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Richard Hynson Artistic Director Laureate |
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The 2024-25 season marked Richard Hynson’s 36th year as Music Director of Bel Canto Chorus and his seventh season as Music Director of the Kettle Moraine Symphony Orchestra.
In 2022, Hynson and his wife, Michelle, were selected by the Civic Music Association of Milwaukee to receive its Lifetime Achievement in Music — that organization’s highest honor.
Hynson is in demand as a guest conductor; past engagements include performances with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Skylight Music Theatre, and the Racine, Sheboygan, and Waukesha Symphony Orchestras. Hynson has conducted at Carnegie Hall in New York City, where he led a large national festival chorus and orchestra in Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem.
In 2012, Hynson was awarded the American Prize in Choral Conducting — community choral division. This national prize provides evaluation, recognition, and reward to America’s finest performing artists, ensembles, and composers. In making the award, the American Prize committee wrote, “During his 24 years as Music Director, Dr. Richard Hynson has transformed Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee from a venerable community chorus to a vibrant, successful arts organization respected for its artistic excellence, innovative programming, and impactful outreach…”
Hynson and members of Bel Canto Chorus have performed internationally at the acclaimed Spoleto Music Festival in Italy, the Festivals of Troyes and Rheims in France, the Llangollen Festival in Wales, and the Elora and Huntsville Festivals in Canada. In addition to its annual concert season, the chorus is often called upon to participate in performances by national touring companies. In November 2016, Bel Canto participated in the Milwaukee performance of The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses: Master Quest. The chorus has performed with orchestras in Argentina, Uruguay, France, and Ireland. In June 2017, Bel Canto traveled to Germany and the Czech Republic.
From Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express: “Rick Hynson has been the music director at Bel Canto Chorus for 35 seasons. In that time, he has grown as a choral director while helping to usher the organization into the 21st century in new and exciting ways. Hynson’s longevity in his role is unmatched in the area, with no one else coming close to his tenure.”
In 2022, Hynson and his wife, Michelle, were selected by the Civic Music Association of Milwaukee to receive its Lifetime Achievement in Music — that organization’s highest honor.
Hynson is in demand as a guest conductor; past engagements include performances with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Skylight Music Theatre, and the Racine, Sheboygan, and Waukesha Symphony Orchestras. Hynson has conducted at Carnegie Hall in New York City, where he led a large national festival chorus and orchestra in Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem.
In 2012, Hynson was awarded the American Prize in Choral Conducting — community choral division. This national prize provides evaluation, recognition, and reward to America’s finest performing artists, ensembles, and composers. In making the award, the American Prize committee wrote, “During his 24 years as Music Director, Dr. Richard Hynson has transformed Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee from a venerable community chorus to a vibrant, successful arts organization respected for its artistic excellence, innovative programming, and impactful outreach…”
Hynson and members of Bel Canto Chorus have performed internationally at the acclaimed Spoleto Music Festival in Italy, the Festivals of Troyes and Rheims in France, the Llangollen Festival in Wales, and the Elora and Huntsville Festivals in Canada. In addition to its annual concert season, the chorus is often called upon to participate in performances by national touring companies. In November 2016, Bel Canto participated in the Milwaukee performance of The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses: Master Quest. The chorus has performed with orchestras in Argentina, Uruguay, France, and Ireland. In June 2017, Bel Canto traveled to Germany and the Czech Republic.
From Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express: “Rick Hynson has been the music director at Bel Canto Chorus for 35 seasons. In that time, he has grown as a choral director while helping to usher the organization into the 21st century in new and exciting ways. Hynson’s longevity in his role is unmatched in the area, with no one else coming close to his tenure.”
