Our Symphony

Vibrant, inspired performances, imaginative programming and an evocative command of different styles and composers are the hallmarks of American conductor Lawrence Golan. He currently serves as Music Director/Conductor of the Yakima Symphony Orchestra (Washington), the York Symphony Orchestra (Pennsylvania), and the Lamont Symphony Orchestra & Opera Theatre at the University of Denver (Colorado). In addition, he is the Music Director Laureate of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra.

Having conducted throughout the United States and in Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, El Salvador, England, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, Maestro Golan continues to develop relationships with orchestras nationally and abroad.

An accomplished violinist, Golan served as Principal Second Violinist of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra (1989-1990) and then Concertmaster of the Portland Symphony Orchestra for eleven years (1990-2001) before focusing his career on the podium. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and continues to perform, primarily to benefit the orchestras of which he is Music Director.

Mr. Golan has made numerous recordings, both as conductor and violinist. His discography includes the Blu-ray disc and audio CD of composer Jiaojiao Zhou’s theatrical symphonic poem Ode to Nature and Beethoven 7 & Beethoven 7.1 with the Lamont Symphony Orchestra; Tchaikovsky 6 & Tchaikovsky 6.1, Funky Little Crustaceans, music of William Hill, and Visions, Dreams & Memories, a collection of works for Native American Flute and Orchestra featuring James Pellerite with the Moravian Philharmonic. As a violinist, Golan recorded Fantasia, a collection of works for solo violin, and Indian Summer: The Music of George Perlman with pianist Martin Perry.

As a composer/arranger/author, Golan’s edition and reduced orchestration of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is published by Spurwink River Publishing and is used by orchestras and ballet companies across North America and Europe. His scholarly-performing edition of the solo violin works of J. S. Bach, which includes a handbook on Baroque Performance Practice, and The Lawrence Golan Violin Scale System are both published by Mel Bay Publications. Golan’s Fantasia for Solo Violin is published by LudwigMasters. His original orchestral compositions, including Fantasia for Orchestra and Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc), are available through Notation Central. Golan’s book on preparing musical scores for performance, called Score Study Passes, is published by Globe Edit.

Lawrence Golan was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2024 St. Cecilia International Music Competition in the UK and was also awarded First Prize in four different categories, both as conductor and composer. In addition, he is a 10-time winner of ASCAP Awards for the Innovative Programming of Contemporary Music, 5-time Global Music Award winner, 3-time American Prize winner, 3-time Downbeat Magazine Award winner, and 2-time Prestige Music Award winner. He was the Grand Prize Winner of the American Prize in Orchestral Programming and the First-Place winner of the Ictus International Music Competition.

A native of Chicago, Lawrence Golan comes from a musical family. His father, the late Joseph Golan, was a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for forty-nine years and Principal Second Violinist for thirty-five of those years. Lawrence Golan received his Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and Master of Music in Violin Performance and Orchestral Conducting from the Indiana University School of Music and his D.M.A. in Violin Performance and Orchestral Conducting from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. In 1999 he was awarded Tanglewood Music Center’s Leonard Bernstein Conducting Fellowship, and in 2002, Aspen Music Festival’s Conducting Fellowship.

A staunch advocate for music education, Lawrence Golan has been Director of Orchestral Studies and head of the graduate conducting program at the University of Denver since 2001. There he has won eight ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music, three Downbeat Magazine Awards for “Best College Symphony Orchestra,” and The American Prize for Orchestral Performance – Collegiate Division. His latest honor is the 2021 Distinguished Scholar Award from the University of Denver.

