Music Director
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Sticks and Drones~Ron Spigelman's Blog
The exciting and innovative Australian conductor, Ron Spigelman, is an honors graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London. In 1996 he was awarded an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARAM) for distinguishing himself in his field. He has been the Associate Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Before this he was the Associate Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Fort Worth Dallas Ballet and Music Director of the San Angelo Symphony and the Texas Chamber Orchestra. Amongst many career highlights, his debut with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra garnering critical acclaim for his performance of the world premier of Lowell Liebermann’s Pegasus, and his critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall conducting debut with the Buffalo Philharmonic in 2004. Currently he is the Music Director of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (MO), Music Director of the Metropolitan Classical Ballet (TX), and he also teaches Conducting and special topics at Drury University. His blog is widely read and can be found on www.insidethearts.com under the title Sticks and Drones
Ron was appointed as the Associate Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony after his American debut with that orchestra in 1994. Today, 14 years after his emigration to the United States, he has made numerous guest appearances with symphony orchestras across the country, including the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and many others. In Texas he has made numerous appearances with the San Antonio Symphony, the Dallas Opera Orchestra and the Austin Symphony Orchestra. He has returned to Australia for performances with the Adelaide, Queensland and Sydney Symphony orchestras.
Ron has accompanied a wide range of internationally renowned artists including: Horacio Gutierrez Richard Stoltzman, Pamela Frank, Sharon Isbin, Jubilant Sykes, Jon Kimura Parker, Edith Chen, Navah Perlman, Elissa Lee Kokkonen, Orli Shaham and many others. Pops artists he has performed with include: Marvin Hamlisch, Canadian Brass, Tanya Tucker, Kathy Mattea, Mark O’Connor, King’s Singers, Arturo Sandoval, Audra McDonald, Dianne Reeves, Cherish the Ladies, and legends James Taylor, Art Garfunkel and Peter Paul and Mary. He was the executive producer of the Marvin Hamlisch BPO Christmas Pops recording, and was the co-editor for all of the BPO NPR broadcasts between 2001 - 2005.
Previous to his appointments in Texas, Ron was the Assistant to the Chief Conductor of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. A position created especially for him, after he was the first to be awarded the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Conductor-in-Training position for two consecutive years, first with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, and then with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. During this time, he also conducted the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the West Australian Opera and the Australian Youth Orchestra.
Since his first appointment in 1992, Ron has conducted over 1000 performances and has a repertoire of over 400 works including several full-length ballets. Equally at home with symphonic pops, he is known for his creative programming and audience involvement. He has made several recordings for radio broadcast as well as two compact discs. “Dream Angels is a collection of orchestral lullabies recorded with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. It was nominated for the Australian Record Industry Award (ARIA) for best children’s release in 1995. The education program Ron helped implement for the Fort Worth Symphony, has been the recipient of numerous NEA and local grants, and gained a state wide and nation wide reputation for it’s groundbreaking ideas and educational value.
Ron’s principal instrument study was the Trumpet, and as a soloist he performed with several British orchestras and at music festivals in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Italy, including the Florence Maggio Musicale, at the invitation of the composer Luciano Berio. He still performs on the Trumpet and sings in Pops performances. A champion of new music he has conducted over 30 world premieres. His performance of the Lukas Foss Opera The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, was broadcast here and internationally on the National Public Radio show Symphonycast. He also has served as a faculty member for a Donald Thulean ASOL Conductors Workshop. In 1997, 2001 and 2005 he was James Conlon’s assistant conductor at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. This season he begins his tenure as Principal Pops Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony, and makes his debut with the Tulsa Symphony. He lives in Springfield with his wife Lisa and son’s Noah and Elijah.