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Search committee to meet potential conductor for West Virginia Symphony Orchestra

One of six finalists to conduct the West Virginia Symphony

Dan Meyer

PARKERSBURG — A candidate for conductor of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra will be in Parkersburg on Tuesday.

Dan Meyer, the music director of the Asheville Symphony and the Erie Philharmonic, from 5-6 p.m. will attend a reception at the Christ United Methodist Church. Parking is behind the church at 16th Street and St. Marys Avenue.

Meyer is among six candidates to succeed Maestro Grant Cooper, conductor and artistic director of the symphony, who announced last year he is retiring. Cooper, a native New Zealander, became conductor of the orchestra on July 1, 2001.

The meeting is sponsored by the orchestra.

Cooper’s last concert of the season will be March 19 at Blennerhassett Middle School Auditorium. The West Virginia Symphony League of Parkersburg to commemorate Cooper’s tenure will hold a Dinner with the Maestro at 6 p.m. March 19 at the Blennerhassett Hotel. Cocktails are at 5:30 p.m.

All seats are $50. For reservations, call 304-295-8218 by March 11.

Other candidates, chosen by a search committee from a field of 167 applications, are:

* Koyoka Dan, conductor and music director for the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Symphony and Opera.

* Keitaro Harada, associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, a native of Tokyo who graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy and Mercer University.

* Stilian Kirov, an assistant conductor of the Seattle Symphony. Kirov was an associate conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and music director of the Memphis Youth Symphony Program.

* Lawrence Loh, a residential conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra who received an artist diploma in orchestral conducting in May 1998 from Yale University.

* Kevin Rhodes, music director of the Springfield (Mass.) Symphony Orchestra. Rhodes, who began conducting at the age of 16, has a bachelor’s in piano performance from Michigan State University and master’s in orchestral conducting at the University of Illinois.

Applicants have conducted performances of the West Virginia Symphony.

Meyer is scheduled for a show 7:30-9:30 p.m. March 4 at the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences in Charleston. Among the pieces is Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

Loh is scheduled April 8 and Rhodes on May 6. Dan, Kirov and Harada conducted the orchestra in performances in September, October and November.

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