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GLFM's mission is to entertain, inspire and educate through musical performances and activities of the highest quality.[left.htm]
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Stephen Alltop |
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 Stephen Alltop has been Music Director of the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra since 2000. Highlights of his tenure with the symphony have included performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Handel’s Messiah, Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and No.5, Verdi’s Requiem, and a visit by composer John Corigliano for youth and subscription concerts devoted to his music. Writing for the Denver Post, Kyle MacMillan said “The Cheyenne Symphony virtually sold out the city's 1,500-seat civic center, it secured necessary local underwriting and the concert was greeted with cheers, whistles and cascades of applause. Quite simply, it was a success in every way. Three cheers for the Cheyenne Symphony - it did itself and the whole field proud.” Alltop has conducted world premieres of works by Ricardo Iznaola and Fabrizio Festa with the Cheyenne Symphony, and has collaborated with Wyoming Public Radio and Wyoming Public Television. Mr. Alltop is also Music Director of the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra, Elmhurst, Illinois, a position he has held since 1995. Artistic highlights of his work there include a performance of Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto with pianist Ursula Oppens, Strauss’s Four Last Songs, Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5, Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No.5, and the world premiere of Canciones de Fray Serra by Alan Terricciano. Under his leadership the Elmhurst Symphony has also premiered works by Jan Bach, James Clemens, Frank Ferko, Miguel del Aguila, and Maxwell Raimi. Alltop’s tenure with the Elmhurst Symphony has been characterized by a marked increase in community support, financial resources, and breadth of repertoire. Following the 1995-96 season, his first as Music Director, Mr. Alltop received the Illinois Council of Orchestras Programming of the Year Award. Mr. Alltop was appointed Music Director and Conductor of the Apollo Chorus of Chicago in 1997. He is the ninth Music Director in the 140-year history of the Chorus. Under his direction, the Apollo Chorus has performed Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Brahms’ A German Requiem, Bruckner's Te Deum, Duruflé's Requiem, Haydn’s The Creation, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Handel’s complete Messiah. In July of 2002, Mr. Alltop conducted members of the Apollo Chorus at the Ravinia Festival in a children’s concert called “The Amazing Human Voice.” The chorus has subsequently been invited back to Ravinia for performances of Weber’s Der Freischütz as set by Hector Berlioz and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and No. 8. Stephen Alltop has served on the conducting faculty at Northwestern University since 1992. Since 1999, the Chapel Choir has performed Bach’s St. John Passion and Cantata No. 198, Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus, and Haydn’s The Creation with period instrument orchestras as part of Northwestern University’s Dunbar Early Music Festival. Other programs have included Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Haydn’s Mass in Time of War and Theresienmesse, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Schubert’s Mass in A-flat, and requiems by Duruflé and Fauré. Under his direction, the Alice Millar Chapel Choir has performed at regional and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association. Mr. Alltop’s guest conducting engagements have included the Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra, West Shore Symphony Orchestra, Wyoming All-State Orchestra, Lake Forest Symphony, Lyra Concert Baroque Orchestra, Kenosha Symphony, Peoria Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Omaha Symphony Orchestra. In the summer of 2003, his European debut with the Toscanini Foundation Orchestra in Bologna, Italy featured four world premieres and was broadcast on Italian Radio and Television. Stephen Alltop’s first CD as a conductor and fortepiano soloist was released in 2002 on the Cedille label. Entitled “The Divas of Mozart’s Day,” and featuring soprano Patrice Michaels and the Classical Arts Orchestra, the disc has received critical praise in reviews across the United States and Europe. As a keyboard soloist, Mr. Alltop has appeared with numerous orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Omaha Symphony, Sheboygan Symphony, Symphony II and at the Ravinia Festival. He has recorded on the American Gramaphone and Cedille labels. As an orchestral musician, he has performed with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Joffrey Ballet, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Milwaukee Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra. A CD on the Albany label featuring soprano Julianne Baird, with Darin Kelly, trumpet and Stephen Alltop, organ, was released in 2002. Stephen Alltop has served as Scorereader for six television productions by WTTW Chicago featuring the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and has performed on numerous radio broadcasts on the WFMT Fine Arts Network, and the Chicago classical station WNIB. A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Stephen Alltop holds Master of Music degrees in Choral Conducting and Organ from the Eastman School of Music. He also received a Bachelor of Music degree and Performer's Certificate from Eastman, where he graduated with Highest Distinction. He holds the Doctor of Music Degree in Orchestral Conducting from Northwestern University, where he studied with Victor Yampolsky. Dr. Alltop's dissertation was one of the most extensive studies to date on contemporary practices in orchestral programming. During the summer of 1988, Mr. Alltop was a Conducting Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival with Paul Vermel. Other summers have included study with Herbert Blomstedt, Joseph Flummerfelt, and Otto-Werner Muller. In 2001, he was selected as one of six participants in the National Conductor Preview of the American Symphony Orchestra League. |
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GLFM's mission
is to entertain, inspire and educate through musical
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