Assistant Conductor - Richard Haglund

An engaging communicator of exceptional warmth and energy, conductor Richard Haglund is beginning his seventh year as the Illinois Symphony Orchestra’s Assistant Conductor. Founder and Music Director of the Erato Chamber Orchestra in Chicago, he is also Music Director of the Sangamon Valley Youth Symphony and Community Orchestra in Springfield.

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, Conductor of the Bard Community Chorus, and Founder and Conductor of the Sangamon Valley Community Orchestra in Springfield, Illinois.

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 has 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.