Edward Francis, founder and CEO of the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic, has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Association of Professional Musicians. Francis has been teaching for over 40 years and is a member of the faculty and and coordinator of the piano pedagogy program at CSU Northridge.   

Donn K. Harris has been elected Chair of the California Arts Council. Harris has been artistic and executive director of the Oakland School for the Arts since 2007 and also serves on the leadership council of CREATE CA, and on the Board of Directors of the national Arts Schools Network and The Engineers' Alliance for the Arts. Harris served as principal of the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts in San Francisco and in 2005, he helped create The Academy of Arts and Sciences, a San Francisco Unified School District school designed to serve underrepresented students with comprehensive and unique arts programs, including a ground-breaking World Music program still thriving today. 

Youth Music Monterey County music director

Farkhad Khudyev was recently selected to represent the USA at the annual Taipei Chinese Orchestra International Conducting Competition in January. He was one of 20 conductors selected from around the world to compete and earned a spot in the top ten after competing as a finalist in the second round.

ACSO Board member Dean McVay will receive the San Bernardino Symphony Guild Golden Baton Award at a black tie gala on March 27. The Golden Baton Award recognizes those rare individuals whose contribution to the Symphony has far surpassed the norm. McVay is a partner at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith and an adjunct professor at the University of La Verne College of Law. He has been an active member of the Board of Directors of the San Bernardino Symphony for the past ten years and also serves on the boards of numerous other local professional charitable and community-focused organizations.
 

Paul Perry, co-founder of Music in the Mountains, has passed away at the age of 78. For over 40 years he devoted his life to the vibrant arts and cultural scene in Nevada County. Over the course of his career, Perry was a rehearsal pianist for the San Francisco Opera, a conductor of the Contra Costa Chorale and music director of Music in the Mountains from 1982-2008. Perry also served on the ACSO Board during the 1980s. 

Alice Suaro has been named interim executive director of the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera. She previously served as musical director for the Fisher Theatre in Detroit, and as assistant orchestra personnel manager, managing assistant to the music director, and orchestra manager for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.   

The Santa Rosa Symphony has appointed three new members to its staff. Jane Shelly is the new education outreach coordinator, most recently working at the Pizazz Symphony; Chris Ah San has filled the temporary position of Simply Strings Coordinator, most recently working as an assistant canvas director for the Virginia Fair Share, and Meredith O'Connor filled the Simply Strings Teacher Aid position volunteering in the program for over a year.