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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. You may contact him directly at LPO-info@lowellphilharmonic.org

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.

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

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.

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.

Alycia Barcelou is originally from Tiverton, Rhode Island and currently resides in Lowell as a student. She is enrolled at UMass Lowell as a junior in the Music Business program. At the age of 9 she began playing the Cello and quickly fell in love with music. She has performed in several other orchestras including the Newport County Orchestra as principal chair, the Rhode Island All-State Orchestra and the University Orchestra at UMass Lowell. She has been a member of the LPO since 2011.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Joshua joined the LPO in 2010 and plays alongside his sister, Jessica. He has been playing cello since the age of five and is currently a junior at Billerica Memorial High School.

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).

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.

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.

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.