THE ORCHESTRA
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The Anderson Symphony Orchestra was organized in 1967 by leaders at Anderson University, with its very first performance made up largely of volunteers from the local community. The organization was incorporated in 1978 and launched as an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3).
Today the Anderson Symphony Orchestra is a proud assemblage of professional musicians who, for the most part, earn their livings in the music arts. Maestro Richard Sowers has conducted the Symphony since 1989.
OUR CONDUCTOR
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Richard Sowers is now in his 21st season as music director and conductor of the Anderson Symphony Orchestra. During his years of leadership, the ASO has seen significant growth artistically, and continues to provide innovative programming to serve the diverse audience of Anderson and surrounding communities. His tenure has seen the first PBS televised broadcasts, many concert broadcasts by Indiana Public Radio, and the creation of the Halloween and the Family concerts. Sowers has led concerts for the youth of Wabash and Huntington Counties, at the Honeywell Center, in addition to the Symphony for Kids concerts for Madison County fifth-graders.
Richard Sowers has been guest conductor with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Carmel Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, and the New World Youth Orchestra of Indianapolis. During the spring of 2007, Sowers was the guest conductor of the EMO Ensemble in Helsinki, Finland during a two-month residency during which he also served as a guest faculty member at the Sibelius Academy.
Now in his 26th year as a Professor of Music at the Anderson University School of Music, Richard Sowers is the Conductor of the Anderson University Chamber Orchestra, the Anderson University Chorale, the Anderson University Men’s Choir, and the Anderson Symphonic Choir; he also teaches undergraduate and graduate level conducting courses. He has achieved national and international recognition with performances and guest conducting throughout the United States and Europe. Sowers served for eight years on the staff of the Conductor’s Retreat at Medomak, a seventeen-day retreat for professional conductors from all around the globe held near Camden, Maine each summer.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada and Richmond, Indiana, Richard Sowers received his undergraduate music degree from the Indiana University School of Music where he was a four-year scholarship recipient. He was granted his Master of Music in Conducting from Colorado State University, and in 1993, was chosen as that school’s outstanding music alumnus. Sowers earned the Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting at Arizona State University. Primary conducting teachers included Jan Harrington, Wil Schwartz, Edward Anderson, Douglas McEwen, and Kenneth Kiesler. He has also participated in courses led by Julius Herford, Robert Shaw, Helmuth Rilling, Kirk Trevor, and Daniel Lewis.
Richard Sowers makes his home in Anderson with his wife, Nancy, a CPA. They have three children - Benjamin, Matthew and Mary.
OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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Executive Director Nancy L. Wood begins her tenure with the Anderson Symphony Orchestra this season. Originally from the northwest corner of Vermont, Nancy received a Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts Degrees in Composition and Vocal/Instrumental Performance from Western Michigan University and Ball State University, respectively. While pursuing her Master's, Nancy was honored as the first composition student to write an original score for a dramatic stage production in cooperation with Ball State University's Department of Theatre & Dance. The production was adapted from John Fowles' book, The French Lieutenant's Woman, (which was later made into a movie starring Merle Streep).
After graduate school, Nancy was hired by Bill & Gloria Gaither as the Promotions Director, then Operations Manager, for Pinebrook Recording Studios (now Gaither Studios). Along with her studio responsibilities, Nancy spent her "off hours" in the studio as a freelance session singer, producer, and voice-over talent for a long list of artists and publishing companies. She also spent a great deal of time working on her own projects, recording dozens of demos as well as two albums.
After her tenure with the Gaithers, Nancy worked for Indiana Public Radio at Ball State as the Audience Services Director, at Indiana Wesleyan University as the Director of Adult Education Services (a new department she was contracted to build that marketed several degree programs for the Adult & Professional Studies Division), and as the Corporate Information Officer for the Anderson Community Schools.
Nancy also continued to work professionally as a freelance writer/designer. In the mid-90s, she wrote and produced an hour-long production for Indiana Public Radio that was satellite-broadcast to public radio stations across the country. Nancy has written and/or designed CD covers, catalogs, brochures, press packs, and jingles for companies and individual artists over the last 25 years, winning awards for several of her projects. In 1999, she was among the first group of artists to win an Individual Artist Grant (in literature and art) from the Indiana Arts Commission and National Endowment for the Arts. In the last few years, Nancy has scripted and produced more than 40 educational and image videos. In 2006, she was hired by a Lexington, Kentucky firm to research and write a screenplay for a documentary short film that was released this year.
Nancy resides in Anderson with two beautiful but very opinionated Persian cats.
OUR ASSISTANT TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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RuthAnn Ginder, Assistant to the Executive Director, has been a valued member of the Anderson Symphony Orchestra team for more than six years. She brings to her position 30 years of related work experience in both non-profit organizations and the financial industry.
THE OFFICERS
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Stephen Bourke, Co-President Community Volunteer |
2005 | |||||||||
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Nancy Ricker, Co-President Ricker Oil |
2002 | |||||||||
| Michael Mover, Vice President |
Riverview Hospital | 2008 | |||||||||
| Cathy Boerner, Secretary | First Merchants Bank of Central Indiana | 2001 | |||||||||
| James Stuart, Treasurer | First Merchants Trust Company | 2009 | |||||||||
BOARD of DIRECTORS |
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| Paula Bivens | The Herald Bulletin | 2005 | |||||||||
| Jessica Carson | Old National Bank | 2005 | |||||||||
| Stephanie Daugherty | Community Volunteer | 2009 | |||||||||
| Duane Diedrich | Community Volunteer | 2009 | |||||||||
| Philip Hilger | Saint John's Health System | 2008 | |||||||||
| Jack Hittle | Church, Church, Hittle & Antrim | 2008 | |||||||||
| Cindy Lanane | Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence | 2009 | |||||||||
| E. Darlene Miller | Community Volunteer | 2009 | |||||||||
| Paul Muething | Community Volunteer | 2009 | |||||||||
| Milton Otto | Community Volunteer | 2009 | |||||||||
| John Parshall | Community Volunteer | 2008 | |||||||||
| William Runkle | Ball Memorial Hospital | 2007 | |||||||||
| Sydney "Susie" Schieve | Community Volunteer | 2007 | |||||||||
| William Schmidt | Musician Representative | 2009 | |||||||||
| Richard Seaver, Sr. | Community Volunteer | 2009 | |||||||||
| Brett Spangler | Community Volunteer | 2009 | |||||||||
| Kay Clark President, ASO Friends |
Community Volunteer | 2008 | |||||||||
