Dr Dennis is the founder and President of the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory which has just celebrated its 30th Anniversary. He is also the Conductor of the MYA Concert and Symphony Orchestras. He brings a rich heritage of experience and energy to the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory programs, with decades of experience motivating, rehearsing and teaching young people. He is also the Music Director of the Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Dennis was recognized as the 2001 Music Director of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras. as well as awarded the 2001 Heidi Caistleman Award by Chamber Music America. given in recognition for "excellence in chamber music teaching." He studied at the internationally renowned Tanglewood Institute in Lennox. MA, in 2000. In 1996, he was also chosen as both an Active Conductor at the Festival at Sandpoint, ID. and a Fellow at the Conductors' Institute in South Carolina. Dr. Dennis also has extensive experience conducting musical shows, operas and ballets, and is highly sought after as a guest conductor for festivals and all-state orchestras. His conducting teachers have included Gunther Schuller. Harold Farbermann. and David Effron. Dr. Dennis received his doctorate, with distinction, from Indiana University in Bloomington, and bachelor's and master's degrees from the State University of New York at Fredonia. He studied at the Eastman School of Music and received a Performer's Certificate from the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Music in Antwerp, Belgium. In 2017, he was awarded the Cultural Leadership Award by the Illinois Council of Orchestras, one of only seven Illinois arts leaders in the past 25 years to be recognized.
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