Richard Arthur Haglund, Music Director
Richard Haglund is entering his fifth year as Music Director of the Sangamon Valley Youth Symphony. In addition to providing artistic leadership for the organization, which includes conducting four school season orchestras, he coaches small ensembles, organizes the office, coordinates sectionals and assists the board of directors in planning of concerts and ensemble performances.
Growing up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he studied percussion and piano at the University of Minnesota. He then completed a degree in Music Education, which lead him to teaching at Wayzata High School for several years. In addition, he had a percussion studio and conducted the Northeast Orchestra of Fridley and the Heartland Symphony of Brainard. During summers away from teaching, Maestro Haglund studied conducting in such locations as St. Petersburg Russia and Kiev Ukraine until 2001 when he left teaching to attend graduate school at Bard College in New York. In June 2003, he completed his Masters of Fine Arts in orchestral conducting at Bard College under the tutelage of Harold Farberman. Mr. Haglund also studied composition with world-renowned composer Joan Tower.
Mr. Haglund brings a diverse conducting background to SVYS, and was most recently the principal pops conductor of the Newburg Symphony and assistant conductor to the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra and Bard Community Chorus. Maestro Haglund has conducted professional orchestras and choirs throughout the world, including the St. Petersburg Hermitage Orchestra of Russia, the National Symphony Orchestra and Radio Choir of Ukraine, and the Varna Philharmonic of Bulgaria.
A talented percussionist and orchestral musician, Haglund has performed with several professional groups in Minnesota and in New York. He also worked as a percussion specialist at Orchestral Institute of America and coached youth orchestra percussion sections in Minnesota. You can often see Mr. Haglund playing in the percussion section of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra.
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