The Lake County Symphony Orchestra, based in Gurnee, Illinois.
In Monday’s (11/18) Chicago Tribune, Joseph States writes, “This marks 20 years since the founding of the Lake County Symphony Orchestra … standing today as the only professional orchestra in the county. The group has its origins in a community church orchestra in Zion. Executive and artistic director Ron Arden was hired in 1998 to run the group, ultimately leaving in 2003. In those short few years, the group had proven itself popular, he said…. In 2004, Arden and other charter members founded the Full Score Chamber Orchestra, which would be renamed the Lake County Symphony Orchestra a few years before the COVID pandemic…. What started with about 20 players has grown to nearly 50, featuring artists from all over the area playing about five concerts a season…. The orchestra performs everything from classical and gospel to rock, and even video-game music. The group is about ‘nurturing’ and ‘celebrating the arts in Northern Illinois,’ Arden said, producing family-friendly concerts and educating the community using ‘great symphonic music.’… ‘It’s a really beautiful success story of what can happen when musicians are impassioned about playing their music for the community,’ Arden said.”
