Artistic Leadership
Nicholas L. Wallin
Music Director and Conductor
Nicholas L. Wallin returns in 2022 for his 14th season as Music Director and Conductor of the Mid-Columbia Symphony. Wallin has garnered praise for his committed performances and his bold creative programming style, focusing on American music and collaborations with area musicians. While remaining firmly rooted in the standard symphonic repertoire, he is also an advocate for performing new music by living composers.
Wallin is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and began his musical training there on piano and tuba. In 1991 he enrolled at Northwestern University, where he earned three degrees, a bachelor of arts in mathematics, a bachelor of music in tuba performance and a master of music in tuba performance. Wallin has conducted numerous ensembles across the country including the Spokane Symphony and Hartford (CT) Opera Theater.
He has served as guest conductor or adjudicator for orchestras and music festivals across Washington, Idaho Oregon, Illinois, and Michigan, and previously served as Music Director for the Washington-Idaho Symphony. In the summer of 2006, Wallin studied and conducted in St. Petersburg, Russia, as a participant in the International Academy of Advanced Conducting. His conducting teachers have included Gustav Meier, Markand Thakar, Akira Mori and Craig Kirchhoff, and he has conducted in workshops and masterclasses for numerous leading conductors, including Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman and Gunther Schuller.
After leaving Northwestern, he earned a master of music degree in orchestral conducting from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. At Peabody he was a student of Gustav Meier and a recipient of the Graduate Conducting Fellowship. In December 2004, he completed a doctor of musical arts degree in conducting, with a secondary area in music theory at the University of Minnesota, where he received a College of Liberal Arts Graduate Fellowship.
Wallin is also an Associate Professor and the Chair of the Department of Music at Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, IL. At Lake Forest he conducts the orchestra and teaches courses in music theory. Prior to his appointment at Lake Forest, Wallin served on the faculty at Washington State University in Pullman. Wallin believes strongly in music education for all ages and enjoys speaking to organizations and music classes in the schools. He and his wife, Alice Swan, live in Evanston, IL with their sons, Rex and Enzo, and their pug dog, Aida.
Adrienne Fletcher
Youth Music Director
Adrienne Fletcher currently serves as the Music Director of the Mid-Columbia Youth Orchestras and the Assistant Conductor of the Mid-Columbia Symphony. She is also the Music Director for the Ellensburg High School Winter Musical and a recurring Music Director for Valley Musical Theatre. She has previously served as Assistant Conductor for Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra, Guest Conductor for Yakima Youth Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Conductor for Central Washington University Symphony Orchestra and Opera Production, and Guest Conductor for the Kittitas Valley Youth Orchestra.
Fletcher remains active as a performing musician. As a harpist, she has played with several ensembles including the Olympia Symphony, Tacoma Concert Band, and Tacoma Opera. She has most recently played for Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra and CWU Symphony Orchestra. Last year, she joined CWU Wind Ensemble to record the music of Alan Hovahness for Naxos Music Library. She works frequently as a vocal coach and collaborative pianist in central Washington state. She has worked with the Suzuki Association of Washington State as an accompanist at their annual festival at CWU and she collaborates frequently with the CWU voice department as a pianist and répétiteur. She is an enthusiast for opera repertoire and is an active opera coach. Her most recent credits include CWU’s production of Die Fledermaus and Gianni Schicchi and Valley Musical Theatre’s production of Amahl and the Night Visitors.
Fletcher holds a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting and Vocal Performance/Pedagogy from Central Washington University and a Bachelor of Musical Arts degree in Harp from Pacific Lutheran University. Her primary teachers have been Dr. Nikolas Caoile, Dr. Edwin Powell, and Dr. Jeffery Bell-Hanson. A native of Forest Grove, Oregon, Adrienne Fletcher currently resides in Richland, Washington. She also enjoys reading books, watching films, and sipping a good cup of coffee.
Vanessa Moss
Concertmaster
Concertmaster Vanessa Moss is an active performer throughout the northwest. In addition to serving as our concertmaster, she is also violinist with Yakima Symphony, concertmaster of the Walla Walla Symphony Orchestra, and frequently performs with the Northwest Sinfonietta and Spokane Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Moss is the founder and Artistic Director of Sempre Chamber Music, a repertory ensemble of chamber musicians in the inland northwest. She has received numerous awards for her electric performances, including top prizes at MTNA regional and national competitions in chamber music. Recent performances include Franck’s Sonata for Piano and Violin, Brahms’ Sonata No. 2 for Piano and Violin, Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D minor, Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughn Williams, and, with us, the exquisite violin solos in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade
Ms. Moss is a passionate teacher, teaching students from her home in Ellensburg, WA. Her students have been selected to perform at State Solo and Ensemble, won concerto competitions, been accepted to prestigious programs such as Idyllwild Arts Academy, and have gone on to pursue music at the collegiate level. Vanessa is a graduate of Central Washington University and is grateful for teachers and mentors Katrin St. Clare, Rhonda Marsh, Carrie Rehkopf-Michel, and Denise Dillenbeck. When not teaching, rehearsing, and performing, Vanessa is likely to be found exploring the outdoors with her husband, percussionist Josh Gianola and their black lab.
