{"id":75,"date":"2017-10-12T02:50:01","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T02:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/?page_id=75"},"modified":"2026-07-18T21:47:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T01:47:41","slug":"board-and-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/about-us\/board-and-history\/","title":{"rendered":"BSO Board, Staff, and History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n

2026 Board of Directors<\/strong>
Alexis Witt, President<\/em>
David Dawson, Vice President<\/em>
Megan Rawlings, Secretary<\/em>
Katie Chapman, Treasurer<\/em>
Catherine Baum-Newlin
Aaron Lynn
Mike Mattner
Wilson Shitandi
Janeth Welch<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Staff<\/strong>
Michael Patterson, Music Director<\/em>
Donna Lafferty, Executive Director<\/em>
Kira Gartell, Orchestra Manager<\/em>
Kit Boulding, Concert Leader<\/em>
Marianne Ritter, Music Librarian<\/em>
Lane Rogers, Production Manager<\/em>
Henry Morgan, Asst. Production Manager<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

History<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0Bloomington Symphony Orchestra was founded during the winter of 1969\u20131970 by\u00a0Geoffrey Simon, a graduate student from Melbourne, Australia, who came to study conducting at the Indiana University School of Music in fall 1969.<\/p>\n

Concerned about the lack of performance opportunities for the people of Bloomington, Simon requested permission from the dean of the School of Music, Wilfred Bain, to form a community symphony orchestra. Simon envisioned an orchestra open to all serious musicians regardless of their vocations, and it has remained that way since then.<\/p>\n

Simon recruited players from Bloomington and surrounding areas, and today the musicians comprising the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra come from Carmel, Martinsville, Nashville, Bedford, and Columbus as well as from the Bloomington area. Two musicians who answered the original call and played in the opening concert on May 7, 1970, have remained with the orchestra through the years: violist David McIntosh and bassist Edwin Greenebaum.<\/p>\n

The first public concert was performed at the Binford Junior High School with a complement of 56 musicians. The program consisted of Nikolai\u2019s overture to\u00a0The Merry Wives of Windsor<\/em>, Prokofiev\u2019s\u00a0Peter and the Wolf<\/em> (with narration by David McIntosh) and Saint-Saens\u2019s\u00a0Concerto in A Minor for Cello and Orchestra<\/em> with soloist Christoph Henkel, a student of Janos Starker. The concert concluded with Haydn\u2019s\u00a0Symphony No. 101 in D<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On the occasion of the orchestra\u2019s first birthday concert on March 2, 1971, the\u00a0Herald-Telephone <\/em>reviewer Ron Reinoehl said, \u201cIn the year since Simon founded the orchestra by printing signs asking people to join, the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra has come a long way. It represents an important achievement for all concerned \u2026 through their efforts Bloomington\u2019s cultural atmosphere has become more invigorating, with a healthy infusion from the community itself, rather than through something superimposed from the outside.\u201d Reinoehl\u2019s comments are still appropriate today.<\/p>\n

The orchestra presented three concerts during its first season, one of which was a concert for children.<\/p>\n

The second season expanded to four concerts, and orchestra personnel grew to approximately 60 players. At the close of the 1971\u201372 season, Geoffrey Simon completed his studies at the School of Music and left for further conducting studies in Europe.<\/p>\n

In the 55 years since its founding, the BSO has been led by 15 different artistic directors.<\/p>\n

Artistic Directors<\/h3>\n

1969\u20131972: Geoffrey Simon<\/a>
1972\u20131975:\u00a0E. Kent Hart
1975\u20131981: Keith Brown<\/a>
1981\u20131987: Carl Fuerstner<\/a>
1987\u20131995: David Pickett<\/a>
1995\u20132000: Stephen Pratt<\/a>
2000\u20132002: Ho-Man Choi<\/a>
2002\u20132004: Leonardo Panigada
2005\u20132007: Christopher Ludwa<\/a>
2007\u20132013: Charles Latshaw<\/a>
2013\u20132014: Nicholas Hersh<\/a>
2014\u20132016: Adam Bodony<\/a>
2016\u20132023: Alejandro G\u00f3mez Guill\u00e9n<\/a>
2023\u20132024: Isaac Terceros<\/a>
2024\u20132026: Ryo Hasegawa<\/a>
2026\u2013 present: Michael Patterson<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2026 Board of DirectorsAlexis Witt, PresidentDavid Dawson, Vice PresidentMegan Rawlings, SecretaryKatie Chapman, TreasurerCatherine Baum-NewlinAaron LynnMike MattnerWilson ShitandiJaneth Welch StaffMichael Patterson, Music DirectorDonna Lafferty, Executive DirectorKira Gartell, Orchestra ManagerKit Boulding, Concert… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":926,"parent":37,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-75","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9cNEX-1d","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/getinvolved\/","url_meta":{"origin":75,"position":0},"title":"Get Involved","author":"Kira Gartell","date":"September 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"There are many ways to get involved with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra. 1. 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