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Eric Townell, director
An integral part of Rochester's vibrant arts community, the Rochester Oratorio Society is Rochester's premier large concert chorus. Under current music director Eric Townell, the ROS gives voice to the very best qualities of our region by exploring a widely diverse, multi-cultural and modern repertoire that includes the great standards; by collaborating with local arts groups of all kinds; and by performing in non-traditional community settings. In July 2008, ROS will perform in Beijing, China, as the keynote ensemble of the pre-Olympic Cultural Festival.
Under music directors Theodore Hollenbach (1945-1986) and Roger Wilhelm (1986-2006), the ROS presented the Rochester premieres of major works, including Britten's War Requiem and Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand. It has performed in six European capitals and at prominent festivals, including Chautauqua under conductor Uriel Segal. Its distinguished history with the RPO includes performances of Verdi's Requiem, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Handel's Messiah and the Rochester premieres of Parry's Blest Pair of Sirens and Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, under maestros Seaman, Bernstein, Zinman, Elder and Effron, and others.
Mr. Eric Townell is widely recognized as a versatile and dynamic conductor of choral, operatic and symphonic repertoire. Formerly Music Director of the Central Wisconsin Symphony, he has led family, educational and pops concerts for the RPO and for the Milwaukee and Madison Symphony orchestras and appeared as a guest conductor with the Lincoln, Hershey, Fox Valley (WI), Prince Georges and Adrian Symphony orchestras. A two-time prizewinner of the International Opera Conducting Course/Competition, he made his European debut with Eugene Onegin at the Silesian State Opera, Czech Republic. Now in his second season with the ROS, he concurrently leads the Master Singers of Milwaukee.
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