Music Director Search

From the spring of 2022 through our 2022-2023 season, the BrSO welcomed six music director candidates to the podium. Each candidate "interviewed" for the orchestra by programming, rehearsing, and performing a full concert with the Symphony. After working with these six wondeful conductors, we compiled feedback from our musicians, board, and audience members and are pleased to welcome our new Music Director, John Masko, to the podium!

Welcome, John Masko

Rhode Island native John Masko is a rapidly rising orchestral conductor who works with professional and semi-professional orchestras around the U.S. and the world. He is currently music director of the Providence Medical Orchestra and frequently serves as assistant and cover conductor with orchestras including the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and Landmarks Orchestra. A leader in the field of medical professions orchestras, John founded the National Virtual Medical Orchestra, an online ensemble of medical professionals from around the country.

John holds a master's degree in conducting from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Dr. Eric Dudley. He has also studied conducting with Charles Peltz at New England Conservatory. John has conducted in masterclasses led by Cristian Măcelaru, Rüdiger Bohn, Sian Edwards, Paavo Järvi, and Jorma Panula, and has assisted conductors including Michael Tilson Thomas, Krzysztof Urbanski, Cristian Măcelaru, and Osmo Vänskä. In the U.S., he has conducted the Charleston (South Carolina) Symphony Orchestra and the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, and internationally, he has conducted orchestras including the Lithanian State Symphony Orchestra in Vilnius, Lithuania; the Camerata Antonio Soler in El Escorial, Spain, the Romanian Chamber Orchestra in Timișoara, Romania, and the Filarmonica Mihail Jora in Bacău, Romania.

An enthusiastic advocate for new music, John has served as conducting fellow at the Atlantic Music Festival in Waterville, Maine. He has conducted numerous premieres, including recent premieres of works by Robert Ruohola and Oana Vardianu.

Outside of music, he fancies himself maker of the best gumbo north of the Mason Dixon Line and is a devotee of the novels of Thomas Hardy.

 

BrSO Music Director Search Timeline

September 2021: Job description posted and applications accepted

October 31, 2021: Candidate application deadline

February 2022: Finalists selected

March 2022 to May 2023: Final candidates' concerts

June 2023: Selection of BrSO Music Director

July 1, 2023: New Music Director begins BrSO tenure

 

Music Director Finalist Bios

Dr. Donald J. Running

Originally from Minnesota, Dr. Donald J. Running received his Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Superior. He taught in the public schools of Minnesota and Wisconsin before receiving his Master of Arts degree and PhD in music education from the University of Minnesota. While attending the University of Minnesota, he studied conducting with Craig Kirchhoff, theatre with Kari Margolis, and educational philosophy with Dr. Paul Haack. Dr. Running has written music for and premiered music with the Bridgewater State University Wind Ensemble, University of Minnesota Campus Orchestra, Brass Choir, Black Box Theatre as well as several middle and high schools.

In addition to his university duties, Dr. Running is active as an adjudicator/clinician and pursues an active research and writing schedule. He has been published in The Bulletin for the Chronicle for Research in Music Education, The Journal of Band Research, Mass Music News, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education and Minnesota Music Education Research Review in Gopher Notes. He has presented research and held conducting workshops throughout the United States, Canada, China, Greece, and Scotland.

Dr. Running is a frequent clinician at the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association (MICCA), Great East Festivals, and is Director for the New England Ambassadors of Music. He also performs with the Brockton Symphony Orchestra as Bass Trombonist.

Adam Kerry Boyles

A dynamic and versatile conductor, Adam Kerry Boyles is a notable figure in the musical life of New England. Boyles is currently Director of Orchestras at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Assistant Conductor of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director Emeritus of the Brookline Symphony Orchestra. The 2021/2022 season features guest engagements with the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, New England Philharmonic, and Brockton Symphony Orchestra, as well as conducting Beethoven 9 and a series of summer pops programs with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.

Other recent appearances include concerts with the Ocean City Pops Orchestra, Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra, and honors orchestras in Massachusetts, Nevada, Tennessee, Oregon, and Rhode Island. In the 21/22 season, Boyles will make his first appearance with the Long Beach Symphony. He has also served as cover conductor with the Boston Pops, Kansas City Symphony, and Phoenix Symphony.

As a clinician, Boyles regularly appears in festivals with Manhattan Concert Productions and the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association, and has served multiple times as a judge on concerto competitions for Boston Conservatory and the Phoenix Youth Symphony.

An accomplished vocalist, Boyles performed in numerous operas with the Indiana University Opera Theater, and in Arizona Opera's first complete presentation of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. He has sung with many professional choral ensembles across the country such as Conspirare, True Concord, Apollo's Voice, Mon Choeur, Cantique, and locally with Emmanuel Music, Festina, and Church of the Redeemer. In 2010, Boyles was featured as a soloist with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

Boyles received his Doctor of Music in Orchestral Conducting degree from The University of Texas at Austin, his Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting degree from The University of Arizona, and his Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance degree from Indiana University.

Michael Korn

Michael Korn began to play violin at the age of five and studied with preeminent violin pedagogues in the USSR and Israel. As a violinist he concertized in the former Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Israel, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Morocco, Netherlands, Spain, Tunisia, and the U.S. Among the highlights of his career, he performed at world-famous venues such as Small Hall of Moscow Conservatory, St. Petersburg Small Philharmonic Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam, Symphony Hall in Boston, and on top of a Soviet Army armory vehicle in a small Siberian village.

