Music Director and Conductor

Catherine Sailer is Director of Choral Studies at the University of Denver, professor of conducting, and conductor of the Lamont Chorale. She is also Associate Conductor of the Colorado Ballet Orchestra, Music Director of the Littleton Symphony Orchestra and conductor of The Evans Choir. Sailer has collaborated as chorus master with conductors Branwell Tovey, Matthew Halls, Ed Spanjaard, Eric Whitacre, Victor Yampolsky, Stephen Alltop, David Amram, Tan Dun, David Fanshawe, Yannick Nezet- Segun, Robert Spano, Hans Graf, Jeff Tyzick, and Marin Alsop. Other conducting credits include Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Santa Fe Symphony, Central City Opera, Beijing Symphony, National Opera of China, Cabrillo Contemporary Music Festival Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Madrigal Vocale, Rhineland-Pfalz International Choir, Shanghai International Choral League, Lunds Akademiska Kor, Vox Anima London, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, and Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. Sailer conducts festivals and masterclasses all around the world, including festivals in Carnegie Hall, England, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, and China and many honor choirs and workshops across the United States.

Honors and Awards include the Dale Warland Award for choral performance and Chorus America’s Robert Shaw Fellowship Award, first place in the ACDA Conducting Competition, and a special citation in the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music. Under her direction, Lamont Chorale won first place in the American Prize for choral performance and second place in the International Barenreiter Choral Competition.

Sailer received her Doctor of Music with honors in conducting from Northwestern University. Further were with Helmuth Rilling (Oregon Bach Festival), Leonard Slatkin (National Conducting Institute and National Symphony Orchestra), and as conducting fellow with the Dale Warland Singers, Kansas City Chorale, Chicago Symphony Chorus, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. For the American Choral Director’s Association, she served as state president, Collegiate Repertoire/Resource Chair, Conducting Competition Chair, and International Choral Exchange Program representative to China.

Catherine Sailer joined the Littleton Symphony Orchestra as Music Director and Conductor in August 2022.

Concertmaster

Please join the Littleton Symphony Orchestra in welcoming our new concertmaster, Luyan Gao. Luyan graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, University of Wyoming, University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Illinois. At Illinois University she received her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees.

Luyan has played with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Sinfornia De Camera, Champaign-Urbana Orchestra, and locally with the Fort Collins and Cheyenne Symphony orchestras.



Conductor Emeritus

Jurgen de Lemos, a native of Leipzig, Germany, has been a leader in the Denver music community since joining the Denver Symphony Orchestra in 1968 as Principal Cellist. He has been the Principal Cellist of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra since its inception. A summa cum laude graduate in cello and composition from Hochschule fur Musik in Munich, Germany, and Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, France, he has studied with André Navarra, Pablo Casals, Leonard Rose, Gregor Piatigorsky and Maurice Eisenberg. He was the youngest member of the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein from 1964-68, and a winner of the Baglioni, Casals and Tchaikovsky international competitions. He also served as co-principal cellist under James Levine and Daniel Barenboim at the 1982 Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, and toured three continents with the Pablo Casals Trio. Mr. de Lemos was a Professor of cello and chamber music at the University of Colorado for 23 years. His conducting skills were refined under the tutelage of Adolph Mennerich in Munich, Jean Morel and Jorge Mester at Juilliard, and Walter Susskind (Aspen). He was founder and Music Director of the Arvada Center Orchestra from 1979-86, a past conductor of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra, and conductor of the Boulder Youth Symphony for eight years. He has also conducted at Aspen and the Siena, Italy Contemporary Music Festival. Mr. de Lemos has also guest conducted for the Fort Collins Symphony, The Boulder Philharmonic, The Topengo Symphony and the Grand Junction Symphony. Mr. de Lemos has conducted the Littleton Symphony Orchestra since the 1990 season.

Mr. de Lemos retired from the LSO Music Director post at the end of 2021.

More Information



Board of Directors and Volunteers

Board of Directors
Nancy Oberg President
Sudy Opsahl Vice-President
Dave Lichtenstein Secretary
Kristal Suter Treasurer
Christie Possehl Board Member
Cynthia Davis Board Member
Charlie Snyder Board Member
Doug Moran Board Member
Gayle Schurz Board Member
Paul Schmidt Board Member
Heath Kinsland Board Member
Staff & Volunteers
Al MacDonald Executive Director
Dale Downing Personnel Manager
Kathy MacNary Librarian
Karen Nelson Publicity
Paul Schmidt Social Media
Neil Gillette Stage Manager
Liz Ohsiek Website Design and Maintenance

Our Vision

Performances that elevate the human spirit.

Core Values

  • Engage and educate musicians and audiences with exceptional performances.
  • Inspire and challenge dedicated, talented musicians.
  • Embrace and promote diversity and inclusivity within our community and programs.
  • The Orchestra

    Violin 1
    Luyan Gao Concertmaster
    Daniel McDonald Assistant Concertmaster
    Christina Clarke
    Julie Dexter
    Beth Greene
    Judy Grosswiler
    Kate Knowles
    Kari Shelley
    Kristal Suter
    Cindy Wander Fixed 3rd Chair
    Gloria Wu


    Violin 2
    David Cher Principal
    VACANT  Asst. Principal
    Cynthia Davis
    Judy Elgethun
    Heather Graddy
    Bobbi Jones
    Kevin Lash
    Kristiana Nelson
    Liz Ohsiek
    Christie Possehl
    Kimberly Rieniets
    Gayle Schurz
    Oressa Wise


    Viola
    Loryn Gorsett Principal
    Karen Nelson Asst. Principal
    Neil Gillette
    Lav Huskey
    Kathy MacNary
    Carin Ramirez


    Cello
    Tara McCrory Principal
    Jim Todd Asst. Principal
    Carol Loadman-Copeland
    Andrea Meyers
    Abigail Nelson
    Kathy Newtson
    Nicole Pierson
    Richard Spritz


    Bass
    Tom Virtue Principal
    Josh Filley


    Flute
    Rosanne Sterne Principal
    Jayne Copland
    Kris Gensemer


    Piccolo
    Kris Gensemer


    Clarinet
    Harry Grainger Principal
    Joel Lusby


    Oboe
    Dave Lichtenstein Principal
    Bryan M. Walker Sabbatical


    English Horn
    Bryan M. Walker


    Bassoon
    Dale H Downing Principal
    Doug Moran


    Horn
    Janice Baugh Principal
    Joni Anderson 2nd Horn
    Brad Baker 3rd Horn
    Kristen Lega 4th Horn


    Trumpet
    Rick Pelletier Principal
    Leonard Fahrni
    Jonathan Weedman


    Trombone
    John Sandusky Principal
    Al MacDonald Bass
    Doug Tidaback


    Tuba
    Tim Hanna


    Timpani
    Tony Estrada Principal


    Percussion
    Tony Estrada Principal
    Jakob Garcia
    Bill Mesa
    Eric Osborne
    Braden Sapp
    Paul Schmidt
    Alexandra (Alex) Sylvester