Previous positions include Principal Guest Conductor, Bayerische Philharmonie in Munich, Germany (2022-2024), Music Director, Denver Philharmonic Orchestra (2013-2024), Resident Conductor, Phoenix Symphony (2006-2010), founder and Artistic Director, Atlantic Chamber Orchestra (1998-2003), Music Director, Portland Ballet Company (1997-2013), and Music Director, Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra (1990-2001). Lawrence and his wife Cecilia, who is from Buenos Aires, Argentina, have two young children.

www.lawrencegolan.com

Since 2015, Bobby Collins has served as music director and co-founder for The Sound Ensemble, a Seattle-based chamber orchestra that promotes diversity and equity, while seeking to be at the forefront of what it means to be a relevant orchestra in the 21st century. He also has served as music director of Seattle Festival Orchestra since 2018, where he established the ensemble as the only orchestra in Seattle providing consistent, year-round access to great orchestral music for kids. With a repertoire spanning the ancient to the contemporary, Bobby has worked as a conductor and educator with the entire spectrum of orchestras. His most recent guest conducting engagements include groups such as KammarensembleN (Stockholm) and Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra.

As co-founder and music director, Bobby has contributed heavily to the growth and development of The Sound Ensemble. His work has helped establish TSE as one of the leading new music ensembles in the region. Bobby is uniquely gifted at crafting engrossing programs to enrich and entertain diverse audiences. With both Seattle Festival Orchestra and The Sound Ensemble, he has been instrumental in developing educational programs that engage kids of all ages in classical music.

​Bobby also has appeared in concert with orchestras such as St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, Yakima Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Collaborative Orchestra, Skagit Symphony, Saratoga Orchestra, Rainier Symphony, Cascade Symphony, Thalia Symphony, Inverted Space Ensemble as well as the Ludus and Leavenworth Summer Theater’s pit orchestras. [Photo by Shaya Bendix Lyon]

Denise Dillenbeck has toured Europe and America with the Philadelphia Orchestra, was a member of the Oregon Symphony, and has played with the Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Pennsylvania Ballet Theater, Philly Pops and others. She was a soloist with the American Festival Orchestra on a tour of China. Currently concertmaster of the Yakima Symphony, York Symphony and the Northwest Sinfonietta, she was associate concertmaster of the Tacoma Symphony, and has served as concertmaster for orchestras in America, England and Germany.

Denise performs chamber music for violin and percussion with her husband Mark Goodenberger and presented contemporary classical music as a member of Third Angle New Music Ensemble. She has performed chamber music on concert series and festivals around the world, such as the American Church of Paris, Siletz Bay Music Festival, Westminster Choir College, Bravo Summer String Institute, Max Aronoff Viola Institute, Charles Castleman’s Quartet Program and Icicle Creek Summer Academy.

Passionate about teaching, she has worked with dozens of violin students and young string quartets, and has taught college courses on music, including a course on viewing world history and literature through the prism of Beethoven. As a teaching artist in the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Community Partnership Program, she led elementary school students in experiential music learning and directed workshops on aesthetic education. She is quoted at length in Eric Booth’s book “The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible.”

As a soloist, Denise has recently played concerti by Bernstein, Saint-Saens, Sibelius, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Prokofiev, Mendelssohn and Bach, with the Sinfonietta Nova, Boise Baroque Orchestra, Gonzaga Symphony, Yakima Symphony, York Symphony, Lake Union Civic Orchestra, Olympia Symphony, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, Washington-Idaho Symphony, Salem Chamber Orchestra, Tacoma Community College Orchestra, Central Washington University Orchestra, Lake Chelan Bach Festival Orchestra, Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra, and has upcoming engagements with the Central Pennsylvania Symphony, Bellingham Symphony and Rainier Symphony Orchestra. She has recorded solo, and chamber works for the Albion and KOCH International labels.  Denise studied at the New England Conservatory and the University of Minnesota. She was a Fellow at Aspen, Dean of Charles Castleman’s Quartet Program, program coordinator of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Strings International Music Festival, and has played for the Oregon Bach Festival, Ernest Bloch Festival, Chautauqua Music Institute, Musicorda and the International Congress of Strings. The San Francisco Chronicle hails her playing as “simply first-rate.” [Photo by PhotoNuvo]
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The Role of the Concertmaster: As the ‘first chair’ violinist in a symphony orchestra, the concertmaster is the leader not only of the violin section, but of the entire string section and in some ways the orchestra as a whole.  S/he communicates performance style to the string section by physical example and aids in synchronization across the ensemble through gestures and eye contact with other key musicians. In some orchestral music performed without a conductor, the concertmaster actually conducts through this body language while playing. When a conductor is present, the concertmaster remains his or her primary collaborator in realizing the musical interpretation of a composer’s work. 

