Kevin Rhodes, Music Director
Pro Arte welcomes Kevin Rhodes as its new Music Director for the 2010 concert season. Mr. Rhodes served as its Guest Conductor in two well received concerts in the 2007 and 2008 concert seasons. He is in his ninth season as music director of both the Springfield Symphony Orchestra of Massachusetts and the Traverse Symphony Orchestra of Michigan. His tenure at these orchestras has been marked by critical acclaim, as well by as significant increases in subscriptions, single ticket sales, and contributions.
Mr. Rhodes assumed his current posts after working for ten years in Europe, where he led over 700 performances with twenty different orchestras, including the Vienna State Opera Orchestra (the Vienna Philharmonic), the Berlin Staatskappelle, La Scala, the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Düsseldorf Symphony, the Duisburg Philharmonic, the Swiss Chamber Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestra of Madrid, and the Basel Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Rhodes began his professional conducting career at the age of 16 in his home town of Evansville, Indiana. He received his B.M. in Piano Performance from Michigan State University where he studied conducting with Maestro Leon Gregorian, and he earned his M.M. in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Illinois with Paul Vermel, with whom he continued to study at the Aspen Music Festival.
As a pianist, Mr. Rhodes was the 1980 winner of the Evansville Philharmonic Concerto Competition, and Principal Pianist of the New Mexico Symphony. He has performed in hundreds of chamber music concerts in the United States and Switzerland. In 2009 he was the first recipient of the WFCR Arts & Humanities Award for his broad and positive impact on the arts in western Massachusetts.
Visit www.kevinrhodesconductor.com for more information about Mr. Rhodes.