The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) is a full-time professional chamber orchestra based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In collaboration with five Artistic Partners, the orchestra's musicians present more than 130 concerts and educational programs each year in over 14 venues throughout the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. They are regularly heard on American Public Media's nationally syndicated radio programs "Performance Today" and SymphonyCast.
The Houston Symphony is an American orchestra based in Houston, Texas. The orchestra is resident at the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts.
The Honourable Thomas (Tommy) Benjamin Banks was a Canadian pianist, conductor, composer, television personality and senator. He was married to a musical theatre hobbyist, Ida Heller, the woman who would eventually run Banks Associated Music Ltd., founded by Banks himself.
Douglas Yeo is an American bass trombonist who played in the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 2012, where he held the John Moors Cabot Bass Trombone Chair. He was also on the faculty of the New England Conservatory. In 2012 he retired from the BSO and accepted a position as professor of trombone at the Arizona State University School of Music, a position he held until 2016. From 2019 to 2023, he was trombone professor at Wheaton College (Illinois), and he was professor of trombone at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2022-2024.
John Marcellus is a trombone musician and teacher. He was Professor of Trombone at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, and past Chair of the Woodwind, Brass, and Percussion Department. In addition to his trombone teaching responsibilities at Eastman, Dr. Marcellus was the conductor of the Eastman Trombone Choir, Eastman Bionic Bones, and the trombonist with the Eastman Brass. Dr. Marcellus joined the faculty of the Eastman School in 1978, and was named the Kilbourn Professor from 1982 to 1983. He succeeded the trombonist and teacher, Emory Remington, who served as Professor of Trombone at Eastman close to 50 years. Professor Marcellus retired in 2014 after 36 years at Eastman.
Timothy Cobb is the American current principal double bassist with the New York Philharmonic. He previously taught at the Peabody Institute of Music, and joined the Manhattan School of Music faculty in 1992. Cobb also currently teaches at SUNY Purchase, Lynn University, Rutgers University: Mason Gross School of the Arts, YOA Orchestra of the Americas, and Mannes School of Music Preparatory Division. He is the current chair of the double-bass department at the Juilliard School, where he has been on faculty since 2002.
The Shreveport Symphony Orchestra(SSO) is based in Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish and the largest city in north Louisiana. The SSO performs most of its concerts in the newly renovated RiverView Theater (formerly Shreveport Civic Theater). Founded in 1948, the symphony remains the longest continually performing professional orchestra in Louisiana.
The Symphony Six were a group of Canadian musicians under contract to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) who were denied entry to the United States for a concert tour in November 1951. Coming at the height of the McCarthy era in the US, the six musicians – Ruth Budd, Dirk Keetbaas, William Kuinka, Abe Mannheim, John Moskalyk, and Steven Staryk – were denied visas on the suspicion of being involved in communist activities. The TSO sent other musicians in their place and completed its tour. The six musicians resumed playing with the orchestra upon its return to Canada.
The San Antonio Symphony was a full-time professional symphony orchestra based in San Antonio, Texas. Its season ran from late September to early June. Sebastian Lang-Lessing, its music director from 2010 to 2020, was the last to serve in that capacity. The orchestra was a resident organization of the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in San Antonio. In August 2022, the orchestra's musicians reformed as the San Antonio Philharmonic, a name first used in 1914, and announced a ten-concert classical-music series for the 2022–23 season to be given at First Baptist Church of San Antonio, 100 yards from Tobin Center.
Gregor Widholm is an Austrian academic and musician, and from 2007 to 2012 Vice-Rector of the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.
Christoph Koncz is an Austrian-Hungarian conductor, performing internationally with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra London, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, hr‑Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal and Hong Kong Philharmonic.
The International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) is a Players' Conference of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM)
The Rockford Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Rockford, Illinois, USA. Currently in its 80th season, the orchestra is the third largest orchestra in the state of Illinois. The RSO offices are located in the Riverfront Museum Park. The orchestra performs in the Coronado Performing Arts Center.
Peter Askim is an American composer of modern classical music, conductor, music educator and a double bassist.
The International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians is the junior section of the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition, and it is the largest competition for junior performers up to 17 years of age. The competition was established in 1992 on the initiative of the Association of Tchaikovsky Competition Stars and is held in the sections of piano, violin, and cello.
José Feghali was a Brazilian pianist, who, until his death, was an Artist-in-Residence at Texas Christian University's school of music in piano. He was the gold medalist winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1985.
Marco Antonio Mazzini is a Peruvian clarinetist.
Willis Page, was a musician and symphony orchestra conductor. He conducted three major US orchestras – in Nashville, Tennessee, Des Moines, Iowa, and Jacksonville, Florida. He was also the associate conductor in Buffalo, New York, where he conducted three quarters of all concerts and has been guest conductor for several orchestras including the Boston Pops Orchestra, Denver, St Louis, Rochester, Hartford, Muncie, Yomiuri, Toronto and Jerusalem. He was the first US conductor of a major Japanese symphony orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. He was the first conductor to hire black musicians in a classical orchestra in the USA.
Richard K. Davis is an American businessman. Since January 2, 2019 Davis has served as the chief executive officer of Make-A-Wish America, having previously served as Executive Chairman and President of U.S. Bancorp.
The Chicago Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois, governed by the Chicago Philharmonic Society. Founded in 1988 by principals of the Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago, it is a musician-governed, non-profit organization consisting of nearly 200 classical music performers from the Chicago area. Since 2013, the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor has been Scott Speck.