Mr. Larsen is in his eighteenth season as Music Director
of the Rockford Symphony. His tenure has brought both
local and national recognition to the orchestra. In
1999 he was named Illinois Conductor of the Year and
received a Mayor's Arts Award for Individual Achievement.
Maestro Larsen has worked with dozens of orchestras
in the United States and Europe, including the Opera
Theater of San Antonio, the Chicago Opera Theater, Lyric
Opera Cleveland, the Minnesota Opera, Michigan Opera
Theater, Light Opera of Chicago and the Netherlands
Radio Chamber Orchestra.
Michele
Lekas - RSO Concertmaster
Concertmaster of the Rockford Symphony Orchestra since
1994, Michele Lekas received her Bachelor's and Master's
degrees from the Quebec conservatory of Music, where
she studied with Claude Letourneau. She also studied
with David Cerone of the Meadowmount School of Music
and with Jamie Laredo at the St. Louis Conservatory,
where she completed a graduate performance diploma.
Ms.
Lekas was a member of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra,
the chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy (Quebec City),
the Camerata Lysy Gstaadt (Switzerland) and the New
American Chamber Orchestra (based in Spain and touring
Europe).
In
addition to being concertmaster of the RSO, Ms. Lekas
is also concertmaster for the New Philharmonic Orchestra,
associate concertmaster of the Northwest Indiana Symphony
and a regular substitute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Jim Gingrich - Board President
Jim Gingrich retired from Hamilton Sundstrand, a division of United Technologies Corporation, in 2004. Although most of his career was in the finance and accounting field, he was President of Flight Systems business unit when he retired after 31 years of service in the aerospace industry. Today Jim serves on the Swedish American Hospital Board, the Winnebago Soil and Water Conservation District Board, and four for-profit company boards.
Jim and Carol celebrated their 41 wedding anniversary this year and have five adult children. Jim spent four years in the Army and graduated from Coe College, located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1974.
Brian
Ritter - Executive Director
Brian Ritter
was appointed Executive Director of the Rockford Symphony
Orchestra in May 2004, having previously served as the
Director of Marketing and Development. Before joining
the RSO he served in his hometown as the Development
Director for the Allentown Symphony Association (PA),
prior to which he was Executive Director of the New
England Philharmonic, a Boston-based orchestra committed
to performing new music and championing the works of
living composers.
Mr. Ritter holds a Bachelor
of Arts degree in history and political science from
Gettysburg College, where he served for three years
as Drum Major of the "Bullet" Band. Mr. Ritter is a
member of the Rotary Club of Rockford and is on the
boards of the Friends of the Coronado Theatre Association
and the Illinois Council of Orchestras.
He is currently participating in the distinguished League of American Orchestras' Executive Leadership Program.
