Mr. Larsen is in his fifteenth 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.
Jerry
Gale - Board President
Jerry Gale is an Assistant Vice President, Financial
Advisor with Merrill Lynch. He is a graduate of the
Madison School of Banking. During his 30 years in banking
in Chicago and Rockford, Jerry was Executive Vice President
of First National Bank of Rockford at the time of its
merger into Bank One.
He has a Bachelor of Science
degree from the University of Nebraska and has a
MBA degree from Northwestern University in Chicago.
He
was a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Artillery for
two years and a Captain in the Illinois National
Guard Reserves for six years. He has interests in music,
duplicate bridge, tennis and gardening.
In addition
to the RSO, he has served on the Boards of New
American Theater, YMCA, and United Way Campaign. Jerry
resides
in Rockford with his wife Elizabeth. His two grown
daughters and their husbands live in the Chicago
area.
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.
