New Music Directors at West Virginia Symphony and Spartanburg Philharmonic

In Wednesday’s (6/7) Musical America (subscription required), Susan Elliott writes, “The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra (WVSO), now in its 85th year, has hired American conductor Maurice Cohn as its 11th music director, effective immediately. He arrives after a two-year search, which brought six finalists to conduct as guests…. Cohn is a two-time Solti Career Assistance Award grant recipient and was assistant conductor for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. This summer he returns to the Aspen Music Festival for his second season as assistant conductor. Cohn, who plans to move to Charleston, WV, in the fall, holds an M.M. in conducting from the Eastman School of Music, as well as a B.M. in cello performance and a B.A. from Oberlin College, where he studied history and mathematics. He succeeds Lawrence Loh in the job …

“Also just completing a two-year search, the Spartanburg (SC) Philharmonic has hired John Young Shik Concklin, a former member of its viola section, as its music director, out of a pool of 160 applicants and nine finalists. Concklin, 39, also at the artistic helms of the Hendersonville (NC) Symphony and Atlanta Music Project, first led the 65-member Spartanburg ensemble in 2018. He has signed a three-year contract. Concklin studied at Vanderbilt University, Yale University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and taught conducting at Furman, Vanderbilt, and Clemson universities. Concklin is the 95-year-old ensemble’s tenth music director. He succeeds Stefan Sanders, in the job from 2018-19.”