An engaging communicator of exceptional warmth and energy, conductor Richard A. Haglund is Music Director of the Sangamon Valley Youth Symphony and Community Orchestra in Springfield. Additionally he is founder and Music Director of the Erato Chamber Orchestra in Chicago and is the Assistant Conductor for the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Haglund has conducted professional ensembles around the globe. These include the Camerata Chamber Orchestra in Cluj , Romania , the St. Petersburg Hermitage Orchestra in Russia, and the Varna Philharmonic and Grabovo Chamber Orchestra in Bulgaria . In the summer of 2009 he was invited for a second appearance with the Bantul Philharmonic Orchestra in Romania. Additionally he guest conducted the Acapella Orchestra in St. Petersburg Russia and the National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova in Chişinău.

Haglund's diverse experience includes Pops Conductor for the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra's summer season, Assistant Conductor of the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, Assistant Conductor of the Bard Community Chorus, and numerous state festival and youth orchestra ensembles. He currently teaches music at Blackburn College in Carlinville, IL.

Haglund received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Minnesota. He studied with Gustav Meier in Kiev, Ukraine where he conducted the National Symphony Orchestra and Radio Choir of the Ukraine, as well as in St. Petersburg, Russia at the Peter the Great Music Academy. In 2003, he completed a Masters of Fine Arts in Orchestral Conducting at Bard College in New York under the tutelage of Harold Farberman. Haglund also studied conducting with Leon Botstein, Paul Vermel, Larry Rachleff, and Murry Sidlin. In addition to conducting, he has studied composition individually with world-renowned composer Joan Tower.

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