Orchestra Personnel

Music Director Larry Rachleff

Seventeen seasons ago Larry Rachleff became the Music Director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. He also serves as Director of Orchestras and holds the Walter Kris Hubert Chair at Rice University ’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston . During his career, he also served as Music Director of the San Antonio Symphony.
    Two recent reviews about Larry: Music Director Larry Rachleff, a superb conductor with seasoned leadership skills, conducts everything with deep musical understanding. . . (John von Rhein Classical music critic, Chicago Tribune) and . . . make no mistake about it, Rachleff is an incredibly accomplished conductor and an incredibly accomplished musician (OpusColorado.com).
     He is a regular guest conductor with the orchestras of Colorado, Utah, Indianapolis and Kansas City, with recent appearances at Charlotte, Ft. Worth, Columbus, Rochester, Florida, Grand Rapids, Seattle and Phoenix, among many other fine orchestras. He recently conducted a special gala concert with Itzhak Perlman and the Houston Symphony. His summers are spent guest conducting at the Music Academy of the West, the Aspen Music Festival and School, where Mr. Rachleff served as guest director of their summer conducting academy, the Sarasota Music Festival, the Chautauqua Music Festival and the Grand Teton Festival. Other summer festival engagements have included Tanglewood, Interlochen, Brevard and Opera Theatre of Lucca, Italy.
     Especially noted for his rich and productive rapport with orchestra musicians, the Salt Lake Deseret News noted about his recent appearance with the Utah Symphony: His interpretation (Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony) was charged with power and passion that never waned. His reading was compelling, yet he also managed to bring out the lyricism that lies hidden beneath the boldness of the themes. What was especially remarkable, he conducted the work from memory. A former faculty member at the Oberlin Conservatory, where he was Music Director of Orchestras and Conductor of the Contemporary Ensemble, he also served as conductor of the Opera Theatre at the University of Southern California . He has conducted and presented master classes all over the world, including the Chopin Academy in Warsaw, the Zurich Hochschule, the Sydney and Queensland, Australia conservatories, the Juilliard School, the New England Conservatory and Royal Northern College in the U.K.
     Larry Rachleff is an enthusiastic advocate of public school music education. He has conducted All-State orchestras and festivals in virtually every state in the United States as well as throughout Europe and Canada . He has also served as principal conducting teacher for the American Symphony Orchestra League, the Conductors’ Guild and the International Workshop for Conductors in the Czech Republic .
As a dedicated advocate of contemporary music, Mr. Rachleff has collaborated with leading composers including Samuel Adler, the late Luciano Berio, George Crumb, Michael Daugherty and John Harbison, among others.
     Mr. Rachleff lives in Houston with his wife, soprano Susan Lorette Dunn, and their young son, Sam.

Resident Conductor Francisco Noya

FRANCISCO NOYA has served as Resident Conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra for fourteen seasons. As Resident Conductor, he presents pre-concert talks and serves as “cover” conductor for all Classical Series concerts. Mr. Noya conducts the education concerts, POPS-PHIL-PPAC concerts and Summer Pops concerts, including the 4th of July Concert at India Point Park. He also conducted the classical concert, Philharmonic on Fire!, the Orchestra’s annual appearance at WaterFire. He joins Music Director Larry Rachleff representing the Philharmonic artistically and educationally throughout the Rhode Island community. He has also accompanied the annual Philharmonic tours to Europe, adding his musical expertise to the experience.
     Mr. Noya began his career in the United States in 1979, earning degrees in composition and conducting from Boston University. Since that time he has served as guest conductor with the Baltimore, San Antonio and Omaha Symphony Orchestras, among others. He was Music Director of the Empire State Youth Orchestra in Albany, New York for ten seasons, leading the group on two European tours as well as conducting them in concerts at both Carnegie Hall in New York City and in Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood.
     Mr. Noya is a prominent figure in the Boston and New England music scene. He served as Music Director of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra in Boston for 12 seasons and conducted acclaimed performances of both Bellini’s Norma and Verdi’s Aida with Symphony by the Sea and the Bel Canto opera company. He currently serves as a member of the Conducting Faculty of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. In the fall of 2008 he began his tenure as the Music Director of the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra.
     A native of Venezuela, Mr. Noya served as Assistant Conductor of the Caracas Philharmonic and Assistant to the Music Director of the Teatro Teresa Carreño, one of the most prestigious theaters in Latin America. He has appeared as guest conductor with orchestras in Brazil, Venezuela, Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain and Russia. He appeared as guest conductor with the Academia Stefano Tempia in Torino, Italy, where he conducted a performance of the Mozart Requiem as part of the 250th anniversary celebrations of the birth of Mozart.
     Mr. Noya frequently travels to Venezuela where he holds Master Classes for young conductors of the famed El Sistema, the world-renowned music-education program of that country. This past summer he conducted a critically acclaimed, sold out concert with the Orquesta Académica del Teatro Colón at the world-famous Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Mr. Noya resides in Providence and can frequently be spotted on the tennis courts at Roger Williams Park.

Musicians of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra

Want to learn more about our musicians? Please click on the musician's name to read some Q&A's or gain access to their personal website!

Violin I

Charles Sherba, Concertmaster
Charles Dimmick, Assistant Concertmaster
Katherine Winterstein
Sasha Callahan
Sophia Herman
Etsuko Ishizuka
Barbara Lefkowitz
Megumi Stohs
Omar Guey
Noemi Miloradovic
Annie Rabbat
Alexey Shabalin
Zoia Bologovsky

Violin II

Amy Rawstron, Principal
Lois Finkel, Assistant Principal
Anyoaneta  Angulova 
Tera Gorsett 
Anna Korsvnsky
Ann Samuelson
Laura Gulley
Ella Leone
Mina Lavcheva

Viola

Abigail Cross, Principal
Susan Culpo, Assistant Principal
Sarah Darling
Robert Meyer
Christine Orio
Russell Wilson
Stephanie Fong
Harold Lieberman

Cello

Alexei Gonzales, Principal
Melanie Dyball, Assistant Principal
Jan Pfeiffer-Rios
Jing Li
Loewi Lin
Rebecca Thornblade
Mark Schroeder
Sandra Kiefer

Bass

Barry Boettger, Principal
Robert Caplin, Assistant Principal
Eliot Porter
Anthony D’Amico
Joseph Higgins
Nancy Kidd

Flute

Susan Thomas, Principal
Kathleen Boyd
Rachel Braude

Oboe

Cheryl Bishkoff, Principal
Denise Plaza-Martin
Jane Murray

Clarinet

Ian Greitzer, Principal
Aline Benoit
Tom Parchman

Bassoon

Ron Haroutunian, Principal
Shoshana Dobrow*
Margaret Phillips

Horn

Kevin Owen, Principal
Whit Hill
Elizabeth Dean Gates

Trumpet

Joe Foley, Principal 
Gene Crisafulli
Mary Lynne Bohn

Trombone

Darren Acosta*, Principal
Gabriel Langfur

Tuba

Greg Fritze, Principal

Timpani

Craig McNutt, Principal

Percussion

Robert McEwan, Principal
Valerie Smalley

Harp

Hyunjung Choi, Principal

Personnel Manager
Gene Crisafulli

Librarian
Jean Gress