orchestra

The Lira Symphony

THE LIRA SYMPHONY includes fifty instrumentalists who accompany the Lira vocal groups at major concerts. In addition, orchestral and chamber music concerts are presented. Members of the Lira Symphony are some of the best instrumentalists in the Chicago area. The Lira Symphony performs several concerts a year including Lira's "A Polish Christmas at Orchestra Hall" which was also performed at fine concert halls in several midwestern cities.

Paul Dijkstra (Dykstra) is Music Director and Conductor of the Lira Symphony. Dijkstra, working closely with Lira Artistic Director Lucyna Migala, has recently led the development and expansion of Lira’s Chamber Orchestra into a highly respected performance organization dedicated to introducing the orchestral music of both Poland and the United States to the world’s musical stage.

Dijkstra, one of the founders of Chicago's Dakota Ensemble, studied piano, accompanying, voice, coaching and conducting with Dr. Dennis Ondrozeck, Madonna Byrkeland, Dr. Frank Aiello and Mr. Larry Torkelson at the University of South Dakota where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. After additional graduate work in conducting and piano, Dijkstra studied operatic conducting and coaching at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, with James Mathis, Jean Meyorwitz and others.

Dijkstra, equally adept as an accompanist, considers himself first and foremost a conductor with special sensitivity and expertise in the music of diverse cultures. Dijkstra currently serves as co-conductor for the women’s ensemble, chamber chorus and symphony of the Lira Ensemble, artists in residence at Loyola University of Chicago. Additional professional conducting experiences include the Lira Singers "Dzieci" Children's Chorus, the Triennial Festival Choir of the North American Baptist Conference, as well as gala orchestral and choral performances of Ben Steinberg's Kol Sholom and The Crown of Torah at Chicago’s Temple Sholom – the former work being commissioned by the Temple. Starting in 1989, Dijkstra has served annually as resident conductor for the professional High Holy Days festival choir at Chicago's Temple Sholom, one of the largest Reformed Jewish Congregations in the United States.

In music for the stage, Dijkstra served as the musical director/conductor/vocal coach of the South Dakota Opera Theater, the Fireside Playhouse in Wisconsin, South Dakota's famous Black Hills Playhouse, Chicago’s Dakota Ensemble and various other musical ensembles throughout the Midwest. As exemplified by being contracted as repititor for the Bremerhaven Stadttheater in Bremerhaven, Germany, Dijkstra's musical education and foundation focuses on the musical theater genres of Germany, Poland and the United States. The Lira Ensemble’s recent performances at Northwestern University’s Polish Music Festival under Dijkstra’s direction included fully staged excerpts of arias, choruses, ballets and ensembles of Moniuszko’s Halka and Straszny Dwór – two of Poland’s "national" operas.

Dijkstra has served as the organist/musical director of First Church of Christ, Scientist in Evanston, Illinois; Broadway United Methodist Church in Chicago and the former Foster Avenue Baptist Church (now Northwest Fellowship Baptist Church) of Chicago. Prior to his work as resident conductor, Dijkstra served as pianist for the Lira Singers, debuting the piano accompaniments of the chamber version of Marta Ptasyñska's Holocaust Memorial Cantata on National Public Radio. Recently Dijkstra conducted to rave reviews a performance of this very demanding Ptaszynska Cantata during the U.S. government’s week of concerts commemorating the 60^th anniversary of the start of World War II at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington.

Discography includes two albums of Polish folk music with styles ranging from the dissonant mountain music of Silesia to medleys based on the major dance forms of the Polish and Slavic cultures. Additionally, Dijkstra has conducted the Lira Singers in several live performances on Chicago’s classical music station WFMT including a concert of the music of Paderewski to celebrate the International Paderewski year, which included scenes from his only opera Manru and many of his art songs set to the poetry of Adam Mickiewicz; and a recent concert commemorating the 25^th anniversary of the Papacy of John Paul II.

For further information about the Lira Symphony, please call the Lira Ensemble at 773-508-7040.