While KSO Music Director Linc Smelser is away this winter, a guest conductor quite familiar to long-time KSO fans will take the podium for the Arthur D. Montzka Young Artists Concert on Saturday, February 21.
Stephen Squires is a musician with a career that has blended his passions for conducting, teaching, and performing. Mr. Squires has had the honor to conduct for many exceptional artists, including Frederica von Stade, Samuel Ramey, Janos Starker, Pinchas Zuckerman, Shmuel Ashkenasi, John Browning, Leon Bates, Stewart Goodyear, Richard Stoltzman, Ani Kavafian, Wendy Warner, James Tocco, Kevin Cole, Vadim Gluzman, Alexander Fiterstein, and most of the principal players of the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera Orchestras. Fully committed to conducting the music of living composers, he has premiered over one hundred and fifty new works.
Mr. Squires received his musical training at the Preparatory School of the Eastman School of Music and the Crane School of Music, in his home state of New York. He earned his graduate degree in Instrumental Conducting and Trumpet Performance at California State University, Northridge. Further conducting studies were with Helmuth Rilling, Maurice Abravanel, Daniel Lewis, Tsung Yeh, and at the Aspen Music Festival. Mr. Squires has conducted recordings for the Delos, Spring Hill (a division of EMI), MEDR, Editions de la Rue Margot, Albany, MSR Classics, and Centaur labels.
Stephen Squires has enjoyed a distinguished career as a Professor of Music. Recently retired from university teaching, he was titled Professor Emeritus of Conducting in the Music Conservatory of the Chicago College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt University, where he conducted the Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. Prior to CCPA he served for nineteen years on the artist faculty of the Northern Illinois School of Music, where he received the prestigious “Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award.”
Mr. Squires’ current professional appointments include Music Director of the Fox Valley Orchestra (Aurora, IL), Music Director of the Millar Brass Ensemble (Evanston, IL), and Music Director of the Illinois Brass Band (Arlington Heights, IL). He is the former Music Director of the Illinois Chamber Symphony (St. Charles, IL), the Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra (Rockford, IL), and for more than thirty years, the Resident Conductor of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra (Elgin, IL). Mr. Squires has guest conducted the Chicago Symphony, the Syracuse Symphony, the Green Bay Symphony, the Columbus (OH) Symphony, the Rockford Symphony, the Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra, and the Chicago Composers Orchestra. In addition, he is an accomplished recital accompanist, and frequent guest conductor at educational festivals.
Stephen Squires has previously appeared as guest conductor with the KSO on five occasions between 1986 and 1994. We are thrilled to have him return for the 2026 Arthur D. Montzka Young Artists Concert.