Adam Stern was born in Hollywood in 1955. His career has mostly been that of a versatile and active musician - principally a symphonic conductor, also a composer, pianist, and published writer on music. He was the 1990 Grammy winner for "Classical Producer of the Year", an award garnered for a series of American symphonic music CDs with the Seattle Symphony conducted by Gerard Schwarz. Stern's appearance in "The Competition" came about as a cheerful fluke: a good friend of Stern's from college had become an actors' agent, heard that the part of "Mark Landau" had gone unfilled after weeks of searching, remembered Stern, and landed him an audition. Stern recalls the experience with great affection, particularly his working relationships with stars Richard Dreyfuss and Sam Wanamaker and writer/director Joel Oliansky. Stern currently resides in Seattle, where he conducts the Seattle Philharmonic, the Sammamish Symphony, and the Federal Way Symphony; he also teaches and lectures on music. He has conducted the background scores to numerous films, including "Runaway Jury", "Heist", "13 Ghosts", and "Just Visiting".