In 1995, as part of the 75th anniversary celebration of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, a commitment was made to develop four full-time positions that would both enable the orchestra to create community service and education programs and strengthen the orchestra ensemble.

To this end, the Artists in Residence program began with the KSO's Burdick-Thorne String Quartet. Since that time, the Artists in Residence program has grown to eight positions; including oboe, clarinet, trombone, and timpani, along with the original strings. As a result, the artistic level of the orchestra has soared, and the KSO's education and community programs have expanded to reach more than 26,000 students and their teachers annually with 20+ programs in more than 100 schools throughout Southwest Michigan.

Our current Artists in Residence are:

Julia Neckermann, Violin I
Lisa A. Williams, Violin II
Nicholas Jeffrey, Viola (not pictured)
Igor Cetkovic, Cello
Gabriel Renteria, Oboe
Georgiy Borisov, Clarinet
Edward "Kip" Hickman, Trombone
Mark Guthrie, Timpani

Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra musicians are the heart of our organization.

Learn more about our talented musicians; KSO's Music Director, Julian Kuerti; Resident Conductor, Daniel Brier; and our Music Director Emeritus, Raymond Harvey.

We LOVE our community. You will find your KSO musicians peforming free public concerts in venues such as Bronson's Garden Atrium, Borgess' Atrium Lobby, First Presbyterian Church of Kalamazoo, Sarkozy Bakery, and Kalamazoo Public Library...and that is just to name a few!

We also are excited to bring our beloved Instrument Petting Zoo to many local events throughout the year. Fun for kids of all ages!

Check out our Community Events Calendar for a complete calendar of events.  

Through education programs and partnerships, KSO has unique and exciting opportunities to support school music programs through “KSO On The Go” and other in-school programs.

We bring live performances, classroom visits, artist residencies, and symphony field trips, accompanied by great curriculum materials, to provide formative learning experiences for students of all ages.