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Pictured above: Michelle and Richard Hynson
This season marks Richard Hynson’s 31st year as Music Director of the Bel Canto Chorus. Additionally, Hynson served as Music Director of the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra from 2006-2015. In demand as a guest conductor, Hynson’s 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. He has guest-conducted the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in one of the Concerts on the Square in Madison. He also served as the Music Director for Gathering on the Green, the popular outdoor music festival in Mequon, WI. 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 October 2015, Bel Canto participated in the Milwaukee performance of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddess. The chorus has performed with orchestras in Argentina, Uruguay, and France. In June 2015, Bel Canto toured Ireland, performing three concerts with four Irish choruses and Degani, one of Ireland’s finest chamber ensembles. |