The concertmaster leads all string sections in determining how music will be played, providing markings for all other string players before rehearsals begin that allow them to move their bows together in unison. This is more than mere choreography – changing the direction or placement of the bow, or the number of notes connected through a single gesture, can profoundly change the sound and feeling of a piece of music, so these decisions are critical to achieve a particular quality of performance. The concertmaster also often serves as artistic advisor to the music director on matters ranging from technical performance detail to hiring and other personnel decisions, and s/he functions as the principal artistic representative of the orchestra when a guest conductor takes the podium. 

On stage in concert, the concertmaster’s more ceremonial functions include supervising the tuning process, and then leading the orchestra in rising and sitting together for applause. When audience members are allowed to be seated between movements of a longer work, it is often the concertmaster who observes the process and signals the conductor (whose back is to the audience) when it is safe to resume the performance. At the end of a concert, s/he decides when the applause has faded sufficiently for the musicians to stand and leave the stage.  It is customary for conductors and soloists to shake the hand of the concertmaster at the conclusion of a concert in recognition of the prominent role s/he plays as artistic collaborator throughout the preparation and performance of a symphonic program. (© Yakima Symphony Orchestra 2013)

Steven S. Slusher, who hails from St. Louis, Missouri, received his Master of Music Degree as the choral conducting graduate assistant from Southern Illinois University. Mr. Slusher holds a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from Ohio Northern University. Mr. Slusher has conducted throughout the United States, from the Crystal Cathedral in California to Riverside Church in New York City.  He was founding conductor of Summer Dreams, a city honors choir that performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. He has been music director for many musicals, opera productions, and orchestral works.  Professor Slusher is the past assistant director and soloist of the Bach Society of St. Louis and a principal singer and soloist for the St. Louis Symphony. He also served as the director of music at Trinity Episcopal Church in St. Louis, Missouri. He was on the music faculty at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri for almost a decade teaching choir, choral arranging, private voice, opera workshop, vocal pedagogy, vocal literature and as assistant marching band director.  Currently, Mr. Slusher is tenured Associate Professor of Choral/Vocal Activities at Yakima Valley College and is an active adjudicator and soloist throughout Washington.

Brian Petilo has been the director of bands at Franklin Middle School since 2014. He teaches Beginning Band, Intermediate Band, Honors Band and Jazz Band with 6th to 8th-grade students. Mr. Petilo has been an avid supporter of music education within the Yakima Valley by collaborating with colleagues around the Valley. He was a low brass coach for the A. C. Davis High School marching band for five seasons and led the pit orchestra for the A. C. Davis High School musicals for three different productions. He also has served on the Yakima Valley Music Educators board as an Instrumental Representative and recently stepped in as the interim conductor for the Yakima Youth Symphony Orchestra before accepting the role in 2023. Recent achievements include the Franklin Jazz Band’s acceptance to perform for the Washington Music Educators Conference in 2024 as well as the birth of his daughter Emilia this August!

Tim Rooney has been an avid performer and music educator throughout the Central Washington and Inland Northwest regions for the last decade. He studied viola under Claire Keeble at Holy Names Music Center in Spokane, Tim Betts at Central Washington University and Dr. Julia Salerno at Eastern Washington University, where he earned his Bachelor of Music Education. Tim directed the Gold and Debut Orchestras for the Prep Strings after-school program in Ellensburg headed by Dr. Bret Smith. He has performed in various professional ensembles, including the Coeur d’Alene Symphony, Helena Symphony, Mid-Columbia Symphony, Spokane Civic Theater Pit Orchestra, Spokane Choral Artists and Canticus Vocal Ensemble. He also served as the worship leader and collaborative pianist for Christ the Redeemer Church in Spokane for a number of years.

