HISTORY & MISSION

2010-Present Day: Nikolas Caoile

Nikolas Caoile was appointed in 2010 after serving as guest conductor in the previous season. A new logo and season brochure was designed. Caoile had served as Director of Orchestras at  Central Washington University for four years. Under his direction, the new season brought back a number of former players to the point that very few “imports'' were needed during Caoile’s first season.

In 2011, the symphony created the Young Musician Competition in honor of the late Angela Schuster Svendsen. 

2004-2009: Mr. Marty Zyskowski

Marty Zyskowski led the symphony from 2004 through 2009. Among the highlights of his tenure was the 60th anniversary season of 2006-7 with a program that spanned the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods. After stepping down in 2009, the symphony relied on guest conductors the following season.

2000-2004: Dr. Mel Strauss

Mel Strauss was hired in 2000. Strauss had been a guest conductor here and was head of Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts. He had wide experience in the music world, and in his three years here his experience and musical maturity were evident.

1997-2000: Mr. Adam Flatt

In 1998, Alcoa chemist Roy Hill left endowments to the symphony. His bequest included an annual $10,000 to the symphony plus two scholarships for graduating high school seniors in Chelan and Douglas Counties of $4,000 a year for four years. The symphony had guest conductors until 1999, when Adam Flatt was selected. 

1994-1997: Dr. Daniel Baldwin

Lee was succeeded by Dan Baldwin, director of the Central Washington University Symphony, in 1994, who conducted the local group until 1997 when he took a position in Iowa.

1982-1994: Mr. Mike Lee

Mike Lee succeeded Glenn Kelly in the 1982-83 season. Among Lee’s concerts was the Mozart “Requiem” with the Central Washington University choir, the Columbia Chorale of Wenatchee, and the college choir. The soloists were Dick Lapo, Susan Bray, Ted Turner and Judith Burns.  The orchestra also premiered a piano concerto composed and performed  by Gordon Schuster, who had written the composition while studying at Eastern Washington University.

The state’s centennial year, 1989, had not only the Camilla Wicks violin performance, but also a special centennial event with a work by Prof. Gerald Kechley of the University of Washington commissioned by the Wenatchee Valley Symphony. It was based on folk songs from the new centennial songbook.

Beth Jensen became the symphony manager under Mike Lee. A 1992 concert featured a commissioned work, a new clarinet concerto composed by Gordon Schuster of Wenatchee, who was doing doctoral studies at Indiana University. The piece was commissioned by clarinetist Caroline McKee, who played the new composition.

1976-1982: Mr. Glenn Kelly

Glenn Kelly took over the podium in 1976 after Malcolm Seagrave transitioned to California to pursue  a career in composition. Kelly conducted the orchestra for the next six seasons. Esther Petit’s position was taken by Laurie Mathews for a year, succeeded by Sherry Krebs for several seasons.

1968-1976: Dr. Malcolm Seagrave

The Wenatchee Valley College, led by President Dr. William Steward, hired Seagrave that year with the desire to have him lead a full symphony. An orchestra board of directors was selected and charged with managing and raising funds. They got community sponsors for every program and organized as a non-profit entity in 1970. A full symphony repertoire was now possible.

In 1970 the symphony made arrangements to play in the Liberty Theater, with its first concert on November 1. When Wenatchee High School opened a new building in the fall of 1972, its 900-seat auditorium became home for the symphony concerts.

The 1970's were memorable not only for the musicianship of Dr. Malcolm Seagrave, but for the addition of Camilla Wicks, concert violinist, who became the symphony's concertmaster in 1972. She made a profound impression, and Dr. Seagrave commented that her presence had moved the orchestra years ahead in its musical development. She played with the orchestra for three seasons.

1947-1968: Dr. George Bower

The Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra had a quiet beginning, when a group of musicians gathered in the first location of the Wenatchee Junior College, situated in the Ellison Junior High School building. The year was 1947, just eight years after the founding of the college.One of the musicians, violinist Arlene Trotter, recalls that less than twenty musicians took part in those early years.

George Bower was the high school music teacher leading the group, which he named the Wenatchee Civic Orchestra. It performed free concerts in the Liberty Theater. The college moved to the Fifth Street campus, and hired Bower to run its music in 1954. He continued to lead the small group and their occasional free performances to sparse audiences.

Wenatchee Valley College received a $59,000 federal grant in 1968, which brought three professional artists to three community colleges: Yakima, Tri-Cities, and Wenatchee. They were drama instructor Lawrence Tucker and musicians Brooke Creswell and Dr. Malcolm Seagrave, each to serve one quarter at each school.