RSO began performing concerts in 1934 under the direction of Andreas Fugmann, the then head of Rockford College music department.
While his artistic vision for the orchestra was certainly ambitious, many felt that he lacked "people skills" in working with orchestral personnel.
He brought renowned guest artists to perform with the orchestra including Van Cliburn (1972), Victor Borge (1973), Phyllis Diller (1974), and Benny Goodman (1975).
The RSO has hosted such notable classical and pops artists as Peter Schickele, Rick Nielsen, Dionne Warwick, Andre Watts, Eugene Fodor, Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Rachel Barton Pine, Alon Goldstein, Daniel Rodriguez, and Stefan Jackiw.
Under his direction, and with the board's vision, the RSO has expanded the orchestra's repertoire and attracted musicians of the highest caliber.
Audiences respond warmly to his informal podium style and enjoy his enthusiastic desire to communicate his love for music.
As his interests in conducting grew, he auditioned for the graduate program at Northwestern University, earning an assistantship and leading to studies with Margaret Hillis and Bernard Rubenstein.
In 1981 he was invited to participate in the first Conductors Institute, held in Morgantown, West Virginia, as a conducting fellow.
A native of Israel, he is the 1st prize winner of the Duna Szimfonikus Conducting Competition Budapest, a multiple recipient of the Sir Georg Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award, and the recipient of the 2009 Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award..[4] The Rockford Symphony Orchestra boasts musicians from Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan.
The Coronado opened on October 9, 1927, as an atmospheric style theatre and movie palace - complete with Spanish castles, Italian villas, oriental dragons, starlit skies, and a Grande Barton Pipe Organ.
Spear-headed by the Friends of the Coronado, a non-profit organization formed in 1997, the theatre was reopened in January, 2001 after an $18.5 million restoration.