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David Itkin David Itkin Music Director The 2008-2009 season marks Maestro David Itkin’s 16th season as Music Director and Conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, his 2nd season as Conductor of the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and his 4th season as Conductor of the Abilene Philharmonic. In addition, during the Fall of 2008 he begins his first year as Director of Orchestral Studies at the University of North Texas College of Music. During past seasons Maestro Itkin’s career has taken him to 44 U.S. states and 15 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, including concerts and recordings with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Slovenska Filhamonija, the San Diego Symphony, and the Seoul Philharmonic. Other guest conducting appearances include concerts with the Colorado Philharmonic, the Annapolis Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony, the Delaware Symphony, the New Hampshire Symphony, the Cheyenne Symphony, and the Indianapolis, Baltimore, and Reno Chamber Orchestras. During the Summer of 2006 Maestro Itkin appeared once again with the Slovenska Filharmonija in Ljubljana, Slovenia, conducting the opening concert of the 14th World Saxophone Congress. Mr. Itkin’s first film score (“Sugar Creek”) was recorded in 2006 by the Arkansas Symphony for the film’s 2007 release. His most recent major work, “Exodus”, an oratorio, was premiered in April 2005 in Little Rock, with William Shatner narrating. “Exodus” was released world-wide on CD in 2007. Mr. Itkin is also in demand as a speaker and lecturer. During the Summer of 2007 he was a featured lecturer at the Arkansas Governor’s School for the 2nd consecutive year, and lectured in Europe for Silversea cruise lines. Maestro Itkin’s previous positions include serving as Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra in Chicago (1997-2000), Music Director/Conductor of the Kingsport Symphony (Tenn.) (1992-1995), Music Director of the Birmingham Opera Theatre (1992-1995), and Music Director for the Lucius Woods Festival Concerts in Solon Springs, Wisconsin (1993-2000). From 1988 to 1993 he served as Associate Conductor of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, during which time he was made Honorary Lt. Governor of the State of Alabama for outstanding service to the Arts. Geoffrey Robson Associate Conductor Geoffrey Robson is in his first season as Associate Conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. He is also serving as violinist in the ASO’s Sturgis string quartet, participating in a state-wide program of arts education for schoolchildren, and hosting At the Symphony, a concert preview radio series on KLRE 90.5 in Little Rock. Geoffrey completed his MM at Yale University in 2004, studying violin performance with Erick Friedman. Since then he has freelanced busily in Connecticut and New York City as a violinist and violist. This includes serving as co-concertmaster of the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, and assistant concertmaster of the Waterbury Symphony. Geoffrey has also worked as a public schoolteacher in New Haven, CT, and has taught violin, piano, viola, and music theory extensively as a private teacher. In 2006, he was involved as a founding member and conductor of the Chelsea Symphony, a bold experiment in the structuring of an arts organization, based in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Since the fall of 2007, Geoffrey has been studying orchestral conducting at the Mannes College of Music in New York under the tutelage of David Hayes. He has twice attended the London Conducting Workshop, an annual course at the Royal College of Music in London, and has guest-let several chamber orchestras in the New York area. Geoffrey graduated from the honors college at Michigan State University in 2002. 
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