Music Director Yaniv Attar
In January of 2023, after a three-year search involving more than 200 candidates, Yaniv Attar was appointed as the fifth Music Director of the Rockford Symphony Orchestra. A native of Israel, Yaniv is the 1st prize winner of the Duna Szimfonikus Conducting Competition Budapest, multiple recipient of the Sir Georg Solti Foundation Award, and the 2009 Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award. He is also the Music Director of the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Partner with Northwest Sinfonietta.
Highlights of past seasons included collaborations with artists such as Alesio Bax, James Ehnes, Tine Thing Helseth, Sharon Isbin, Alex Klein, Jennifer Koh, Johannes Moser, and Gil Shaham. Yaniv was also one of 10 conductors from around the world who were invited to INTERACTION and conducted an orchestra composed of all of Germany’s top orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Konzerthaus Orchestra, German Symphony Orchestra, and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin. Prior to his current music directorships, Yaniv completed eight seasons as Music Director of the Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, and a residency as the Assistant Conductor of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, where he conducted nearly 100 performances, and worked extensively with Maestro Justin Brown.
Drawn to orchestral conducting from early age, Yaniv has studied with Israel Edelson in Jerusalem, Virginia Allen at the Juilliard School in New York, and Neil Thomson at the Royal College of Music in London, where he was also the Associate Conductor and co-founder of the Tempus Chamber Orchestra. In 2008, Yaniv earned his Doctor of Music degree from McGill University where he studied under the tutelage of Alexis Hauser. He also studied with Kurt Masur, Leonard Slatkin, Janos Fürst, Jorma Panula, Gustav Meier, Johannes Schlaefli, Peter Gülke, Gabor Hollerung, Neil Varon, Carl St. Clair, David Effron, Donald Thulean, and Michael Jurowski.
Yaniv has worked with the Cincinnati Symphony, Duna Szimfonikus Budapest, Dohnanyi Orchestra Budapest, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Haifa Symphony, Hamburg Symphony, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali Milan, Jerusalem Symphony, Lithuanian State Symphony, London Soloists’ Chamber Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Orchestra, Mihail Jora Philharmonic Romania, National Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Reno Chamber Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Russe Philharmonic Bulgaria, Salzburg Chamber Soloists, and Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
Yaniv is also an accomplished classical guitarist. He has studied under Irit Even-Tov, Charles Ramirez, and Sharon Isbin, for whom he served as teaching assistant at the Aspen Music Festival from 2003 to 2005. Yaniv was the first guitarist to win the Aviv Competition Prize in Israel and the Concerto Competition at the Juilliard School. Yaniv plays a 2014 Dake Traphagen Guitar. His studies have been generously supported by the America and Canada Israel Cultural Foundations, The Williamson Foundation for Music, Ronen Foundation, The Olga Forrai Foundation New York, the Morris and Beverly Baker Foundation, AVI Fellowships Switzerland, the Rislov Foundation, and the ISEF Foundation.
Yaniv’s home base is Bellingham, Washington where he lives overlooking the bay and the Olympic Mountains with his wife, Meredith, children Jonah and Lyla, and pup Gracie. When he isn’t conducting, he enjoys playing his classical guitar and adventuring with his family.
Visit Yaniv Attar’s website at yanivattar.com.
Kevin Stites is thrilled to be returning to his “hometown” orchestra, having conducted a solo concert with Kristin Chenoweth and the RSO. He most recently made his Chicago Symphony and Ravinia Festival debut conducting YOURS, STEPHEN SONDHEIM, with Brian Stokes Mitchell, Heather Headley, and Alexandra Billings, and spent six seasons as Music Director for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. His Hollywood Bowl appearances include INTO THE WOODS (2019), THE PRODUCERS (2012), GUYS AND DOLLS (2009), LES MISERABLES (2008), and Kristin Chenoweth’s solo concert with the Los Angeles.Philharmonic. Kevin also conducted the L.A. Phil at Walt Disney Concert Hall with Brian Stokes Mitchell, several Symphonic Concerts with Kristin Chenoweth, and DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING with the Oklahoma City, Hartford, and Dallas (Pop) Orchestras. He was Music Director for Manhattan Concert Productions of TITANIC and CRAZY FOR YOU at David Geffen Hall as well as BROADWAY CLASSICS at Carnegie Hall, and conducted the mono-opera FALLING MAN, by Kenneth Fuchs, at the 911 Museum Memorial. He is the Music Director/Pianist for Deborah Voigt’s VOIGT LESSONS. Guest Conductor: Grant Park Symphony (Sondheim, Bernstein, Gershwin, Loesser, Porter, and Lerner and Loewe tributes).
Principal Pops Conductor Kevin Stites
His work on Broadway includes: ON THE 20TH CENTURY (Revival), SOUTH PACIFIC (LCT), TALE OF TWO CITIES, THE COLOR PURPLE (Music Supervision/Incidental Music), TITANIC (Original Musical Supervisor/Music Director), SUNSET BOULEVARD, LES MISERABLES (2006 revival), THE THREEPENNY OPERA (Roundabout Revival), FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (2003), NINE (Revival), OKLAHOMA! (Nunn/Stroman Revival), ON THE TOWN, NINE TO FIVE (Additional Musical Arrangements). His tour credits: LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, THE COLOR PURPLE, MARTIN GUERRE, MISS SAIGON, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, LES MISERABLES, and TITANIC. Film/Television: “Rosie Live!,” “Reefer Madness,” “Letterman,” “Rosie,” several Tony Awards Telecasts, and 2 IL VOLO specials for PBS. Last Fall he conducted and music-directed the world premiere of MR. HOLLAND’S OPUS.
