Meet the four conductors in line to lead the Missouri Symphony
For the musicians and staff of the Missouri Symphony, summer isn't a season made for taking it easy.
In about six weeks each June and July, they breathlessly mount an entire music festival — Hot Summer Nights — with a repertoire great enough to hold the beautiful bombast of Broadway and intimate chamber offerings, classical masterworks as well as American folk songs and anthems.
This summer's festival holds a special potential energy. The Symphony not only will further its own range, creating dynamic performances; it will select a new leader.
The Missouri Symphony is a rare creative organism, only following two musical directors in its 50-plus year history, executive director Trent Rash said.
Founding conductor Hugo Vianello led the orchestra from 1970 to 1998. Then "Captain" Kirk Trevor stepped to the podium in 2000, offering an inspired and innovative presence until his retirement last year.
With a few special guest conductors mingled in, and a boost from conductor sponsor Commerce Trust, this year's Hot Summer Nights will welcome four candidates vying to assume artistic leadership. Each will conduct public-facing concerts, and spend time with the Symphony community and the broader community of Columbia.
More: Circle these 7 Hot Summer Nights festival performances on your calendar
A committee comprised of staff, board members, musicians and Missouri Symphony Conservatory parents heads the search. Initially, the group considered splitting the role, selecting separate directors for Hot Summer Nights and the Conservatory.
"We found that the people we were drawn to had the skills to do both," Rash said, and they united the search again.
In its process, the committee is considering how a conductor can both inspire and impact their audience from the podium, especially in terms of representation, Rash said. An initial list of 30 conductor candidates included 22 people of color; around half were women, he said.
The Symphony's next artistic leader will show a natural ability to connect with the audience, an interest in new music and know how to "break down complex thinking" into understanding for younger conservatory players, Rash said.
Knowing how uncommon longevity like Vianello's and Trevor's is, the Symphony sees potential for its leadership to mirror the greater college town culture of Columbia. There is something exciting, Rash said, about bringing in a conductor who is already accomplished yet on the real cusp of their career.
Most conductors sign three-year contracts, and the average tenure is around five to seven years, Rash said. He hopes the Symphony's choice will stay for at least a contract or two; any change which follows allows the Symphony to fulfill new and varied artistic visions, he said.
"That’s good for the conductor. That’s good for the orchestra. It’s good to have some change," Rash said.
Around and after Hot Summer Nights, the search committee will value a number of chances to observe and learn about each candidate, including dinner engagements, meeting with musicians and surveys completed both by orchestra and audience members, Rash said.
Here's a cursory look at each candidate, in order of their appearance at the festival.
Wilbur Lin
Taiwanese conductor Wilbur Lin will guide the Symphony through its Laments, Romances, and Dreams performance June 22 and Show-Me America concert on June 25. Rash appreciates Lin's intentionality in choosing repertoire, then communicating the why behind those pieces.
"He’s very much into engaging the audience through the programming," Rash said.
Lin's work stretches across music history, physical location and genre. Currently, he works as assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestras. He has conducted various operas, performed as a pianist and founded the Chamber Philharmonic Taipei ensemble.
Michelle Di Russo
Argentinian-Italian conductor Michelle Di Russo will lead Symphony concerts The New World and Beyond as well as Stars, Stripes and Symphony, June 29 and July 2, respectively. Columbia audiences will recognize Di Russo from her appearance last Christmas, conducting the annual Symphony of Toys concert.
Most recently the interim director of orchestras at Cornell University and assistant conductor of North Carolina Symphony, Di Russo also has worked with ensembles in Arizona and Texas.
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Di Russo helped found the Girls Who Conduct initiative, which exists to equip "the upcoming generation of women, women-identifying, and non-binary conductors"; the organization is empowering, and offers women musicians a range of opportunities and options, Rash said.
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Chelsea Gallo
Chelsea Gallo will ascend the podium July 9 for the Symphony's Femmes de légende program. Gallo has carried her baton across the United States, working with ensembles such as Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Opera Orlando.
Gallo displays a commitment to programming new music, conducting premieres and newly-created works. And Rash labeled her "a true Renaissance woman," evidenced in part by her work as music director for Cosmos Chamber Orchestra, which her website calls "an orchestra devoted to uniting scientific and artistic communities." The ensemble has worked with the likes of NASA and the National Institute of Aerospace.
"She loves to make connections between things that people don’t think exist," Rash said.
Darwin Aquino
Dominican musician Darwin Aquino will close the season, conducting An Uncommon Enigma July 13 and Back to Broadway three days later.
Aquino owns skills both as a conductor and composer. He was music director for the most recent season of the St. Louis Philharmonic Orchestra, and has led orchestras and operas across the U.S., South America and Europe. Aquino's compositions have been performed just as widely.
Aquino's clear passion for youth education has impressed Rash.
"He’s very much about the education of the whole person. Even beyond the music — how does this help us even grow as humans?" he said of Aquino's approach.
More: Newly opened Compass Music Center will be hub for concerts, private lessons in Columbia
Hot Summer Nights begins Wednesday with Symphony in Motion, a program conducted by Trevor and performed alongside the Missouri Contemporary Ballet. Singing In the Key of Freedom: A Juneteenth Celebration, led by University of Missouri professor Brandon Boyd, follows on Saturday. Both concerts are at the Missouri Theatre.
For details on each Hot Summer Nights performance, visit https://themosy.org/.
Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731. Find him on Twitter @aarikdanielsen.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Meet the four conductors in line to lead the Missouri Symphony
