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Lauded by critics for her "strong sense of style and drama" and her "enthusiastic and perceptive conducting",  conductor Victoria Gau brings a wide range of musical experience and expertise to the CCS.  She is the conductor of the Young Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, an elite group of string players from the DC Youth Orchestra Program, and is the former Conductor and Music Director of the Richmond Philharmonic Orchestra in Richmond, VA.

Maestra Gau is well-known in the Washington DC area for her work as Artistic Director and Music Director/Conductor of the Other Opera Company in Bethesda, Maryland, which she co-founded in 1992.  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.  She has guest conducted the Heights Civic Orchestra (Cleveland, OH), the Akron (OH) Symphony, the Friday Morning Music Club Orchestra, and has been a guest conductor for the Kennedy Center Messiah Sing-Along.

She is in demand around the region as a conductor and string educator at youth orchestra festivals and workshops.  She has conducted three times the Central Virginia Junior Regional Orchestra Festival.  Additionally, she has conducted the District XII Senior Regional Orchestra in McLean, VA and the Henrico (VA) All-County Orchestra, as well as the Kingston, NY Festival Orchestra.  She has been conductor of the Akron Youth Symphony in Akron, OH, and Assistant Conductor of the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra.

Ms. Gau is an active vocal coach, serving on the opera faculty at George Mason University, and working 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.  She is an active free-lance violist, pianist, and teacher.  Ms. Gau holds degrees in Viola Performance and Conducting from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she won the Phi Kappa Lambda Prize for Musicianship.