This fall, Valerie Taylor starts her twelfth full season as Music Director of the Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO). Under her leadership, the orchestra has continued to increase in size, musicianship, and number of collaborative performances.

Coming to music through the violin, Valerie Taylor has been pursuing the conductor's road since high school. She earned her master's and doctorate in conducting at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, where she was a student of Frederik Prausnitz and served as his graduate assistant for three years. Summer conducting studies have taken her to the Pierre Monteux School in Maine, the seminar for conductors at Tanglewood, and the Conductors' Institute in West Virginia and South Carolina, where she worked with Harold Farberman. She has also been an active participant in several conducting workshops, under the tutelage of Gunther Schuller, Sergiu Comissiona, and other master conductors.

Ms. Taylor did her undergraduate work at Harvard, earning a degree in Slavic Languages and Literatures, in the meantime getting deeply involved in extracurricular music-making, putting together and conducting several ensembles for concerto performances-accompanying Lydia Artymiw, Yo-Yo Ma, and other soloists-and for opera and music theater. She was invited back to serve for two years as artist-in-residence at the House (South, now Cabot House), which had been hers as an undergraduate, to coordinate intramural music programs. The Slavic major, incidentally, proved very useful in Taylor's conducting study and performance in St. Petersburg in 1997 and 1998.

In addition to her violin background, Ms. Taylor brings to the podium experience in voice (private study, solo and chamber performance, and a year in the Tanglewood Festival Chorus) and music commentary, with a dozen bylines to her credit as a contributing writer for the Baltimore City Paper.

Previous conducting posts include a year leading the University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, and four seasons with the Winona Symphony Orchestra in Minnesota. Ms. Taylor also directed the choir at Grace Presbyterian Church in Winona for seven years. She currently teaches conducting as an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music.

Charles is a retired Air Force pilot and is an Engineering Program Mgr for a defense contractor, but his passion has always been music. He has been playing the cello for 5 yrs. under the direction of Pr. Arkady Beletsky. Prior to joining the LPO, he performed with the Westford Chorus for 10 yrs as a base/baritone in numerous classical, jazz and pops concerts and stage performances. He sang “Old Man River” in Showboat and starred as “Lt. Zuniga” in the opera Carmen. Charles has had a love of music his entire life. His mother, an accomplished classical soprano, introduced him to piano and voice at an early age. In school, he played the French horn for 6 yrs., where he was the student conductor, and was selected for the city-wide Youth Symphony. For many years he also sang church choral music, eventually serving as choral director for two youth choirs.

Alan, a computational scientist at Harvard's Rowland Institute, has been with the orchestra since 2004. His membership started when he and Valerie Taylor met again at a Harvard College reunion. He has been playing principal trumpet ever since.

Lucinda, with Masters degrees in Music Education and Jazz Arranging from New England Conservatory, is quite active in the area music scene. In addition to playing bassoon in the LPO, she has been the Music Director of the Reading Civic Concert Band since 2004. She is also well known throughout the Boston area for her jazz dance band, "Happy Feet Dance Orchestra" for which she has been leader and arranger for 20 years.

John rows on the Charles by morning, works by day, and french horns by night. A resident of Lowell, John first became a member of our brass section in 2003. Growing up, he played trumpet until taking up french horn in the 11th grade.

Kathy, a resident of Dracut, has been a proud member of the Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra for nearly 30 years. In addition to playing principal second violin with the LPO, she founded and directed her church's handbell choir. Before moving to the area, she was a member of the Quincy Symphony Orchestra.

A resident of Dracut, Jennifer has been a member of the LPO since 2010. She earned her Bachelor of Music at UMass Lowell in 2007. Since starting violin at the age of seven, Jennifer has received musical training from Robin Mallory, Heidi Braun-Hill, and Eliott Markow. Currently, Jennifer is working at an independent pharmacy. She studied music while studying to earn her pharmacy license.

A Lowell resident, Annalisa has been playing french horn with the LPO for since 2000. For her profession, she teaches high school Math. She performs with several other groups in the area.

Steve has been a trombonist and active Board member since 2000. In addition to his involvement here, he is also a frequent volunteer at Lowell Telecommunications Corporation (LTC).

Jack has been playing violin with the LPO since 1991. Outside of the orchestra, he conducts geophysical and geological investigations at the business he founded, Kick Geoexploration. In some of his spare time Jack is a runner - he runs races but especially likes to run trails. He is so dedicated to trail running that he'll go despite rain, snow or sleet and the occasional black bear.

Vince, the current President of the LPO, has been playing tuba with the group for four years. A US Navy veteran, Vince picked up playing again by joining us in 2007. He is a mechanical engineer by trade and also earned a brown belt at Wah Lum Tam Tui school of Kung Fu. In his spare time, Vince enjoys photography and reading.