Michael has always pursued diverse interests in his commitment to music and passing it to others. Upon his arrival to the U.S., he created the first chamber music festival for youth in Alabama. More recently, he founded and directs the Easton Chamber Music Festival which is designed as an intensive workshop for adult musicians and concert series with an internationally renowned faculty. Michael also teaches orchestra at Oliver Ames Chamber Orchestra in Easton.

In the last decade Michael has engaged in conducting and currently serves as the Music Director of the Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sharon Community Chamber Orchestra. He has conducted numerous performances, including in some of the most prestigious concert halls of the nation, such as Carnegie Hall in New York City and Symphony Hall in Boston. Balancing traditional jewels of orchestral music with less familiar compositions, Michael introduced audiences to works of Juan Arriaga, Norbert Burgmuller, Etienne Mehul, Jan Vaclav Vorisek, Paul Wranitzky, and conducted the U.S. premiere of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony in a completed edition by German composer-scholar Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs. An avid advocate of American music, Michael conducted works by Amy Beach, Howard Frazin, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, William Grant-Still, Howard Hanson, and Gwyneth Walker. A dedicated enthusiast of making music together, Michael has enjoyed collaborations with many renowned soloists, including Yelena Dudochkin (soprano), Emmanuel Feldman (cello), Philip Lima (baritone), Zhantao Lin (erhu), Mher Mnatsakanyan (duduk), Mark McEwen (oboe), Daniel Orlansky (didgeridoo), Victor Romanul (violin), Linda Toote (flute), and Michael Zaretzky ((viola), and with extraordinary young musicians such as Joe MacDonald (violin), Hayden Idson (cello), Haig Hovsepian (violin), Hannah To (Chinese dulcimer), and Ariel Wang (flute), to name just a few.

Hailed for his inventive approach to orchestral programming, Michael is the winner of The American Prize, a national non-profit competition in the performing arts.

Philip Sanborn

Philip Sanborn is in his seventeenth season as Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Tri- County Symphonic Band. As the Music Director for the TCSB, he has collaborated with many soloists including principal players from the National Symphony Orchestra, The Boston Ballet Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as well as members of the United States Marine Band, Air Force Band and Coast Guard Band. A strong advocate of performing new works by gifted composers, Mr. Sanborn has been active and influential in commissioning and conducting world premieres of many pieces for the TCSB including "Helen of Troy" by JoAnne Harris, "Postcards from Buzzards Bay" by Michael Donovan and "Colors of the Winds" and "Heroic Journey" by John Wallace. He also led the effort to commission a concert band arrangement of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto by arranger Robert Freedman.

Mr. Sanborn holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where he studied brass with Abe Torchinsky and conducting with Allan McMurray, Carl St. Clair and H. Robert Reynolds. As chair of the Music Department at Tabor Academy in Marion, MA, he conducted the Orchestra, String Ensemble, Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band for 34 years. Mr. Sanborn has also conducted many musical pit orchestras and was the conductor of the Tabor Academy Mixed Chorus and Madrigal Singers.

As a trombonist and euphonium player, Mr. Sanborn has performed in Boston Symphony Hall, Lincoln Center (New York), The Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.), The Academy of Music (Philadelphia) and Veterans Memorial Auditorium (Providence, RI). He has appeared with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, Ocean State Lyric Opera Orchestra, Rhode Island Civic Chorale Orchestra, The Bass-Wingate's Band (British Brass Band), Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, The Buzzards Bay MusicFest Orchestra, Theater-By-The-Sea Pit Orchestra, Festival Theater Pit Orchestra, Tri- County Symphonic Band, Marion Concert Band, Our Lady of Light Band, and the American Band of Providence, R.I.

As a jazz trombonist, Mr. Sanborn has performed both locally and internationally including the Montreux (Switzerland) Jazz Festival. Mr. Sanborn has appeared with Cab Calloway, Julius La Rosa, Bobby Vinson, Duke Bellaire Big Band (Bovi's, East Providence, RI), John Allmark, Tony Giorgianni's Jazz Odyssey, White Heat Swing Orchestra, Ken Hadley Big Band, SouthCoast Jazz Orchestra, the Night Life Orchestra, Buzzards Bay MusicFest Swing Band, Mahrud, Stage Door Canteen, Jorge Ferreira, International Portuguese Music Awards, and many others.

David Feltner

Acclaimed by The Boston Globe for leading performances of "profound expressivity," and praised for his "fervent advocacy" by The Boston Phoenix, David Feltner is active as a conductor, violist and composer. Equally at home in the symphonic and operatic worlds, he has served as Associate Conductor and Chorus Master for Boston Lyric Opera and Cover Conductor for Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops.

Mr. Feltner has been thrilling audiences in New England and beyond for over two decades. He is the Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Boston, a group that has won accolades from audiences and critics alike for its polished performances and innovative programs. As Steven Ledbetter wrote in The Boston Music Intelligencer: "David Feltner put together a truly captivating program... one of the most completely satisfying concerts that I have heard this season."

He is also the Music Director of the Nashua Chamber Orchestra and the Merrimack Valley Philharmonic Orchestra. His guest conducting appearances include the Topeka Symphony Orchestra, Adelphi Chamber Orchestra, Boston Civic Symphony, Narragansett Bay Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic Community Orchestra, and Intermezzo: The New England Chamber Opera Series.

An enthusiastic advocate for music of our time, Mr. Feltner has conducted numerous premieres and works by dozens of living composers, from Anaís Azul to Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. As a violist, he has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Yamagata (Japan) Symphony, New York City Opera and Palm Beach Opera. His recent orchestral compositions include Echoes of Lithuania, Dreams and Awakenings for trumpet and strings, and a piccolo concerto commissioned by Eduardo Gómez.