By David Gordon, associate editor
The CVPost
Guest conductors with musical backgrounds ranging from the Ukraine to Texas will lead three of the five concerts on the 2015-2016 schedule of the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra.
The three conductors were selected after a two-month search process that is the ECCO’s first step toward replacing the retiring Ivar Lunde, the orchestra’s longtime conductor and music director.
Lunde will remain as the orchestra’s music director for the coming year, and will conduct half of the ECCO’s season-opening concert on Sept. 26 and the season’s final concert next April. The April performance will include the American premiere of Lunde’s new piano concerto.
The three guest conductors are Kevin Peters, who will conduct the ECCO on Nov. 7; Yuri Ivan, who will conduct the orchestra’s annual free Family Concert on Jan. 23, 2016; and Frank Watkins, who will conduct a concert on March 5, 2016.
Lunde, who is assisting the ECCO’s search committee, said he’s pleased with the guest conductors chosen by the committee from a field of about a dozen applicants.
“We are excited to have three capable guest conductors with very different backgrounds joining us for the next ECCO season,” Lunde said.
Peters, who lives in Knapp, is artistic director of the Red Cedar Symphony Orchestra in Rice Lake. He has a master’s degree in instrumental conducting from Ithaca College, where he led a wide range of instrumental ensembles.
Locally, Peters has been the conductor for shows presented by the Eau Claire Children’s Theater, the Chippewa Valley Theater Guild and the Menomonie Theater Guild.
Peters also is an artist representative for Arts Management Associates and is the manager and exclusive agent for the Dallas Brass.
Ivan, a resident of Eagan, MN, is the music director of two Twin Cities area music groups – the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra since 2007 and the Linden Hills Chamber Orchestra since 2006.
Ivan received his musical training in the Ukraine and graduated from the music conservatory in Lviv in 1996. He held an associate conductor position at a state opera and ballet theater from 1996 to 2000 and was appointed as artistic director of the Trans-Carpathian Philharmonic in 2001.
Ivan is active in Twin Cities music circles, where he is the choir director at St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church in Minneapolis in addition to his two music director positions. He holds a doctoral degree in conducting from the University of Minnesota.
Watkins, an Eau Claire resident, joined the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire music faculty last fall as conductor of the Women’s Concert Chorale, the Women’s Chorus and the Symphonic Choir.
A native of Omaha, NE, Watkins taught secondary school choral music in Texas for six years and undergraduate piano classes at the University of Arkansas. He has an undergraduate degree in piano performance from Jackson State University and two master’s degrees: in piano performance from Arkansas and choral conducting from Northwestern University. He is completing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Michigan State University.
The ECCO board developed the guest conducting plan to give orchestra members a chance for input into the process of selecting Lunde’s successor and to help determine if there is a good fit between the musicians and the three conductors.
Lunde joined ECCO as its principal oboe player when the orchestra was organized for the 1998-99 concert season. He conducted his first ECCO concert in May 2000, and continued as principal oboe player and part-time conductor until he retired from his music faculty position at UW-Eau Claire in 2002.
Lunde was named the ECCO’s music director in February 2004, more than a year after assuming full conducting responsibilities.