Category: Who’s In

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has announced the appointment of ROY THEAKER as associate concertmaster through 2012. Since studying at the Yehudi Menuhin School, London’s Royal Academy of Music, and the Vienna Conservatoire, Theaker has had a diverse career as conductor, violin soloist, chamber musician, and concertmaster. He has served as concertmaster of Portugal’s Orquestra do Algarve and as guest concertmaster with the principal orchestras of Seville, Lisbon, Tenerife, Stockholm, Tronheim, Dublin, and Bournemouth. For two years he was one of the music directors for a West End (London) production of The Lion King.

Posted April 24, 2009

The Walton Arts Center (Fayetteville, Ark.) has announced the appointment of PETER B. LANE as president and CEO, effective May 1. Lane brings more than 25 years of arts management experience to the job, including previous posts as chief executive officer for the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York State and president/CEO of the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. Also announced by the Walton Arts Center was the promotion of TERRI M. TROTTER from vice president of external affairs to chief operating officer.

Posted April 24, 2009

The Syracuse Symphony Orchestra has appointed RON SPIGELMAN principal pops conductor. He has been a regular guest conductor at the SSO since 2002 and is currently principal pops conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Springfield (Mo.) Symphony Orchestra, and music director of the Fort Worth-based Metropolitan Classical Ballet. Spigelman has served as associate conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, as well as music director of the Texas Chamber Orchestra and San Angelo (Tex.) Symphony. A native of Australia, he is an honors graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Posted April 24, 2009

MICHAEL MORGAN, music director of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Sacramento Philharmonic, has been appointed artistic advisor to the Peoria Symphony Orchestra in Illinois. He will provide programming guidance for the orchestra’s seven subscription concerts next season, each of which will be led by guest conductors who are candidates to succeed DAVID COMMANDAY as music director; Commanday begins his post as artistic director of the New Jersey Youth Symphony June 1, 2009.

Posted April 24, 2009

The Board of Directors of California’s Santa Rosa Symphony has unanimously approved the renewal of BRUNO FERRANDIS’s contract as music director. Ferrandis has led the orchestra since 2006, and the new contract extends his tenure for five years, through June of 2014.

Posted April 17, 2009

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra has announced the appointment of WADE CULBREATH as principal timpanist. An active recording artist who has performed on hundreds of Hollywood soundtracks, Culbreath had served as LACO’s acting principal timpanist during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons, as well as for its 2008 European tour. He holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music, where he was also awarded a Performer’s Certificate.

Posted April 17, 2009

The Long Island (N.Y.) Philharmonic has named KAREN B. BELUSO director of education and community engagement. A graduate of The Juilliard School with a D.M.A. in piano, she has performed extensively in recitals, as a collaborative pianist, and in concerto engagements. Beluso maintains a private teaching studio in her home town of Glen Cove, N.Y. She has also led master classes in numerous locations, and has served on the faculties of the Portledge School, the Children’s Orchestra Society, and the C.W. Post Summer Chamber Music Festival, all on Long Island.

Posted April 17, 2009

ROBERT J. SEEBACHER, director of orchestra programs at the Mobile (Ala.) Symphony Orchestra and music director/conductor of the MSO’s Youth Orchestra, has been named to an additional post as music director and conductor of the Johnson City (Tenn.) Symphony Orchestra, effective with the 2009-10 season. Seebacher has held assistant conductor positions with the University of Kentucky Symphony and Opera, Bowling Green Symphony, Bowling Green Philharmonia, Perrysburg Symphony, and Youngstown Symphony Youth Orchestra, and has appeared with the Lexington Philharmonic, Warren Philharmonic, and Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. He has led all-state and honors orchestras in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Alabama, and was on the faculty of the now-defunct Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts, where he taught music history and theory, conducting, and French horn. Seebacher recently completed doctoral studies at the University of Kentucky. He holds a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from Bowling Green State University and a bachelor’s degree in music from Youngstown State University.

Posted April 14, 2009

Iowa’s Des Moines Symphony has announced the appointment of PETER STEVENSON as director of development. A native of Waterloo, Iowa, he served most recently on the staff of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where he led several projects involving interpretive programming and interactive educational technologies. As a consultant in digital and electronic media he has worked with such clients as the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Museum of Science in Boston, Chicago’s Millennium Park, Space Center Houston, and Yosemite National Park. Before moving to San Francisco he was an exhibit developer at the Field Museum in Chicago. Stevenson holds a bachelor’s degree in art and graphic design from Iowa State University and a master’s in art history from the University of Iowa.

Posted April 10, 2009