Program Information
DVOŘÁK | Othello
BARBER | Violin Concerto
BRAHMS | Symphony No. 3
Chad Goodman, conductor
Geneva Lewis, violin
Ticket Information
Prices: Gold $68 / Red $42 / Green $20
Student tickets $10
Call and ask about our Free Youth Tickets for children ages 17 and under
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Since becoming Music Director of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra in 2023, Chad Goodman has been praised for taking the orchestra to new artistic heights and dramatically expanding its impact in the community. In his first two seasons he led the ESO premieres of more than a dozen works, increased community engagement through run-out concerts and engaging presentations in Elgin and neighboring cities, and spearheaded the orchestra’s first ever Día de los Muertos concert, uniting the symphony with folkloric dance and vocals in a city-wide cultural celebration.
Named Conductor of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras in 2025, Goodman has led orchestras including the Minnesota Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de Puebla (OSEP).
From 2023 to 2025, Goodman served as Artistic Director of IlluminArts, a Miami-based arts organization dedicated to the synthesis of music with visual art, poetry, and dance through bold, interdisciplinary collaborations. His programming created immersive experiences that transcended traditional boundaries, bringing audiences together to engage and connect in vibrant cultural dialogue.
From 2019 to 2023, Goodman was the Conducting Fellow of the New World Symphony and Assistant Conductor to Michael Tilson Thomas. In addition to leading the orchestra in more than fi fty performances, he collaborated with sound engineers, videographers, animators, and light designers to push the boundaries of how classical music can be presented.
Goodman has also served as an Assistant Conductor to the San Francisco Symphony, working alongside Esa-Pekka Salonen, Herbert Blomstedt, Michael Tilson Thomas, Elim Chan, Manfred Honeck, Daniel Harding and Simone Young, among others.
Goodman additionally leads workshops that teach young musicians the business skills needed to successfully navigate the music world. Forbes praised the conductor’s bold strides both on and off stage and hailed him as “An entrepreneur bringing innovation to classical music.” In 2022 he published the book You Earned a Music Degree. Now What?
Goodman holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music degree from San Francisco State University. His mentors include Michael Tilson Thomas and Alasdair Neale.
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American/New Zealand violinist Geneva Lewis has forged a reputation as a musician of consummate artistry whose performances speak from and to the heart and who has been lauded for the “remarkable mastery of her instrument” (CVNC) and hailed as “clearly one to watch” (Musical America).
Named a BBC New Generation Artist (2022-24), Geneva is also the recipient of a 2022 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant. She was also Grand Prize winner of the 2020 Concert Artists Guild Competition, winner of the Kronberg Academy’s Prince of Hesse Prize (2021), Musical America’s New Artist of the Month (June 2021), a Performance Today Young Artist in Residence, and a YCAT Concordia Artist.
In 2023, Geneva made her BBC Proms debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Jaime Martin. The 2024-25 season includes debuts with the Orquestra Filarmonica de Minas Gerais, Indianapolis Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Vancouver Symphony.
Geneva made her solo debut at age 11 with the Pasadena POPS, and has since gone on to perform with orchestras including Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC New Orchestra of Wales, BBC Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Austin Symphony, and San Diego Symphony under conductors such as Gemma New, Hugh Wolff, Nicholas McGegan, Grant Llewellyn, Giordano Bellincampi, and Dirk Meyer.
Deeply passionate about chamber music, Geneva has had the pleasure of collaborating with prominent musicians such as Jonathan Biss, Glenn Dicterow, Miriam Fried, Kim Kashkashian, Gidon Kremer, Marcy Rosen, Sir András Schiff, and Mitsuko Uchida. She has performed in venues and festivals such as London’s Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Marlboro Music Festival, Kronberg Festival, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Ravinia, and Chamberfest Cleveland.
An advocate of community engagement and music education, Geneva was selected for New England Conservatory’s Community Performances and Partnerships Program’s Ensemble Fellowship, through which her string quartet created interactive educational programs for audiences throughout Boston. The quartet was also chosen for the Virginia Arts Festival Residency, during which they performed and presented masterclasses in elementary, middle, and high schools.
Geneva received her Artist Diploma from New England Conservatory as the recipient of the Charlotte F. Rabb Presidential Scholarship, studying with Miriam Fried. She also studied with Professor Mihaela Martin in the Professional Studies Program at the Kronberg Academy. Prior to that, she studied with Aimée Kreston at the Colburn School of Performing Arts.
Geneva currently performs on a composite violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, c. 1776 generously on loan from a Charitable Trust.