Tim recently directed the orchestra at Lake Samish Music Camp and accompanied their camp choirs. He also had the privilege of coaching, touring and performing with the Wyoming Ambassadors of Music this past summer throughout Austria, Slovenia and Italy. Tim currently teaches orchestra, AP music theory and ukulele at Eisenhower High School in Yakima. In his leisure time, he enjoys hiking, cooking and traveling with family and friends.

As Youth Symphony String Program Director, Mr. Rooney conducts the Yakima Ensemble for Strings (YES) and also works with YYSO string students to support their ongoing development, to maintain a consistent path for artistic growth of string students throughout the YYSO-YES program.

Inspired by the Venezuelan El Sistema model, Yakima Music en Acción (YAMA) grows confident leaders throughout the neighborhoods it serves by widening access to professional-level music learning, igniting collective pride, and empowering and unifying students and families through music. Established in 2013 at Garfield Elementary School in Yakima, YAMA started as a community partnership of OIC of Washington, the Yakima School District and the Yakima Symphony Orchestra (YSO), with each organization providing critical support and services toward the YAMA mission. As of the summer of 2017, after two years as an affiliate program within the YSO organization, the core YAMA program is now managed through its own independent non-profit entity, employing its own administrative staff and Teaching Artists, once again in a three-way partnership with YSO and the Yakima School District.

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President – David Helseth – Retired [Minister, Englewood Christian Church]; Founder, Justice Housing Yakima

Vice President – Paul Reiss, MD – Physician

Secretary – Kimberly Ruck – Retired; Community Volunteer [St. Paul Cathedral, PEO International – Chapter FR, Narcissa Whitman Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution]

Treasurer – Doug Armstrong – Senior Manager, Moss Adams LLP

At Large – Matt Fairbank – Owner, Sageland Mediation and Facilitation Service; Staff, Central Washington Nonprofit Network; Board Member, Cowiche Canyon Conservancy

At Large – Jonathan Smith – Executive Director, Yakima County Development Association

Past President – Roshelle Pavlin – Eastern Washington HR Director, Aliat; Tasting Room Associate, Alexandria Nicole Cellars; Director of Special Projects, Daven Lore Winery

Mitzi Casey – Board Member, Larson Gallery

Kyle Curtis – Yakima County Commissioner – District 2

Jerry Gibbons – Education Liaison, Casey Family Programs

Tanya Knickerbocker, PhD – Chemistry Professor, Yakima Valley College; Owner, Knickerbocker Properties, LLC; Realtor, Yakima Valley Real Estate; Manager and Co-Owner, Tandam Properties, LLC; 3D Home Tours, Asteroom; Appraisal Data Collector, DataComp Appraisals; Professional Vocalist, Opera on the Vine

Jason Matson – Farm Manager, Matson Fruit

Amae Merrill, Yakima Youth Symphony Orchestra Representative – Teacher, Grade 3, Roosevelt Elementary School, Yakima School District

David Morales – Farmworker Rights Attorney at Northwest Justice Project; Board Member, Catholic Charities Housing; Board Member, Front and Centered

Corinne Murphy-Hines – Retired [Executive Director, Cardiovascular Services, Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center; Administrator, Astria Heart Institute]

Lawrence A. Peterson – Retired [Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Yakima County]; former Asst. City Attorney for Yakima

Mary Sundquist, Yakima Symphony Chorus Representative – Community Volunteer

Don Roth, Interim Executive Director

Vanessa Moss, Orchestra Personnel Manager

Sarah Fitzgerald, Production Manager

Ella Kim, Orchestra Librarian

Kerrie Bigham, Patron Relations Manager

Amy Stuckey, Office Operations Manager