Culver City Symphony Returns With Spotlight On Finalists For New Music Director/Conductor

 

December 22, 2022

The Culver City Symphony Orchestra is making musical news with its first full season since the pandemic and a major talent search for a new conductor.

Recovering from the loss of Frank Fetta, its iconic music director and conductor of 40 years, the symphony leaders have chosen three acclaimed maestros to vie for his position. Fetta died in 2021 after the orchestra was silenced for a time by the pandemic, a double blow. The orchestra has had only two music directors in the six decades since it was founded.

The three finalists for the position are noted music world figures in their own right. more

Maxim Kuzin, a native of Ukraine, will conduct the first concert of the season on Dec. 10, featuring the work of Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko. Kuzin is the current Music Director of the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic and spent 19 years conducting professional and student orchestras, opera companies and choirs in Ukraine, Eastern Europe and the United States. He also conducted the orchestra for the popular “Dancing With The Stars” show in Ukraine.

Another finalist is Clyde Mitchell, founding director of both the Lions Gate Sinfonia and the Lions Gate Youth Orchestra of North Vancouver Canada. He will conduct the second concert tentatively set for Feb. 11. He has been a guest conductor for all of Canada’s major orchestras as well as engagements in Europe, Asia, South America and the United States while living in Southern California.

The third finalist is Steven Allen Fox who will wrap up the season with a concert tentatively scheduled for June. He has an extensive background in conducting and composing for a wide range of musical styles including film scores and pop music. He is the founding Artistic more Director/ Conductor of the Golden State Pops Orchestra and made his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut conducting the inaugural performance of the Los Angeles Film Orchestra. He has also conducted the San Francisco Symphony, City of Prague Philharmonic and Orquesta Sinfonics de Tenerife.

The concerts will also feature performances by winners of the annual Parness Concerto Competition for young musicians up to age 25.

Founded in 1963 as the Westchester String Orchestra, the Culver City Symphony is now a largely professional symphony orchestra with a small number of amateurs and students. It also presents a summer series in Marina del Rey. All Culver City Symphony concerts are free.

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For more symphony information go to http://www.culvercitysymphony.org.

For comments, contact Stephen Turk, President of the Board (and a cellist in the orchestra) at 213-300-4149, or info@culvercitysyphony.org

 

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