Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes, where Lake Huron flows into the St. Clair River in the Southwestern Ontario region, which forms the Canada–United States border, directly across from Port Huron, Michigan.
Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 28,983 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the west by Port Huron Township, but the two are administered autonomously.
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood. Jader Bignamini is the current music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, with Jeff Tyzik as Principal Pops Conductor, Enrico Lopez-Yañez as Principal Pops Conductor Designate, and Na'Zir McFadden as assistant conductor. Leonard Slatkin, the previous music director, is the orchestra's current music director laureate. Neeme Järvi, music director from 1990 to 2005, is the orchestra's current music director emeritus.
Charles Édouard Dutoit is a Swiss conductor. He is the principal guest conductor for the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia.
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
McMorran Arena is an entertainment complex in Port Huron, Michigan consisting of a 4,800-seat multi-purpose arena and a theater. It was designed by Alden B. Dow and built in 1960 for $3.5 million. The exterior of the complex is faced with red brick with limestone accents.
Julian Rachlin is a Lithuanian-born violinist, violist and conductor.
The Ottawa Symphony Orchestra (OSO) is a full size orchestra in Ottawa, Canada, including professional, student and amateur musicians. With around 100 musicians, the OSO is Ottawa's largest orchestra, which allows it to perform large symphonic repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by Canadian composers.
Samuel Jones is an American composer and conductor.
The Omaha Symphony is a professional orchestra performing more than 200 concerts and presentations annually in Omaha, Nebraska and throughout the orchestra's home region. The orchestra was established in 1921. It is considered a major American orchestra, classified under "Group 2" among the League of American Orchestras, which ranks symphony orchestras by annual budget, with Group 1 the largest and Group 8 the smallest. Its annual budget in 2022 was approximately $8.4 million. The orchestra's home and principal venue is the 2,005-seat Holland Performing Arts Center, the $100 million purpose-built facility designed by Polshek Partnership that opened in October 2005. In a review, The Dallas Morning News called the Holland "one of the country's best-sounding" symphony halls.
The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra (TBSO) is a Canadian professional orchestra based in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
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 101 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. From 2018 to 2024 we was the principal conductor of the Hyo Jeong Youth Orchestra in South Korea. In 2022 he self-published his first book, What Music Tells Me: Beauty, Truth and Goodness and Our Cultural Inheritance.
The award winning Georgian Bay Symphony (GBS) located in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, was founded in 1972 by a small group of dedicated area musicians and became a Canadian Registered Charity in 1982. It is considered a significant cultural institution in Owen Sound and area. The GBS is a community orchestra with over 60 volunteer musicians and a core group of professionals under Music Director Jeffrey Pollock. The GBS performs five Main Series concerts at the East Ridge Community School in the 761-seat Owen Sound Collegiate and Vocational Institute Community Auditorium each season. Guest artists have included some of Canada’s best musical talent including Shauna Rolston, Alain Trudel, George Gao, Adrian Anantawan, Richard Raymond, and Jonathan Crow.
Carlo Ponti Jr. is an Italian orchestral conductor working in the United States. He is the son of late film producer Carlo Ponti Sr. and Italian actress Sophia Loren, and the older brother of film director Edoardo Ponti.
The Windsor Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra located in Windsor, Ontario. The orchestra performs in Southwestern Ontario, at the Capitol Theatre, Home of the WSO.
The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The orchestra’s principal home is the 1,970-seat Belk Theater of the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. The official chorus of the orchestra is the Charlotte Master Chorale. The orchestra also serves as the resident orchestra for Opera Carolina and Charlotte Ballet. The Symphony Park amphitheater at SouthPark is home to the orchestra’s Summer Pops concerts.
Brian Jackson is a British-Canadian conductor, organist and pianist. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1974. Until 2012 he was Principal Pops Conductor of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Orchestra London, and the Victoria Symphony.
Jean-Marie Beaudet was a Canadian conductor, organist, pianist, radio producer, and music educator. He had a long career with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, serving variously as a music producer, programing director, conductor, and administrator. With the CBC Symphony Orchestra he conducted the premiere recordings of works by many Canadian composers, including pieces by Maurice Blackburn, Claude Champagne, J.-J. Gagnier, Clermont Pépin, and Healey Willan.
H. Robert Reynolds is an American musician, conductor and academic. He is currently the principal conductor of the Wind Ensemble at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, where he holds the H. Robert Reynolds Professorship in Wind Conducting.
Black conductors are musicians of African, Caribbean, African-American ancestry and other members of the African diaspora who are musical ensemble leaders who direct classical music performances, such as an orchestral or choral concerts, or jazz ensemble big band concerts by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms, face and head. Conductors of African descent are rare, as the vast majority are male and Caucasian.
