Our History

The Littleton Symphony Orchestra (LSO) began as a twelve-member string ensemble in the fall of 1984 under the direction of Glenn McCune. The next year, the group added wind, brass, and string players, performing as the Littleton Chamber Orchestra with William Skoog conducting. In 1990, the group grew to a full-size symphony under the direction of its present conductor, Jurgen de Lemos, and changed its name to the Littleton Symphony Orchestra. His expertise and leadership have been largely responsible for the LSO's reputation as one of Colorado's most respected and versatile community orchestras. The LSO is dedicated to the growth and quality of its musicians and to the cultural life of the south suburban area. It has participated in concerts during the Western Welcome Week, at the Riverfront Festival, Hudson Gardens, Elitch Gardens, Littleton Museum, Roxborough Park, Littleton Town Hall and at many community churches. 

Music Director and Conductor

	Jurgen de Lemos

Jurgen de Lemos, a native of Leipzig, Germany, has been a leader in the Denver music community since joining the Denver Symphony Orchestra in 1968 as Principal Cellist. He has been the Principal Cellist of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra since its inception. A summa cum laude graduate in cello and composition from Hochschule fur Musik in Munich, Germany, and Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, France, he has studied with André Navarra, Pablo Casals, Leonard Rose, Gregor Piatigorsky and Maurice Eisenberg. He was the youngest member of the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein from 1964-68, and a winner of the Baglioni, Casals and Tchaikovsky international competitions. He also served as co-principal cellist under James Levine and Daniel Barenboim at the 1982 Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, and toured three continents with the Pablo Casals Trio. Mr. de Lemos was a Professor of cello and chamber music at the University of Colorado for 23 years. His conducting skills were refined under the tutelage of Adolph Mennerich in Munich, Jean Morel and Jorge Mester at Juilliard, and Walter Susskind (Aspen). He was founder and Music Director of the Arvada Center Orchestra from 1979-86, a past conductor of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra, and conductor of the Boulder Youth Symphony for eight years. He has also conducted at Aspen and the Siena, Italy Contemporary Music Festival. Mr. de Lemos has also guest conducted for the Fort Collins Symphony, The Boulder Philharmonic, The Topengo Symphony and the Grand Junction Symphony. Mr. de Lemos has conducted the Littleton Symphony Orchestra since the 1990 season.

Concertmaster

	Laura Anderson

Laura Anderson is a native of Colorado. She was born and raised in Longmont where she began studying violin at the age of three. While in Longmont, she performed with the Longmont Symphony Orchestra both as a soloist and a member. Laura received both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music. During her education at the University of Denver, Laura studied violin with James Maurer and Linda Wang as well as participating in master classes for Midori, Peter Oundjian, Alexander and Albert Markov and James Ehnes. While studying at DU, she earned many awards including placing in both the university’s solo and chamber ensembles competitions on multiple occasions, as well as being honored with the best junior solo recital and being named the most outstanding undergraduate in performance. Her outstanding scholastic and musical achievement at DU was also recognized in her graduation with summa cum laude honors and induction into the Pi Kappa Lambda honor society. She was soloist with the Lamont Symphony in 2007 performing Saint-Saens’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, which was reviewed in YourHub.com by Robin McNeil:

"The Saint-Saens was very well done. It was light and airy and very mellifluous. He was very sure of his violin soloist, Laura Anderson, who I might add, was superb. This young lady is truly extraordinary - she was always on pitch, and she had the kind of technique that made everything so easy…These two individuals, Ribeiro and Anderson, just made gorgeous music. "

In addition to playing with the Littleton Symphony, Laura also performs throughout the community as a soloist and with her string quartet, teaches Suzuki violin lessons, and also plays the harp.

Outreach Program and the Littleton Public Schools

As part of its outreach efforts, the Littleton Symphony funds a strings specialist for the Littleton Public Schools who works with budding violinists and bass and cello players. The specialist rotates between Goddard, Isaac Newton, Powell and Euclid middle schools. Were it not for the Symphony's support, the schools would not be able to provide funding for this type of instruction, but encouraging young musicians sounds like a good investment to us.

» Letter of thanks from the Littleton Schools Superintendent

Board of Directors and Volunteers

Executive Members
Al MacDonald	President
Loryn Gorsett	Vice President
Karen Smith	Secretary
Kristal Suter	Treasurer
Board Members & Volunteers
Cathleen Connell	Board Member
Max Donaldson	Board Member
Neil Gillette	Board Member
Beth Greene	Board Member
Mary Hagen	Board Member
Marie Lindvall	Board Member
Joel Lusby	Board Member
Liz Ohsiek	Board Member
Rick Pelletier	Board Member
Barbara Seaton	Board Member
Jurgen de Lemos	Ex-Officio
Bobbi Jones	Personnel Manager
Loryn Gorsett	Orchestra Manager
Loryn Gorsett	Librarian
Liz Ohsiek	Web Design and Maintenance
Proudly supported by these companies and organizations
Scientific & Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) http://www.scfd.org
Signal Graphics  303-788-0110 National Printing Co. 303-794-8390	Printing
Unisource Worldwide, Inc.  http://www.unisourcelink.com	Paper
Xcel Energy Foundation  http://www.xcelenergy.com
Bradford Auto Body  http://www.bradfordauto.com 303-795-1323
City of Littleton  http://www.littletongov.org 303-795-3700
Colorado Business Bank  http://www.cobizbank.com 303-293-2265 800-574-4714
The Littleton Symphony Orchestra logo was created by Amy Feiman. Watercolors by Anita Winter