Gelfand was Professor of Music at the Dana School of Music of Youngstown State University 1975-2013, and Director of Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, Opera and Music Theater Productions 1980-1990. He is YSU Professor Emeritus, having retired from there in 2013. He was Music Director of the Ashtabula Area Orchestra 1992-2008. Recent guest conducting included four engagements as part of the Bulgarian Cultural Exchange with Bulgarian Maestro Svilen Simeonov, conducting the Vidin State Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sofia Sinfoniette. Each summer since 1999 he conducts the 75 member Chamber Orchestra at the String Camp in Rapid City, South Dakota. He is a member of the board of directors and a judge for the Irving Klein International String Competition held each June in San Francisco.

 

     As a concert cellist, Gelfand has performed throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.  He has studied with Marion Feldman (Manhattan School of Music), Janos Starker and Fritz Magg (Indiana University), Ronald Leonard (Eastman School of Music), Theo Saltzman (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra), William Stokking and Elsa Hilger (Philadelphia Orchestra), Harvey Shapiro (The Juilliard School), and Mihaly Virizlay (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra). He has performed under the baton of many of the world's leading conductors as a member of the Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and Nice Philharmonic Orchestra (France). He has been principal cellist of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and, since 1975, principal cellist of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, Warren Philharmonic Orchestra and Opera Western Reserve. He holds the honor and distinction of being principal cellist, guest soloist and also guest conductor of the Warren Philharmonic.

 

    Michael resides in Boardman with his wife Amy, a school psychologist with the Mahoning County Educational Service Center, and their two cats. Michael enjoys swimming, biking, traveling, playing chamber music with friends, and reading legal thrillers and science fiction. Their son Nate is a professional musician in Columbus and daughter Lily is a professional dancer with David Dorfman Dance, based in New York City.