ABOUT US
The mission of the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra is to enhance the quality of life for Johns Creek and north Metro Atlanta residents through the presentation of high-quality performances, educational and other outreach programs that reflect the cultural diversity of the community.
The Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra is comprised of professional musicians from all around the greater Atlanta metro area. Its Music Director and founder, J. Wayne Baughman, was a fixture on the Atlanta music scene for over thirty-five years. He aspired to bring together the very best symphonic musicians to serve Johns Creek and neighboring communities. In April of 2007, the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra was officially incorporated as a Georgia non-profit performing arts organization.
JCSO musicians are among the finest instrumentalists in America, with an average of 16 years experience in professional orchestras. Most of the members have graduate degrees or artist diplomas in performing arts from the leading institutions of higher learning in the US, and many have received additional training in Berlin, London, Rome, Salzburg, Vienna and other leading European music centers. The members of the JCSO are committed to providing its audiences with the highest caliber of symphonic music possible.
History
The Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra, Inc. is a fully professional orchestra founded and incorporated on April 28, 2007. The JCSO is the result of the vision of its founder, Music Director J. Wayne Baughman. Having worked as a music professional in the Johns Creek community since 1988, Maestro Baughman witnessed the dramatic growth of northeast Fulton County and the emergence of Johns Creek as its leading community. As commerce, education, healthcare, recreation and government institutions were created and expanded, he felt a need for a performing arts organization that would ultimately become the cornerstone of culture for Johns Creek and its neighboring communities.
Following several years of dreaming and planning, Baughman, with the help of his wife and a few supporters embarked on a two-year mission to “design” a traditional symphony orchestra whose members would be the most highly qualified symphonic musicians in metropolitan Atlanta and who were not already in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The repertoire performed would be the standard repertoire of classical, light classical, Broadway and popular music performed by the great orchestras of the world.
On December 1, 2006, the same day Johns Creek became a city, Maestro Baughman assembled forty-two (soon-to-be) JCSO musicians for the First Annual St. Benedict Christmas Gala & Holiday Pops Concert. The concert was a resounding success with nearly 1,000 in attendance. This was the final inspiration needed to proceed with incorporation and planning for the first bona fide concert season.
In that Debut Season 2007-2008, four concerts were performed to critical acclaim. The JCSO has been favorably compared to the full-time professional orchestras in its performances of major orchestral works by Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Stravinsky. Its audiences have delivered standing ovations at the close of each concert.
During the 2009-2010 Concert Season, the JCSO collaborated for the first time with a major guest choral ensemble, the 50-voice Archdiocesan Festival Choir of Atlanta in a performance of Haydn’s Harmoniemesse. On February 6, 2010, the JCSO hosted its first internationally recognized soloist when pianist, Piotr Folkert, performed the Chopin Concerto No. 1 at the Chopin Tribute concert.
In 2020 during the COVID pandemic, the orchestra moved to virtual concerts without missing a beat, delivering music to a world that had largely gone silent. That year, soon-to-be Grammy award winner and YouTube sensation violinist Charles Yang soloed with JCSO and provided masterclasses to local high-school students.
In November 2023, Maestro and Founder J. Wayne Baughman succumbed to a brief encounter with pancreatic cancer. He will be missed. Earlier in the year, the JCSO had started a music director search as the 2023-2024 season was to be his last season.
In the 2023-2024 season, the JCSO continues to deliver better and more diverse performances. Soloist Kevin Zhu performed with the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra on his Stradivarius which he generously demonstrated to a rapt audience afterwards. The season also features Mark Wood, original string master of the Transiberian Orchestra, Chicago pianist Awadagin Pratt, and a concert of Beethoven’s largest and most powerful ninth symphony.
The 2024-2025 season will feature several Music Director finalists in spectacular form as the orchestra prepares to thrill the next generation of audiences and ask the audience to help us select our next Music Director.
From sell-out crowds at the annual Christmas Gala to performances by world-renown soloists, the artistic offerings continue to expand, and we encourage you to join us.
