Of Greater Kansas City

 

Congratulations to Pat Miller, chair, and the members of the conductor search committee, Greg Briggs, Gay Lee Ludwig-Bonney, Rene Burrow, Steve Adams, Marcus Dowty and June McDonald. Following are the bios for the three finalists and the alternate.

Conductor Search Finalists

 

Grant Harville is Orchestra Director at Ripon College in Ripon Wisconsin. After earning a B.M. in Tuba Performance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he completed an M.M. in the same area of study at the University of Michigan. He currently is on track to complete a Doctorate of Musical Arts later this year at Wisconsin-Madison. A winner of several awards in conducting, performing and composition, Harville also is assistant music director of Madison Savoyards and has been a guest conductor with Chicago’s Oistrach Symphony.

Travis Jürgens is the graduate assistant director and general manager of the University of Illinois Philharmonia Orchestra. He also has been a guest conductor with the University of Illinois New Music Ensemble, Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra and IES Vienna Chamber Orchestra in Vienna, Austria. He earned a B.M. in piano performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and an M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Christopher Kelts currently divides his time between his responsibilities as music director/conductor of the Kansas City Civic Orchestra, music director/conductor of the Benedictine-Atchison Symphony Orchestra, assistant conductor of the Kansas City Puccini Festival, music director/conductor of the Academy orchestras at the Missouri State University Summer String Academy and his doctoral studies in conducting at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. His undergraduate degree from Missouri State University is in viola performance, and he has a masters degree in the same area as well as in orchestral conducting from Illinois State University.