Park Ridge Fine Arts Society

P.O. Box 89A Park Ridge, IL 60068

Barbara Schubert

Conductor of the Park Ridge Fine Arts Society

She was named the 2003 “Conductor of the Year” by the Illinois Council of Orchestras.

Recently named by the Illinois Council of Orchestras as 2003 Conductor of the Year, Music Director Barbara Schubert was cited for her “consistently high artistic standards, her energetic podium style, and her innovative programming”. In addition, to her position with the Park Ridge Fine Arts Symphony Orchestra, Barbara Schubert serves as Music Director and Conductor of the University of Chicago Symphony, and Music Director and Conductor of the DuPage Symphony Orchestra. She is also the Director of Performing Programs at the University of Chicago, where she oversees the comprehensive program in musical performance, and conducts the New Music Ensemble as well as the symphony orchestra.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, Ms. Schubert began her conducting career while a student of music and mathematics at Smith College. She did her graduate work in Music History and Theory at the University of Chicago, and has studied conducting with Herbert Blomstedt, Otto-Werner Meuller, Thomas Briccetti, Charles Bruch, and Iva Dee Hiatt. She has also participated in many professional conducting workshops with such noted maestros as Max Rudolf and Pierre Boulez.

As Winner of the 1982 American Conductors Competition, Barbara Schubert served two seasons as Asst. Conductor of the Colorado Philharmonic Orchestra. In the summer of 1985 she was selected for the Tanglewood Seminar for Conductors, where she studied with Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Mazur, and Gustav Meier. She has guest conducted numerous professional ensembles in the Chicago area, including the Grant Park Symphony, the Contemporary Chamber Players, the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Oak Park Symphony, the Chicago Camerata, and Light Opera Works. Recent guest conducting engagements include the Birmingham Opera Theater (AL), the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra (AK), the Santa Cruz County Symphony (CA), the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony (ND), the Fox Valley Symphony (WI and IL), the Bay Area Women’s Philharmonic (IN), the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra (IN) and the Northwest Indiana Symphony. She is also a frequent guest conductor for district and all-state festival orchestras around the country. She has an extensive repertoire, consisting of over 1,100 performed works, including twentieth-century music and many full operas.

Barbara Schubert recently completed a two-year term as President of the Conductors Guild, an international service organization of nearly 2,000 members that is dedicated “to encouraging and promoting the highest standards in the art and profession of conducting”. Known throughout the Chicago area as an orchestra builder, she has dramatically increased both the quality and the scope of the symphony orchestras she directs. A champion of new music, Ms. Schubert has conducted a large number of world premieres with both amateur and professional ensembles, and has introduced a wide assortment of unusual repertoire and collaborative events to Chicago audiences.

Help Support Our Summer Concerts!

Concert donations can be mailed to:
PRFAS
PO BOX 89A
Park Ridge, IL 60068