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Elgin Symphony not alone in burbs

I must respectfully challenge your opinion in “Our View” Nov. 25, that “nowhere outside of Elgin, though, will you find a symphony orchestra.” This is not to take away from ESO and all they do, but your statement is wrong as there are other venues in the suburbs.

I know of two — Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra whose base is College of Lake County in Grayslake and Ars Viva, whose base is the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie. Both organizations plus the Chicago Master Singers who perform at Techny, Ill., near Northbrook, are all directed by maestro Alan Heatherington.

In 2004 the Chicago Tribune named Alan “Chicagoan of the year” and in 2005 the Illinois Council of Orchestras awarded him the title of Conductor of the Year. In 2010 he also received the Cultural Leadership Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Illinois Council of Orchestras for ‘sustained leadership, extending beyond his own organizations and community, that has profoundly impacted the state of the arts in Illinois’.

Just so we have full disclosure, my wife Sue is a board member of the Chicago Master Singers and I volunteer where I can. Ars Viva is used by the Chicago Master Singers and the Chicago Master Singers has sung with both the Lake Forest Symphony and Ars Viva when a chorus is needed by them.

Ron Umbdenstock

Arlington Heights