Raymond Harvey

Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra music director Raymond Harvey.

(Kalamazoo Gazette file)

KALAMAZOO, MI - After 18 years conducting the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Raymond Harvey will be stepping down as music director at the end of the 2016-17 concert season.

In addition to conducting the KSO, Harvey for the last two years has been associate professor and music director of the Moores Opera Center at the University of Houston, a role he will continue in after the KSO concert season ends.

"Teaching has always been my calling, and my love of opera has been a mainstay in my life," Harvey said in a statement released Wednesday, Sept. 14, by the KSO. "To be asked to head a university opera program at this stage in my professional career is a terrific blessing."

Harvey will become music director emeritus of the KSO and will return to Kalamazoo once a year to conduct a concert.

The KSO said it will convene a search committee to find Harvey's successor. "Daniel Brier, our resident conductor, will provide continuity through this time of transition," it said in the news release.

Harvey, born in New York City, earned bachelor's and master's degrees in choral conducting from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music then continued his studies at the Yale School of Music, where he earned his master's and doctor of musical arts degrees. Before joining the KSO, he held the top post at the Fresno Philharmonic is California, Springfield Symphony in Massachusetts and El Paso Opera in Texas.

"The gift and legacy that Raymond leaves with this community will be treasured always," said Janice Brown, who chairs the KSO's board of directors. "We are thrilled that he will return each year to reconnect with all of us. We are grateful that he's been a great and true friend of the KSO."

Said Peter H. Gistelinck, the symphony's president and CEO: "Raymond Harvey has been an amazing asset for the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra during his 18-year tenure. We are honored and privileged that he now has accepted to transition into the role of music director emeritus so that his important connection with the Kalamazoo community will be kept alive."