Kevin is a proud graduate of Pecatonica High School, Pecatonica IL, and earned his Bachelor's and Master’s Degree in Music from the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign, studying under the tutelage of Professors Emeritus Kenneth Drake and John Wustman. He served as a graduate teaching assistant with Opera Illinois and was awarded the Creative and Performing Arts Fellowship in 1979/80.
RSYO Conductor Linc Smelser
Linc Smelser received his Bachelor’s Degree in Cello Performance from the University of Arizona where he studied with Dr. Gordon Epperson and received his Master’s Degree and Performer’s Certificate in Cello Performance and Pedagogy at Northern Illinois University having studied with renowned cellist and pedagogue Raya Garbousova.
In 2003, Linc was appointed conductor/music director of the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra in DeKalb, IL. In 2009 he was awarded Conductor of the Year by the Illinois Arts Council and in 2014 was appointed conductor/music director of the Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Linc has appeared as a soloist with Camerata Chicago, Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra, the NIU Philharmonic and the Rockford Symphony Orchestra and has twice appeared in recital on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts Series in Chicago, which is broadcast live on over 44 stations across the United States.
Linc has been a member of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra Cello section since 1992 and has been an active substitute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1997, having most recently embarked on his 12th international tour with the symphony.
Most recently, Linc was appointed a faculty member of the Music Institute of Chicago in Winnetka. He is also a faculty member the Northern Illinois University Music Department and has been teaching private cello lessons through the NIU Community School of the Arts since 1988. He is currently on the faculty of both the Chicago Suzuki Institute and the American Suzuki Institute and is pianist/accompanist of the Northern Illinois University Suzuki program.
Assistant Conductor Benjamin Firer
An award-winning conductor, Firer is active throughout the Chicago area. He holds conducting positions at Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras and Lewis University. Benjamin received his Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from Northwestern University and a Master’s Degree from Yale University. As an orchestral musician he has recorded for the Naxos and Albany labels.
As a guest conductor, Firer has made appearances with the symphony orchestras of of Champaign-Urbana, Dubuque, DuPage, Miami, Fargo-Morehead, Orchestra de la Francophonie, Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, Northwestern University Opera Theatre, Alice Millar Brass Ensemble, and New Music New Haven.
Firer was selected as an Emerging Conductor with the Peninsula Music Festival and as the conducting fellow for the Atlantic Music Festival. He has garnered awards including The American Prize in Conducting, The Woolsey Concerto Competition, Yale Chamber Music Competition, Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship, and the Long Island University Conductors Award. Recognized for his musical entrepreneurship, he was granted the SUNY Thayer Fellowship in the Arts and the Emma Peters Hooper Endowed Award.
Music Director Emeritus Steven Larsen
Steven Larsen retired in 2021 after 30 seasons with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure the orchestra has flourished and grown to become the third largest symphony orchestra in Illinois. His energetic leadership earned two “Orchestra of the Year” awards to the Rockford Symphony Orchestra and three “Conductor of the Year” awards for himself, the most recent in 2016. Critics have praised his ease with all ranges of musical styles and periods, his sense of line and dramatic tension, and his ability to bring new life to familiar music. Audiences respond warmly to his informal podium style and enjoy his enthusiastic desire to communicate his love for music.
Larsen is a native of Chicago, where he attended the American Conservatory of Music, receiving a degree in music theory and composition. As his interests in conducting grew, he auditioned for the graduate program at Northwestern University, earning an assistantship and leading to studies with Margaret Hillis and Bernard Rubenstein. He received that school’s first M.M. in orchestral conducting in 1976. In 1979 he was the only American to be awarded a fellowship in the prestigious Netherlands Broadcasting Company Conductors Course, leading to continued studies with the late Russian conductor Kyrill Kondrashin. In 1981 he was invited to participate in the first Conductors Institute, held in Morgantown, West Virginia, as a conducting fellow.
A significant portion of his career has been devoted to opera. For 13 years, he was resident conductor and Artistic Administrator of Chicago Opera Theater, where he also produced the New Opera Workshop. He has guest conducted for opera companies in Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Honolulu, Cleveland, Westchester (NY), and Dayton (OH), returning to Dayton for a season as Interim General Director. For three years he was Principal Conductor for Opera Theater of San Antonio.
His many symphonic guest conducting engagements include the State Orchestra of Mexico; the Camerata Polifonica Siciliana in Catania, Italy; the Milwaukee Symphony, Grant Park Symphony and Tulsa Philharmonic, as well as leading several children’s concerts with the Chicago Symphony. In 2012 he traveled to Prague to conduct the Hradec Králové Philharmonic.
His accomplishments have been recognized through numerous awards, including the Illinois Council of Orchestras’ 2006 Conductor of the Year and the 1999 Mayor’s Arts Award for individual achievement. He has received the “Star of Excellence” Award from the Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center, the “Mayor’s Arts Award for Distinguished Service by an Individual”, and the “Distinguished Service” Award from the Rockford Park District.
