Gerard Floriano is an accomplished conductor and music educator whose passions include conducting orchestral, operatic, and choral repertoire.  Maestro Floriano maintains a busy schedule as artistic director, music director, music educator, and guest conductor, having led performances and productions throughout Europe and the United States.

As Distinguished Professor of Conducting and Ensembles in the School of the Performing Arts at SUNY Geneseo, Floriano serves as Music Director/Conductor of the Geneseo Symphony Orchestra and Director of Choral Activities/Conductor of the Geneseo Chamber Singers.  Additionally, Maestro Floriano served as the founding Artistic Director and visionary force of Finger Lakes Opera.  Under his artistic leadership, Finger Lakes Opera garnered the enviable reputation as the premier summer opera experience for audiences in upstate New York.  Floriano has been described by the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle as “nothing less than a virtuosic conductor” who leads his orchestra “with color, precision and a welcome degree of sweep.”   FLO’s  production of L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti garnered this acclaim from Rochester City Newspaper, “…Musical director and Finger Lakes Opera artistic director Gerard Floriano paced the whole show to perfection, and the orchestra had every Donizettian detail in place.”  Additionally, FLO’s recent production of Verdi’s Aida under Floriano’s leadership was named the “2023 Best Professional Opera Production” by Broadway World magazine.

2025-2026 highlights include guest conducting appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in their holiday pops concerts, William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony and Dvorak’s New World Symphony with Geneseo Symphony Orchestra, as well as a two-week eastern European concert tour with the Geneseo Chamber Singers.  Recent notable engagements include guest conducting the Orchestra and Chorus of the Cappella Musicale di San Franceso in performances of both the Mozart and Salieri Requiems as part of the 2024 Ravenna Festival, as well as the world premier of  a new opera by composer B.E. Boykin and librettist Jarrod Lee entitled Two Corners at Finger Lakes Opera.

Past engagements have seen Maestro Floriano lead a momentous performance of Beethoven’s 9th  Symphony as well as six sold-out performances throughout Spain and Portugal with the Geneseo Chamber Singers.   Additionally Maestro Floriano recently led a production of  Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia with FLO, a LIVE From Hochstein performance by the Geneseo Chamber Singers, and a performance of Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Geneseo Festival Singers and Geneseo Symphony Orchestra.

Floriano is a recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity.  Past conducting positions have included serving as Music Director of the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, Resident Conductor at the Brevard Music Center, Co-artistic Director of Mercury Opera Rochester, as well as conducting fellowships at the Aspen Summer Music Festival and the Oregon Bach Festival.  Floriano lives in Rochester, NY with his wife, Joan Floriano, who is also an accomplished performer and teacher of voice.