Music Director Emeritus, Muncie Symphony Orchestra (IN)
Professor, School of Music, Ball State University (IN)
LEONARD ATHERTON is currently a Professor of the School of Music at Ball State University and Music Director Emeritus of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra. Study in conducting was received at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London) where he was presented with the Ricordi Prize for conducting. As holder of the Watney-Sargent Award, Mr. Atherton spent a year observing the Philadelphia Orchestra at the invitation of Eugene Ormandy. Subsequent career positions have included the Music Directorships of the: National Symphony Orchestra of Bolivia; the Niagara Symphony Orchestra (Ontario) which was acclaimed as a model for orchestra\community involvement; the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra; the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras; the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra.
Leonard Atherton has acted as the cover conductor for Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra rehearsals and performances and has appeared as guest conductor with the Minnesota and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and orchestras in Canada, England, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Korea, Bolivia and Mexico. He made several recordings of choral, orchestral and choral/orchestral music for broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Company. He has been involved in opera conducting with the Sakai Opera Company in Osaka, Japan, at Ball State University and, most recently (in 2003), with a new opera venture in Nobeoka, Japan. He has worked with small and large choral groups both with and without the orchestra.
As a teacher of conducting, he is the author of the only self-instruction conducting technique tutorial available for computer. Mr. Atherton has also written a textbook, The Conductor’s Handbook, which is published in Taiwan. As Director of the George Brown College (Toronto) Orchestra in 1976, he organized a unique summer orchestral training program. This led to the orchestra’s appearance at the International Youth Orchestra Festival in the UK where it was reviewed as having given the most satisfactory performance of the festival and one of the top ensembles in attendance.
Leonard Atherton was honored as a ‘Sagamore of the Wabash’ for his service to the Muncie area community and to the State. He is President of the North-Central Division of the Collegiate Orchestra Directors Association (CODA), has served as the President of the Indiana Orchestra Consortium and was a member of a number of arts committees and organizations including those of the Canada Council and the Indiana Arts Commission.
