself a “citizen of the world,” Sütterlin has been building musical bridges across four different continents and has led his ensembles on many successful national and international tours. He has performed and taught across the globe including Austria, Bulgaria, China, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. He has taught at Shanghai Conservatory, Sichuan Conservatory, Ocean University of China, University of Cape Town, University of the Pacific, University of Arkansas, University of Hawaii, Musikhochschule Luzern, University of Memphis, Purdue University, and Virginia Tech University.

With a great love and passion for teaching, Sütterlin is also Artistic Director of the Northern Valley Youth Orchestras, and holds The Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Endowed Orchestra Chair of the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival, directing the organization’s orchestral and conducting programs. He has been recognized as one of the country’s leading conducting pedagogues, being praised for his keen analytical eye and deep understanding of conducting technique and physique, paired with a kind and caring approach that has empowered over 150 conductors and conducting students across the globe. At Concordia College, Sütterlin designed and directs a one-of-its-kind orchestral conducting certificate program, making it the only place in the nation with such an undergraduate curriculum. He is a much sought-after clinician for regional, state-wide, national, and international music festivals and workshops.

Championing the music of living as well as historically under-represented composers, Sütterlin commits to broad and diverse programming on every single concert with all of his ensembles. Using his own funds, Sütterlin commissions between three to six new works every single year. He has commissioned and recorded pieces of numerous living composers, including Stella Sung, Shuying Li, Ben Krause, Theresa Martin, Christopher Ducasse, Evan Williams, Brianna Ware, René Clausen, Mark Buller, Adam Hochstatter, Dan Perttu, and Russ Peterson, among others. He is one of the world’s leading scholars of the music of late American composer Dominick Argento, sharing a close friendship with Argento until his death in 2019. Sütterlin’s recording collaborations include numerous CD and DVD productions. From 2011 until 2018, he served on the board of directors of the Zurich Music Association Switzerland, re-designing training curricula for both amateur as well as professional musicians that fit the needs of the 21st century. Sütterlin further serves on the board of the Miller Family Music Education Scholarship through the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region.

Sütterlin received his doctorate and master’s degrees in orchestral conducting from The University of Memphis where he studied with Dr. Pu-Qi Jiang and Michael Stern, and a bachelor’s degree in conducting from the Hochschule Luzern—Musik, Switzerland. Furthermore, he has earned a certificate in Inclusive Teaching and Diversity Leadership. Sütterlin is an awardee of the Hirschmann Foundation Prize of Switzerland, the Hendrickson Fine Arts Grant, the University of Memphis International Research scholarship, and the University of Memphis Creative Achievement Award.

In his free time, Sütterlin loves to spend time with his wife April, and their three cats. He loves traveling and learning from different cultures. Sütterlin is a Super Mario aficionado — daily references to the game in rehearsals substantiate (t)his claim. The introvert’s secret life goal is to one day own a lighthouse in which he could get stuck during high tides and study scores while listening to the crashing waves.