S. Shade Zajac is a freelance conductor, composer and cellist. He is the Principal Conductor and Music Director of both the Genesee Symphony Orchestra and the Finger Lakes Symphony Orchestra. He was appointed to these positions in the Spring of 2016 and 2017, respectively. After appearing as a guest conductor in 2019 and 2020, Mr. Zajac was chosen to be the next Conductor and Music Director for the Orchard Park Symphony Orchestra. The 2025/2026 season will be Mr. Zajac’s 10th Season as Conductor and Music Director of the Genesee Symphony Orchestra. 

Mr. Zajac was a student of Professor Nancy Strelau and has conducted the Nazareth College Chamber Orchestra, Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra and the OpusWerkes No.2  as well as her orchestra, the Greater Rochester Women’s Philharmonic. Mr Zajac was awarded the Paul Vermel 2015-2016 Apprenticeship with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra in Chicago, working with Maestro Kim Diehnelt. He was also accepted as a Fellow in the BCO December 2015 Workshop under the direction of Maestro Markand Thakar, where he conducted the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra in selections such as Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings”. In the spring of 2016, Mr. Zajac was an active participant in the 8th Ithaca International Conducting Master Class with Maestros Donald Schleicher and Dr. Jeffery Meyer. He led the Ithaca College Chamber and Symphony Orchestras in performances of Berio’s Folk Songs for Mezzo Soprano and Orchestra, and Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Mr. Zajac has conducted the Oneida Jr. High All County Orchestra, the Zone 3 Sr. High Area All State Orchestra, and will conduct both the Onondaga Jr. High All County Orchestra and the Monroe Sr. High All County Orchestra in 2024. In October of 2025, Mr. Zajac will work with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra as an active member of the 2025 International Conductors Guild Workshop.

Mr. Zajac has collaborated with many world renown soloists such as Philadelphia Orchestra Concertmaster David Kim, Flutist Carol Wincenc, and Grammy Award Winning Pianist Jeffery Beigel to name a few. He conducts a wide variety of repertoire placing emphasis on standard works alongside more recent composers. This season he will conduct performances of works such as Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, Sibelius’s 7th Symphony, and Mahler’s immense Sixth Symphony.

Mr. Zajac is founder of the Seneca Summer Music Festival and Orchestra, providing events that include chamber music and orchestra performances. Emphasis is placed on raising funds for charities and offering classical music to surrounding communities in upstate New York. In 2018, the Genesee Symphony Orchestra performed a special concert as part of the festival. The Summer of 2025 will mark 10 years of the festival. 

As a cellist, Mr. Zajac performs chamber and solo performances frequently and was a two time winner of the Nazareth College Concerto Competition. He is the Assistant Principal Cellist of the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes and has also performed with the Glimmerglass Opera Festival and the Albany Symphony.  Shade is also an accomplished drummer, recording and performing in a rock band called “The Third Half”. In February 2026, Mr. Zajac will perform the Dvorak Cello Concerto in a special concert with the Genesee Symphony Orchestra and Guest Conductor Nancy Pettersen Strelau. 

A prolific composer, Mr. Zajac has written music for solo cello (commissioned by Pro. Mimi Hwang), a cello sonata, harp concerto, violin concerto,  string quartets, and pieces for percussion ensemble, chamber groups and orchestra. In April 2016, he completed his first symphony in which he dedicated to his teacher Nancy Strelau, the Greater Rochester Women’s Philharmonic and the Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra. In October 2018, the Genesee Symphony premiered “Electric Dream for Acoustic Orchestra” which he wrote for the Orchestra. The 2025/2026 Season will see the premier of his Concerto for Harp and Orchestra entitled “I am the Lizard King” with Rosanna Moore and the Genesee Symphony Orchestra. His song cycle “Mementos”  for Soprano, Cello, and Piano will also be premiered this season.