[2] From 2005 to 2014, Stern was the music director and conductor of the Port Angeles Symphony, during which tenure he introduced dozens of works to the orchestra's repertoire and was credited with raising its playing standards to unprecedented heights.
A devotee of unjustly neglected works, Stern is particularly noted for his frequent performances of English music, especially that of Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Stern has also led Seattle, Northwest, West Coast, U. S., and world premieres of works by Alexis Alrich, Elsa Barraine, Caroline Berkenbosch, Louise Bertin, Mélanie Bonis, Nicole Buetti, Aaron Copland, Roque Cordero, Jean Coulthard, Richard Danielpour, Nana Forte, Gina Gillie, Ruth Gipps, Maria Grenfell, Gustav Holst, Helvi Leiviskä, Sky Macklay, Jocelyn Morlock, Karl Nord, Richard Peaslee, Goffredo Petrassi, Gerard Schurmann, Rodion Shchedrin, Paul Stanhope, James Tenney, Aurelio de la Vega, Grace Williams, Isidora Žebeljan, and Bernd Alois Zimmermann.
His music for the theater includes incidental scores for productions of Richard III, The Winter's Tale, King Lear, The Pillowman, Art and A Christmas Carol.
From 2009 through 2015 he was on the faculty at Cornish College of the Arts, where he taught composition, conducting, orchestral repertoire studies and history of film music.