The Conductor

Guy Victor Bordo
Music Director and Conductor

Now in his 13th season with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Guy Victor Bordo has firmly established himself on the Civic Hall stage. In the past 12 years the RSO has built a strong reputation for innovative programming and attracted many fine musicians in the region.  Using the group's stability and strong musicianship, Mr. Bordo has the freedom to expand the orchestra’s repertoire by programming challenging works, both classical and contemporary.

Mr. Bordo also holds the position of Director of Orchestras at the University of Akron School of Music.  In this role he conducts the University of Akron Symphony Orchestra, the yearly university opera production, and teaches Advanced Conducting.  Last season featured performances of works by Dvorak, Saint-Saens, Mahler and Shostakovich.  The UASO gave the premiere performances of two compositions; in February -  Sarabande and Chaconne for Orchestra by internationally known UA composer Nikola Resanovic, and in April – Excelsior Overture by emerging composer Derek Balogh.  The University Symphony Orchestra performs a wide range of repertoire with many featured faculty soloists as well as residencies and performances with renowned composers Randy Newman and Marvin Hamlisch, and violinist Andres Cardenes.

Mr. Bordo is also Music Director/Conductor of Akron Baroque, a professional, self-governing orchestra including members of the Akron and Canton Symphony Orchestras that perform a season of masterworks from the Baroque period.   The 09-10 season will include the first collaboration with the newly formed Akron Baroque Chamber Choir in Vivaldi’s Gloria.

Having a strong interest in contemporary music, Mr. Bordo and the RSO have presented a wide range of compositions. A highlight in this area was the October 2001 residency of the great American composer John Corigliano.  The RSO, with soloist Maria Bachmann, performed his composition Chaconne from the film The Red Violin, for which he won an Academy Award.

At home with a wide variety of styles and concert formats, Mr. Bordo has conducted prominent soloists including Yakov Kasman, Ilya Kaler, Lorin Hollander, Anton Nel, Steven Burns, William Wolfram, and Mark Kosower as well as popular artists Aretha Franklin, Marvin Stamm, The Beach Boys, and Wynonna Judd.  

Active as a guest conductor, Mr. Bordo made his European debut in 1994 with the Lithuanian National Opera Theatre in Vilnius, conducting Verdi's La Traviata.  He was invited to return in 1997 where he conducted the State Symphony Orchestra, the St. Christ0pher Chamber Orchestra, and the Kaunas Opera Theatre in a production of Verdi’s Rigoletto.  Additional engagements include Light Opera Works in Chicago and orchestras in Lexington (KY), Cheyenne (WY), Waterloo/Cedar Falls (IA), Fort Collins (CO), the Westshore (MI) Symphony Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony, the Omaha Symphony, the Elmhurst Symphony in Illinois, and this season with the Cleveland Philharmonic.

In September of 1991 he completed his Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting as a student of Victor Yampolsky at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Mr. Bordo completed his Bachelors and Masters Degrees in music at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  He has studied conducting with Gustav Meier at the Tanglewood Music Center, Carl St. Clair, Music Director of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, and Elizabeth Green, author of The Modern Conductor.

Mr. Bordo takes great pride in the accomplishments and evolution of the Richmond Symphony.  The 07-08 season saw the release of the RSO’s first professional CD entitled An Evening with the RSO and Rich Ridenour.  He looks forward to leading the RSO to even greater achievements in the coming years in both the classical subscription concerts and the variety of pops, family and educational events now part of the season.