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James Sommerville’s multi-faceted career has graced the great stages of the world for over 40 years. He led the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra to great acclaim in his seven seasons as Music Director and has conducted innumerable professional ensembles across the globe. Recent appearances include the Okanagan, Fort Wayne, Toronto, and Québec Symphony Orchestras. Internationally, Sommerville has been conductor of the US National Brass Ensemble in concert and on their award-winning CDs. He regularly commissions new works from Canadian and international composers. Sommerville was Principal Horn of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 25 years, capping an orchestral career that included seasons with the Toronto and Montreal Symphony Orchestras, the COC Orchestra, and many others. The winner of the highest prizes at the Munich, Toulon and CBC solo competitions, Sommerville appeared as a soloist with major orchestras throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. A JUNO Award winner for his recording of the Mozart Horn Concertos, he is heard regularly on the CBC network and has recorded all the standard solo horn repertoire for broadcast.
Bruce J. G. Kotowich, DMA, is the Acting Director of SoCA (School of Creative Arts) and an Associate Professor of Music- Director of Choral Activities at the University of Windsor where he directs the University of Windsor Chamber Choir and USingers and teaches courses in Choral Techniques. In the Windsor Essex community, Dr. Kotowich is the Chorus Master for the Windsor Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and the Artistic Director of the Windsor Classic Chorale.
Dr. Kotowich completed his Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting and Masters of Music in Conducting at the University of Cincinnati College- Conservatory of Music. He received his Associateship of Music in Vocal Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, and a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Manitoba. He is a recipient of numerous awards and honors including awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, Manitoba Arts Council, University of Cincinnati, the Archdiocese of St. Boniface Heritage Award, and the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts for the City of Windsor.
His choirs have performed throughout North America, Europe, and China. Dr. Kotowich has conducted the Manitoba Provincial Senior High Honor Choir, Manitoba Provincial Jazz Choir, the South Dakota North Region All-State Choir, the Illinois Music Educators’ Association District Honor Choir and numerous other festival and conference choirs. He conducted Ola Gjielo’s Sunrise Mass at Carnegie Hall, New York, with choristers from the Windsor Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Windsor Classic Chorale, University of Windsor, and choirs from Windsor Essex and London, ON., and will be returning to conduct Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living in May 2024.
Dr. Kotowich is a sought after clinician. He has presented at the Symposium for Singing and Song, Podium-Choral Canada, Iowa Choral Directors’ Association Summer Conference, the National Convention of the American Choral Directors’ Association, the NDSU Symposium, the North-Central Conference for ACDA, 2014 Choral Music from the Heartland of Europe to the Heartland of America: Czech Music for North American Audiences, and presented at the World Choral EXPO in Lisbon, Portugal in September 2022.
Dr. Kotowich is published in the Choral Research Memorandum Series through Chorus America and edits a choral publication series with Alliance Music Publications. In addition to his responsibilities at the University of Windsor, he is the former Editor-In-Chief of the Anacrusis.
Conductor Laureate, John Morris Russell continues to devote himself to redefining the North American orchestral experience. Music Director of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra between 2001-2012, Maestro Russell is currently in his fifteenth year as conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, one of the world’s most iconic pops orchestras. Music Director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina since 2012, Mr. Russell leads the prestigious Hilton Head International Piano Competition; he also serves as Principal Pops Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
As a guest conductor, Mr. Russell has worked with many of North America’s most distinguished orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston Pops, National Symphony Orchestra as well as the orchestras of Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver. He regularly leads the National Orchestral Institute and Festival in College Park, Maryland. Mr. Russell’s recent collaborations around the world include Aretha Franklin, Emanuel Ax, Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Garrick Ohlsson, Rhiannon Giddens, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jon Kimura Parker, Michael McDonald, Cynthia Erivo, Sutton Foster, George Takei, Steve Martin, Brian Wilson, and Leslie Odom, Jr.
As Music Director of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, he conducted over forty world premieres many of which were presented on seventeen national broadcasts for CBC Radio 2, and the orchestra’s first nationally televised production for the CBC series “Opening Night”. His recording of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra earned Mr. Russell and the WSO its first Juno nomination for “Best Children’s Album” in 2008. Maestro Russell has contributed six albums to the recorded legacy of The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, including recent releases Voyage (2019) and American Originals 1918 (2018) for which he was awarded a GRAMMY Nomination for “Best Classical Compendium”. His world premiere recording of Blind Injustice, with Cincinnati Opera was released in February of 2021.
Robert Franz, was the Music Director of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra from 2013 until 2025. He passed away in September 2025 after a very courageous battle with cancer. A recipient of the Arts Leadership Award for the Windsor Endowment for the Arts, Robert was committed to programming that engages, challenges, and entertains. During his tenure, programming included 7 world premieres and a roster of guest artists ranging from an internationally acclaimed astronaut to world class musicians to local aspiring performers. Collaborations included the Windsor International Film Festival, Art Windsor Essex, Canadian Historical Aviation Association, Windsor Public Library, St. Clair College, and the University of Windsor. Through Robert’s work, the WSO has become a catalyst for a wide variety of artists in multiple genres and disciplines.
He is greatly missed by the WSO musicians, staff, board, and the entire Windsor community. The loss of his brilliant light is felt deeply and the impact of his humanity on our hearts and imaginations leaves us unequivocally changed for the better.
