American Conducting Fellows Step Out
Paying It Forward at 80
For his 80th birthday in May, Clifford Chapman of Shell Beach, California, chose to celebrate by asking friends to donate to the San Luis Obispo Symphony, of which he has been a subscriber and donor nearly as long as the orchestra has been in existence. (San Luis Obispo celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2010-11.) Donations as of mid-summer were $8,000, and money will support the orchestra’s Everyday Etudes educational program, which brings orchestra musicians into schools such as the C.L. Smith School, a Title I elementary school in San Luis Obispo. Pictured above: San Luis Obispo Symphony Music Education Director Andrea Stoner at a musical instrument petting zoo for kindergarteners at the C.L. Smith School. Below: Birthday benefactor Clifford Chapman (right), with partner Don Shidler, in front of their home in Shell Beach.
As the League of American Orchestras’ American Conducting Fellows Program comes to a close, recent participants step into new roles. Beginning music director posts this fall are Mei-Ann Chen at the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Philip Mann at the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, and Brett Mitchell at Michigan’s Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra. Chen, who was recently named to a second music directorship at the Chicago Sinfonietta effective in 2011-12, served as American Conducting Fellow and assistant conductor at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2009-10 and with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for the two previous seasons; Mann and Mitchell each spent three seasons as ACF/assistant conductor at the San Diego and Houston symphonies, respectively. Joseph F. Young starts this season as assistant conductor of the Phoenix Symphony after working as ACF at the Buffalo Philharmonic. At press time Tito Muñoz, the Cleveland Orchestra’s ACF/assistant conductor, was a finalist for music director posts at the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy. The American Conducting Fellows Program is made possible by major grants from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Argosy Foundation, The Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation, Gabilan Foundation, and by the support of host orchestras. Chen
Mann
Mitchell
Young
Muñoz
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The League of American Orchestras invites you to become a member of the Helen M. Thompson Heritage Society and join others in helping to ensure the future of America’s orchestras by making a legacy gift to the League. To learn more, call 646 822 4025 or visit americanorchestras.org. Helen M. Thompson (1908 – 1974), a passionate advocate for symphonic music and American orchestras, was the League’s first executive director. americanorchestras.org
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