Conductors

DALE CLEVENGER

Principal horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since February 1966, Dale Clevenger is a versatile musician in many areas in addition to the CSO, including chamber music, jazz, commercial recordings, and solos.

Before joining the CSO, Dale was a member of Leopold Stokowski's American Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony of the Air directed by Alfred Wallenstein, and was principal horn of the Kansas City Philharmonic. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras worldwide, including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim conducting. Dale has worked with the European Community Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado, conducting and teaching, and has participated in several International Horn Society Workshops, both in the U.S. and abroad.

He has given recitals and master classes throughout the world. In 1985, he received an honorary doctor of music degree from Elmhurst College and currently teaches at Roosevelt University, where he is a professor of horn. Also a conductor, Dale served for fourteen years as music director of the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra. His conducting career has included guest appearances with the New Japan Philharmonic, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Symphony (Tampa), The Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Roosevelt University Symphony Orchestra, the Carnegie Mellon University Symphony Orchestra (Pittsburgh), the Toronto Conservatory Orchestra, the Santa Cruz Symphony, the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra (Perth), the Aguascaliente Symphony Orchestra (Mexico), and the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra. He also has conducted the Florence Festival Orchestra in Italy.

RYAN DUDENBOSTEL

New York City-based conductor Ryan Dudenbostel has served as a rehearsal and cover conductor at the Manhattan School of Music for the past three seasons, preparing the student orchestras for such eminent conductors as Philippe Entremont, Yoav Talmi, Kent Tritle, H. Robert Reynolds, and Kenneth Kiesler.  Recent engagements include 'Pagliacci' with the Pocket Opera of New York, and an extensive recording and orchestration project for the Pacific Encore Performances opera repertory company.

Also a clarinetist, Dudenbostel recently appeared in a series of critically-acclaimed performances of Ricky Ian Gordon’s theatrical song-cycle 'Orpheus and Euridice', alongside his wife, soprano Heather Dudenbostel. For two years, he regularly played for the Tony-Award-winning revival of 'South Pacific' at Lincoln Center.  Outside of New York, he has performed with the Civic Opera of Kansas City, and played principal clarinet for the Kansas City Puccini Festival Orchestra.

Ryan Dudenbostel has collaborated with vocalists John Duykers and Aaron St. Clair Nicholson, violinist Mark O’Connor, violist David Aaron Carpenter, and the legendary actor James Earl Jones, among others.  He has also appeared on 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'.