J. Wayne Baughman
Founder and Music Director J. Wayne Baughman studied choral and orchestral conducting, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in music education from the University of Alabama, as well as advanced studies in conducting at the University of Michigan. Upon his arrival in Atlanta in 1974 Maestro Baughman immediately became involved with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Choruses and for twenty-five years was a frequent vocal soloist, chorus member and rehearsal conductor under the guidance of the late Robert Shaw. Well known for his oratorio performances as bass soloist, he collaborated with Maestro Shaw on numerous performance projects including the Mozart REQUIEM MASS, J.S. Bach’s ST. JOHN PASSION, and Handel’s MESSIAH. In 1990, as bass soloist, Maestro Baughman shared the honor of a Grammy Award for the Telarc recording of BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST (Walton) and CHICHESTER PSALMS (Bernstein) with Robert Shaw and the ASO. Maestro Baughman has held numerous academic and church music conducting positions in a career spanning more than 50 years. In addition to his work with the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra he served as Vice-President of the Cultural Arts Alliance at Johns Creek and chaired the Legacy Center at Johns Creek Task Force. Maestro Baughman passed away in November 2023. The Johns Creek Symphony continues building on his vision and wishes to honor his legacy.
2023-2024 Board of Directors
Peter Hildebrandt
Marilyn Margolis
Jun Wu
Kevin E. Brown
2023-2024 Musician Roster
Music Director
J. Wayne Baughman (Music Director Chair sponsored by Linda Mauldin)
Guest Conductor
John Morrison
Violin 1
Adelaide Federici, Concertmaster (The Lynn Marie Hosty Baughman Chair), Kevin Chaney, Peter Ciascini, Eileen Drew, Sally Gardner-Wilson, Alison James, Mayu Sommovigo, Rafael Veytsblum
Violin 2
Tricia Anderson, Holly Bryan, Sarah Ewing, Heather Hart, Kathy Jaques, Elizabeth Lamback, Kim Padgett, Sheri Peck
Viola
Cindy Beard, Catherine Evergreen, Kate Feltgen, Rebecca Floyd, Charee Mitchem
Cello
Alana Bennett, Martin Gueorguiev, Sarah Kapps, Jessica Messere, Katie Truex
Bass
James Barkett, David Goodwin, Peter Hildebrandt
Flute/Piccolo
Molly Gareau, Candace Keach, Judith Klein, James Zellers
Oboe
Kim Lorch, Pam Potts, Rebecca Testerman
Clarinet/Bass Clarinet
Michael Bolick, Linda Brill, Staci Culbreth
Bassoon/Contra Bassoon
Debby Grove, John Grove, Amy Pollard, Dan Worley
Horn
Amy Black, Alan Brown, Jay Hanselman, David Lamm, David McCurley
Trumpet
Doug Guice, Patrick McAvoy, Paul Poovey
Trombone
Tom Gibson, Hollie Lawing-Pritchard, Jim Wile
Tuba
Robert Coulter
Timpani
Scott Douglas, John Lawless, Lisa Morris
Percussion
Caleb Herron, Karen Hunt, Victor Pons, Brian Stephens
Harp
Nella Rigell
Piano
Michael Duff, Deb Terning
Electric Bass
Tim Aucoin
Electric Guitar
David Frankenpohl
Librarian
Phil Parsons
Personnel Manager
Rebecca Testerman
Administration
Linda Brill
Linda Brill calls upon an extensive musical background of arts marketing and management experience in her role as executive director of the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra.
Originally from the Buckeye State, Ms. Brill received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University (Ohio). She completed her Master of Music degree in clarinet performance at Florida State University, and her career in arts management began in 1995 with an internship in the marketing department of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Her professional career begin with the Columbus (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra, where she worked in the marketing and communications department for 12 years. Ms. Brill left the CSO to establish a freelance arts marketing business, with clients that included the New Albany Symphony Orchestra, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, and the Columbus Children’s Choir.
After relocating to Atlanta, Ms. Brill continued her career in arts management by serving two terms as marketing chair of the Georgia Philharmonic’s Board of Directors. She has been Executive Director of the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra since 2017.
In addition to her administrative role with the JCSO, Linda Brill is also a freelance musician, a frequent guest clinician at Fulton County middle and high schools, a private clarinet teacher, and a clarinetist in the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra.
Karen Hunt
Operations Manager Karen Hunt has extensive management experience with local arts organizations and nonprofits, while owning an Artist Management Company, KH Artists Group.
Karen is a native of Atlanta and a graduate of Georgia State University, where she received a Bachelor’s of Music Performance in Percussion. As an active freelance percussionist, Karen is a member of the Atlanta Percussion Trio as well as the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra, Atlanta Opera and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed with the Atlanta, Macon, Alabama, Savannah, Gwinnett and Charleston Symphonies. In addition to being an active freelance percussionist, she is also a founding member of Chix with Stix Percussion Group.
Karen has been a member of the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra since its inception in 2007. Ms. Hunt is very excited to be joining the JCSO as the Operations Manager and looks forward to working with the orchestra in her new capacity.