Download Lucas Richman to conclude tenure at KSO following 2014

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Rachel Dellinger
KSO Director of Communications
Direct: 865-521-2317 Cell: 865-660-3037
[email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 19, 2013
KSO MUSIC DIRECTOR LUCAS RICHMAN TO CONCLUDE TENURE
AFTER 2014-15 SEASON
Knoxville, TN – September 19, 2013 – Maestro Lucas Richman, Music Director of the
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra has announced that he will conclude his tenure with
the KSO following the 2014-2015 season. While the Maestro’s current contract has him
at the helm through the end of the 2013-14 season, he has agreed to continue on with
the organization for one additional season, extending his leadership through the 2014-15
season—his 12th with the orchestra.
Maestro Richman was named the seventh Music Director of the Knoxville Symphony
Orchestra in 2003. Since then, he has overseen unparalleled artistic growth in the
Orchestra, spurred the organization to expand its education and outreach programs and
served as the driving force in the introduction of the KSO’s Music & Wellness program
(which now, a decade strong, has multiple national recognitions to its credit).
During his tenure in Knoxville, Maestro Richman received a GRAMMY Award (2011) in
the category of Best Classical Crossover Album for having conducted the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra on Christopher Tin’s classical/world fusion album, Calling All
Dawns. Since 2010 he has also served as Music Director and Conductor for the Bangor
Symphony Orchestra and last season’s guest-conducting engagements took him abroad
to Canada, Iceland, Norway and China. Recent recordings he has led from the podium
include Symphony of Hope: The Haiti Project, Noel Paul Stookey’s recent solo release
One & Many, and Marvin Hamlisch’s final score, written for the HBO movie, Behind the
Candelabra. Additionally an accomplished composer, Mr. Richman has had his music
performed by over two hundred orchestras in the last fifteen years.
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The KSO has been the beneficiary of Maestro Richman’s artistic knowledge, industry
savvy, and passion for the art form for over a decade. His work has left a permanent
mark on the KSO and the Knoxville community, where he has been deeply involved with
the Joy of Music School, the Arts & Culture Alliance, the Volunteer Ministry Center and
the Knoxville Jewish Day School.
“It has been my good fortune to work with Lucas for the past six years,” said KSO
Executive Director Rachel Ford. “He is an artist of exceptional depth and passion and
has a creativity that is unsurpassed. His wit and humor are matched by his grace and
kindness. He will be sorely missed, but I am absolutely confident that the next stage in
his career will be filled with exciting new projects and will find him busier than he has
ever been. We look forward to his return engagements in Knoxville.”
“Lucas Richman has grown the artistic quality of the Knoxville Symphony beyond what
anyone might have imagined when he took the reins in 2003” said Board President A.
Richard (Rick) Johnson. “We have enjoyed amazing concerts, from the reopening of
the Tennessee Theatre to multiple collaborative productions with the Clarence Brown
Theatre; from family concerts with his animated character Picardy Penguin to
entertaining Pops performances—Lucas is the complete package. We are deeply sad to
see him go but realize how lucky we have been that he chose Knoxville as his home for
so long and through such a growth period in his own career and in the life of our
Orchestra.”
The KSO Board of Directors will form a search committee that will be tasked with the
search for a new Music Director to occur during the 2015-16 season.
The KSO has contributed to the cultural life in East Tennessee since 1935. The
orchestra consists of 75 professional musicians and performs more than 250 programs
throughout East Tennessee each season. Performing in traditional venues such as the
Tennessee Theatre, Bijou Theatre and the Civic Auditorium and in non-traditional places
like hospitals, school classrooms, nursing homes, city parks and churches - the KSO
reaches more than 200,000 people throughout the region each year. For more
information regarding the KSO, please call 865-291-3310.
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