Orchestra Faculty

Dr. Allan Dennis brings a rich heritage of experience and energy to the Midwest Young Artists Programs, with over a quarter a century of experience motivating, rehearsing and teaching young people. He is currently the Music Director of the Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra. Dennis has been recognized as the 2001 Music Director of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras, as well as awarded the 2001 Heidi Castleman Award by Chamber Music America. The Castleman Award is given to one recipient from the United States in recognition for “excellence in chamber music teaching.”

He has studied at the internationally renowned Tanglewood Institute in Lennox (MA) in 2000 and in 1996, and was also chosen as both an Active Conductor at the Festival at Sandpoint (ID), and a Fellow at the Conductors’ Institute in South Carolina. Dennis also has extensive experience conducting musical shows, operas and ballets. His conducting teachers have included Gunther Schuller, Harold Farbermann, and David Effron.

Dr. Dennis received his doctorate, with distinction, from Indiana University in Bloomington, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the State University of New York at Fredonia. He has studied at the Eastman School of Music and received a Performer’s Certificate from the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Music in Antwerp, Belgium.

Patrick A. Pearson (B.A., Bowling Green State University, 1989; M.A., VanderCook College of Music, 2003) began his tenure at Midwest Young Artists Conservatory in 1995 where he currently conducts the Cadet, Concertino and Philharmonia Orchestras. He also teaches composition. Mr. Pearson is also the orchestra director at Oak Park and River Forest High School, where he conducts 3 orchestras, 1 band, and teaches AP Music Theory. Before teaching at OPRFHS, he taught nine years at Lake Forest High School in Lake Forest, Illinois, two years at East Lake High School in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and three years at Countryside High School in Clearwater, Florida. During his tenure at East Lake, Mr. Pearson was named Teacher of the Year for 1992-1993. In his years of teaching, Mr. Pearson has toured with his orchestras on several international tours to destinations including Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, and Mexico. He has also participated in the MYAC tours to China, South Korea, Hungary, Austria and Czech Republic.

Mr. Pearson is active as a guest conductor of many string and orchestra festivals and is a member of the Illinois Music Educators’ Association (MENC), the American String Teachers’ Association, Phi Mu Alpha, and Kappa Kappa Psi Fraternity. Mr. Pearson also serves as the Assistant Director of Music at Shiloh Baptist Church in Waukegan, Illinois. Mr. Pearson lives in Vernon Hills, Illinois, with his wife, Andrya, and their two daughters, Taylor and Alexandrya.