Maestro Alan Heatherington
Alan Heatherington has built his career in the Chicago metropolitan area as a choral and orchestral conductor, a violinist/concertmaster and an educator. So distinguished are his accomplishments that the Chicago Tribune named him a Chicagoan of the Year in the arts in 2004, the Illinois Council of Orchestras awarded him the title of Conductor of the Year for 2005 and again in 2012, and in 2010 he received the Cultural Leadership Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Illinois Council of Orchestras, for “sustained leadership, extending beyond his own organizations and community, that has profoundly impacted the state of the arts in Illinois.” He was the recipient of the 2013 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Chicago Classical Review.
Maestro Heatherington has held the post of Music Director of the Chicago Master Singers since 1989, leading the chorus on 12 concert tours in many of the cultural capitals of Europe. He was the founding Music Director of the Chicago String Ensemble (1979-1995) and since 1995 has been Music Director of the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra, a professional orchestra composed of many of the finest professional musicians in the Chicago metropolitan area, including many members of the world-renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He made his European opera debut conducting The Barber of Seville at the Krakow Opera and has conducted professional orchestras and choral ensembles in Austria, the Czech Republic and Russia.
He was Music Director of the Lake Forest Symphony for 13 years (2000-2013). He founded the Innsbruck International Choral Festival, co-conducting the festival for four years with Alice Parker and Weston Noble, and co-directed the Mozart Salzburg Choral Festival in 2014. He was the Director of Music Ministries at the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest (1995-2003) as well as Director of the professional choir at Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago (1992-2000) with Hazzan Alberto Mizrahi.
He received a Master of Music degree in violin performance from Northwestern University in 1975, where he also studied orchestral conducting with Bernard Rubenstein and choral conducting with Margaret Hillis. He has conducted or played with many of the major orchestras in Chicago for more than four decades and taught at various colleges and universities for more than twenty years.
In 2013 his professional life took a turn when he returned to his earlier theological training [Moody Bible Institute, where he later taught Biblical studies and theology from 1969 to 1979, Houghton College (1964-1967) and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1967-1970)], completing the Anglican Studies program at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in 2014. He was ordained in February, 2017 as a Priest in the Anglican Church in North America and serves as the pastor of Grace Anglican Fellowship (www.graceanglicanfellowship.org) in Lake Forest and Lincolnshire.
He and his wife Gayle, who works professionally in graphic design, live in Libertyville, Illinois.
Maestro Heatherington has held the post of Music Director of the Chicago Master Singers since 1989, leading the chorus on 12 concert tours in many of the cultural capitals of Europe. He was the founding Music Director of the Chicago String Ensemble (1979-1995) and since 1995 has been Music Director of the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra, a professional orchestra composed of many of the finest professional musicians in the Chicago metropolitan area, including many members of the world-renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He made his European opera debut conducting The Barber of Seville at the Krakow Opera and has conducted professional orchestras and choral ensembles in Austria, the Czech Republic and Russia.
He was Music Director of the Lake Forest Symphony for 13 years (2000-2013). He founded the Innsbruck International Choral Festival, co-conducting the festival for four years with Alice Parker and Weston Noble, and co-directed the Mozart Salzburg Choral Festival in 2014. He was the Director of Music Ministries at the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest (1995-2003) as well as Director of the professional choir at Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago (1992-2000) with Hazzan Alberto Mizrahi.
He received a Master of Music degree in violin performance from Northwestern University in 1975, where he also studied orchestral conducting with Bernard Rubenstein and choral conducting with Margaret Hillis. He has conducted or played with many of the major orchestras in Chicago for more than four decades and taught at various colleges and universities for more than twenty years.
In 2013 his professional life took a turn when he returned to his earlier theological training [Moody Bible Institute, where he later taught Biblical studies and theology from 1969 to 1979, Houghton College (1964-1967) and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1967-1970)], completing the Anglican Studies program at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in 2014. He was ordained in February, 2017 as a Priest in the Anglican Church in North America and serves as the pastor of Grace Anglican Fellowship (www.graceanglicanfellowship.org) in Lake Forest and Lincolnshire.
He and his wife Gayle, who works professionally in graphic design, live in Libertyville, Illinois.