Kathleen Deanna Battle is an American operatic soprano known for her distinctive vocal range and tone. Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid-1970s. She made her opera debut in 1975. Battle expanded her repertoire into lyric soprano and coloratura soprano roles during the 1980s and early 1990s, until her eventual dismissal from the Metropolitan Opera in 1994. She later has focused on recording and the concert stage. After a 22-year absence from the Met, Battle performed a concert of spirituals at the Metropolitan Opera House in November 2016.
Margaret Eleanor Hillis was an American conductor. She was the founder and first director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
The Portland Youth Philharmonic (PYP) is the oldest youth orchestra in the United States, established in 1924 as the Portland Junior Symphony (PJS). Now based in Portland, Oregon, the orchestra's origin dates back to 1910, when music teacher Mary V. Dodge began playing music for local children in Burns, Oregon. Dodge purchased instruments for the children and organized the orchestra, which would become known as the Sagebrush Symphony Orchestra. After touring the state, including a performance at the Oregon State Fair in Salem, the orchestra disbanded in 1918 when Dodge moved to Portland. There, Dodge opened a violin school and became music director of the Irvington School Orchestra.
The Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg is an Austrian orchestra, based in the town and state of Salzburg. The orchestra gives concerts in several Salzburg venues, including the Großes Festspielhaus, the Great Hall of the Stiftung Mozarteum. In addition to symphony orchestra concerts, the orchestra serves as accompanying ensemble for operas and musical theatre performances at the Salzburg State Theater.
Donato Cabrera is an American conductor with an active international career. He is the Music Director of the California Symphony and the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and was the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2009-2016.
Brady Allred is an American conductor of choral and orchestral music who currently serves as the artistic director and conductor of the Salt Lake Choral Artists, a regional choir organization with five choirs with a total of approximately 350 singers. He is the father of Loren Allred of The Greatest Showman fame.
Melinda O'Neal is a conductor of choral and choral-orchestral music, professor emerita of music, and author.
The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra (A2SO) is an American orchestra based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is one of two major symphony orchestras in Southeast Michigan alongside the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Founded in 1928, the A2SO plays most of its concerts at the Michigan Theater and at the University of Michigan's Hill Auditorium.
The New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) is a non-profit organization based in New Providence, New Jersey. Founded in 1979, it provides young instrumentalists from all around New Jersey with music performance and educational experiences. There are three string ensembles, three full symphony orchestras, three flute ensembles, chamber music programs, music theory classes presented in accordance with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (UK), a summer camp, and other various outreach activities. It operates under auspices the Wharton Institute of the Performing Arts. The symphony performs regularly in the United States and Europe. Helen Cha-Pyo has Artistic Director of the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts and Conductor of the Youth Symphony since July 2018.
The Oregon East Symphony is an orchestra based in Pendleton, Oregon, United States. Highlights of the orchestra's repertoire include ongoing cycles of the orchestral works of Beethoven and Mahler, as well as major works by Elgar, Mozart, Hindemith, Rachmaninoff and Dvořák. The orchestra has also presented world-premieres of works by composers including Emily Doolittle, John McKinnon, Leandro Espinosa, Margaret Mayer and the film-composer Christopher Thomas.
David Eaton is an American composer and conductor who has been the music director of the New York City Symphony since 1985. He has also been an active composer and arranger, with 82 original compositions and over 900 arrangements and original songs to his credit. He has appeared as a guest conductor with orchestras in Asia, Canada, Israel, Europe, Central and South America, Russia, Ukraine and the United States. His compositions and arrangements have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the United Nations and by orchestras in the United States, Asia, Israel, South America and Europe. He also served at the conductor of the historic Goldman Band from 1998 to 2000 conducting the ensemble in concerts throughout the New York metropolitan area including performances at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Mark Grey is an American classical music composer, sound designer and sound engineer.
The Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra is the primary orchestra of the University of Notre Dame. The orchestra is an ensemble of 70-80 players devoted to the orchestral music of the 18th through 20th centuries. The orchestra is open to all members of the Notre Dame community; non-music majors who wish to continue instrumental performance during their college careers are particularly encouraged to participate. The orchestra currently rehearses on Tuesday evenings and presents three campus concerts in the Marie DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts. The orchestra also occasionally takes off-campus tours.
The history of the Chicago Symphony Chorus began on September 22, 19 57, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) announced that Margaret Hillis would organize and train a symphony chorus. Music Director Fritz Reiner’s original intent was to utilize the Chorus for the two weeks of subscription concerts that season, performing — George Frideric Handel’s Messiah in December and Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem in April. When Bruno Walter informed the Orchestra’s management that his March 1958 appearances would be his last in Chicago the board president Eric Oldberg insisted that Walter conduct Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem utilizing the new Chorus. During that first season, it would have been logistically impossible for Hillis to audition and prepare a new Chorus for three major works within less than four months. As an interim fix the Apollo Chorus of Chicago was used for the Christmas Messiah concerts.
Robert H Bass was an American conductor who notably served as the music director of the Collegiate Chorale in New York City for almost three decades. Bass studied conducting at Mannes College The New School for Music under Richard Westenburg, who was the Collegiate Chorale's director at that time. In 1979, at the age of 26, he succeeded Westenburg in the position, making his conducting debut at Carnegie Hall with the choir that year.
Alan Heatherington is one of the leading orchestra conductors in Illinois. He has conducted and/or played with virtually all of the major orchestras in the Chicago area. He was the Music Director of Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Master Singers, and is Music Director Emeritus of all three ensembles.
Michael Adelson is an American orchestral conductor. Adelson is a staff and cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic—where he also leads regular clinics and workshops for the orchestra's Department of Education—as well as conductor of the Auros Group for New Music in Boston.
Monmouth Civic Chorus is a community chorus in Monmouth County, New Jersey, USA. Monmouth Civic Chorus was established in 1949 and draws its members primarily from the Monmouth County community. Performances encompass choral classics; premieres; rare and contemporary music; musical theater, opera, and operetta; the annual December concert featuring selections from Handel's Messiah and well-known holiday music; Christmas carols and small-ensemble performances around the community; and collaborations with arts partners. Monmouth Civic Chorus has performed on tour in many European countries, and at numerous performance venues in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
The Pasadena Symphony and POPS is an American orchestra based in Pasadena, California. In 2010 it took up residence at the Ambassador Auditorium, where its Classics Series runs from October through April. Since 2012 it performs a summer series at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden from June through September.
The Portland Columbia Symphony is a symphony orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, founded in 1982 as the Palatine Hill Symphony by Jerry Luedders. Then director of the school of music at Lewis & Clark College and conductor of the school's orchestra, Luedders formed the ensemble by recruiting the "best" players from several community orchestras. Rehearsals were originally held at Evans Auditorium on the campus of Lewis & Clark. Luedders served as conductor and music director until 1986.