Composer, conductor, and music educator Russell Steinberg was selected for the 2024 Musical America Top 30 Professionals of the Year. In that same year, he publicly released his online catalog of one hundred original compositions. His recent orchestral work "Self-Evident," commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, was premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York, Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, and Barnum Hall in Santa Monica in June 2026. In May 2026 the Russell Steinberg Ensemble performed four world premieres in Thayer Hall at the Colburn School of Performing Arts. His piano trio "Paleface" is recorded on Albany Records with Trio Accento. Three orchestras—the New West Symphony in Los Angeles, the Bay Atlantic Symphony in New Jersey, and the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra in Baltimore—commissioned and premiered "Cosmic Dust," a work that Science News featured in its issue celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope. A Daniel Pearl Foundation commission, "Stories From My Favorite Planet," tells the story of Wall Street Journalist Daniel Pearl, alternating music with readings of Pearl’s own brilliant tragi-comic articles. Steinberg’s Hanukkah fantasy "Lights On!" is performed annually by the Bay Atlantic Symphony in New Jersey. 

Steinberg’s music has received awards and grants from ASCAP (Young Composers Grant and ASCAPLUS), Composers Inc., NACUSA, MacDowell Colony, Aspen Composer Fellowships, First Prize in the New World String Quartet competition, the HEAR NOW Festival, a Gold Medal Jury’s Choice at the Park City Film Music Festival, the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT), and the Jewish Center for Culture and Creativity. His solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral music has had extensive performances in the United States and worldwide. 

Steinberg is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra, which celebrated its 25th anniversary and recently returned from a successful Carnegie Hall Tour where it headlined a special America 250th celebration concert that featured five youth orchestras. He is equally passionate about encouraging classical listeners with preconcert talks for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. An enthusiastic fan base participates in his regular Zoom music lecture series as well as his Classical Listening Hangouts. 

Steinberg holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, studying with Pulitzer prize-winning composer Leon Kirchner, an M.M. from the New England Conservatory studying with Arthur Berger, and a B.A. summa cum laude from UCLA with Elaine Barkin, Roy Travis, and Paul Reale. His early instrumental and composition teachers were Dorothy Compinsky (piano, classical guitar, violin), Kenneth Klauss (composition), Earle C. Voorhies (piano), Salome Arkatov (piano), and Ron Purcell (classical guitar). 

Information about Steinberg’s music and music lectures is available at www.russellsteinberg.com