Previous Music Directors of the HSO

Catherine Overhauser (1981-87)

Harvey Felder (1987-1990)

Eric Townell (1990-1991)

[April 1991]

Eric Townell is Acting Music Director of the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Conductor of the Prince George's Philharmonic and Director of the Arion Gesangverein, the German chorale active in Baltimore since 1850. Mr. Townell was formerly Director of the Washington University Chamber Orchestra. He served as Music Director for Washington University's production of Weill's Threepenny Opera, and was musical director for the 1984 production of Walton's Facade  with the St. Louis Repertory Dancers.

Mr. Townell holds degrees from Indiana University and Northern Illinois University, and has studied conducting and solfege at the Peabody Conservatory, the St. Louis Conservatory, the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna, Austria, and privately with Catherine Comet. Recent engagements as Guest Conductor include the Prince George's Philharmonic, the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra, the Fox Valley Symphony (Wisconsin), the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra, and the Hershey Symphony Orchestra.

Robert Black (1991-1993)

[May, 1993]

Maestro Robert Black made his Carnegie Hall debut as a guest conductor with the American Symphony Orchestra in January, 1988. Since then he has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and various orchestras throughout Europe. This past spring he returned to Europe for a recording with the Warsaw Philharmonic and a concert tour of Finland where he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Kuopio Orchestra. Mr. Black's opera activities include performances in New York and Puerto Rico and the premiere of Dinos Constantinides' Antigone  in Baton Rouge. A graduate of the Julliard School, Robert Black was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and at age thirteen presented his first public piano recitals in Louisiana and in his home state. In addition to conducting, Robert Black is a published poet, a composer, and an inveterate softball player.

Jed Gaylin (1994-present)

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Last modified August 30, 1999 Keith Kaneda (kaneda@jhu.edu)
http://www.jhu.edu/~jhso/about/prev_mus_dirs.html