Email Vince Mabus directly : lowell.philharmonic@gmail.com

LPO Vice President, Mac Ranney, was a trombonist in the United States Air Force Band program for 26 years, having served throughout the entire northeastern US and in Europe. Mac performed for millions, in four different Air Force bands, and is now retired from the military. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Iowa. Mac has been associated with the Lowell Philharmonic since 2007. He and his family live in Westford. He is currently employed as a Business Support Analyst on Hanscom Air Force Base.

Alan began his musical career as a child at home banging on the pots and pans. He soon convinced his parents that drum lessons would be a good idea, and progressed as a teen to performing on drums, percussion and timpani in school orchestral and marching bands, theater productions, rock groups and jazz ensembles. In recent years, Alan has performed at club gigs, events and fundraisers in the Boston area and throughout New England. He appears regularly with local jazz, blues and rock acts, and plays as an accompanist for theatrical, choral and dance ensembles. Alan joined the LPO in 2012 and serves as its Treasurer

Patty has been in the LPO since 2005, playing clarinet and serving as Secretary. In 2008, she helped initiate the orchestra's annual summertime concert at Shedd Park Pavilion. During the day, she works in Sales Operations. Prior to the LPO, she was active in the College of the Holy Cross Chamber Orchestra and the Warwick Symphony Orchestra

Charlie Tidd, a resident of North Reading, MA, has played trombone with the LPO since 2010, with a short hiatus in 2012 - 2013 to get married. When not playing trombone, he is a Master Scheduler at GE. Charlie has an MBA from Rice University ('09) and a Bachelor of Music from Western Connecticut State University ('97). He has previously played with the Fort Bend (TX) Symphony Orchestra, the Danbury (CT) Symphony Orchestra, the Danbury Brass Band, and the Danbury Concert Orchestra.

Ward, a member of the violin section since 1995, served as LPO President from 2008-2010. During the day, Ward is a technical writer at his own information design company, Rosenberry Associates.

Marcus, who began playing viola in the 3rd grade, has been playing with the LPO since 2010. A student at Dracut High School, he participated in the LPO's Spring student invitational and decided to join as a full-time member afterwards.

Cathy Ward joined the LPO in 2011. She is an elementary and preschool music teacher at the Community Day Charter Public School in Lawrence, MA. Before joining the LPO, Cathy performed with the Queen's University Symphony Orchestra (in Canada) and numerous opera and musical theatre companies.

A Lowell resident who hails from a very musical family, Kimball Murray joined the LPO in 2011 after first picking up the cello in 2010. Originally a clarinetist, Kimball was inspired to get back into performance after attending an orchestral concert a couple years ago. With parents who are professional musicians themselves, he is happy to have the opportunity to play in the LPO. During the day, Kimball is a software engineer. He also is a licensed pilot.

J.C. has played in the LPO since 2006 and has studied oboe with Margaret Herlehy since 2007. She and her husband, a bassoonist, live in Southern NH with four Standard Poodles.

Paula has been playing flute with the LPO since 1999 and is a software engineer by day. A resident of Westford, she is also a member of Symphony Pro Musica and performs with other area groups.

An accomplished trumpeter, Matt is a resident of Lowell. Before becoming a member of the LPO in 2009, he was active in performance at UMASS Lowell.

Eric holds degrees in Music Education and Computer Engineering, he currently works as a Software Engineer. A former Army Bandsman, Eric defended our country with a Tuba. Since then, he has performed with many community bands on, in order of frequency, Euphonium, Tuba, Bassoon, and Clarinet. Eric has also branched out into Musical Theater; singing, dancing and directing. In 2010, Eric was nominated by the New Hampshire Theater Awards for Best Musical Director in a Community Musical. Seeking even greater challenges, Eric is currently studying Cello with Gary Hodges, Principal Cellist of the NH Philharmonic.

Anthony is a music education and trumpet performance major at UMASS Lowell. Has been part of the UMASS Lowell Wind Ensemble, Concert band, Studio Jazz Orchestra, and marching band since his freshmen year. He has also played with their orchestra, Jazz Rock Big Band and is principle of the Brass ensemble. Before college, he played with the Northeast Senior district festival concert band for 2 years along with principle trumpet of the New England Youth Wind Ensemble senior year of high school. He also is a member of the St. Alfio’s/Northeast Italian Band. Anthony teaches privately and has been a volunteer teacher/coach in the New England Youth Wind Ensemble for 3 years, as well as a teaching assistant in the Somerville Winds Camp. He is an active member in the National Assoc. for Music Educators, NAfME.

Jessica Coffey, a Billerica native and recent graduate of Anna Maria College, joined us in 2010, along with her brother, Joshua. She shares her musical talents and passion for the arts in her profession as a Music Educator in New Hampshire.

Jessica Carrera holds a Masters in Music from the University of Rhode Island where she studied flute performance with Susan Thomas. Her other principal teachers include Rachel Braude and Sheryl Cohen. Jessica has been a private lesson instructor for over 10 years, and has also served as adjunct faculty at URI where she taught flute and flute ensemble. Jessica is an active freelance artist in the New England area, where she plays with her flute and harpsichord duo, 'Basically Baroque' and her flute and guitar duo, 'Duo Bellissimo'.