Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Pops to Present VALENTINE ROMANCE, 2/14-16

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

The 2013.14 season marks John Morris Russell's third full season as conductor of the Cincinnati Pops. Consistently winning international praise for his extraordinary music-making and visionary leadership, he was recently named music director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. He completed his role as music director of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra in Ontario, Canada at the end of the 2011.12 season whereupon he was named that orchestra's first conductor laureate. As a guest conductor, Mr. Russell has worked with many of North America's most distinguished ensembles. Abroad he conducted at the famed Musikverein in Vienna in a concert that featured the Harlem Boychoir, the Vienna Choir Boys, and the actor Gregory Peck. Russell has also served as associate conductor of the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, director of the orchestral program at Vanderbilt University, and music director with the College Light Opera Company in Falmouth, Massachusetts. He received a Master of Music degree in conducting from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Williams College in Massachusetts. He has also studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, and the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Hancock, Maine.

Lisa Vroman

has established herself as one of America's most versatile voices. She has been regarded as a "musical and theatrical marvel" by The San Francisco Chronicle, as well as "one of American musical theater's most beautiful voices" by acclaimed Broadway producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh. Among her extensive repertoire, Ms. Vroman starred on Broadway, in San Francisco, and Los Angeles as Christine Daae? in The Phantom of the Opera. Her many roles include: Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus; both Fantine and Cosette in Les Miserables; Rosabella in The Most Happy Fella (New York City Opera); Marion Paroo in The Music Man (Shirley Jones); Lili Vanessi in Kiss Me Kate (Glimmerglass Opera/St. Louis MUNY); and Anna Leonowens in The King and I (Lyric Opera of Virginia). For PBS, she played Johanna in Sweeney Todd in Concert (Patti Lupone) and reprised her role as Christine from The Phantom of the Opera with Colm Wilkinson in the BBC London Royal Gala, Hey Mr. Producer! Visit her at lisavroman.com