Jennifer Schack - Executive Director
Jennifer Schack has been the Executive Director of American Music Festivals since its inception. A nonprofit career professional, she has held leadership positions in Development and Arts Administration for nearly 25 years. Jennifer has a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Administration from North Park University. She works closely with her husband, conductor Philip Simmons, overseeing all activities of American Music Festivals programming.
Ilya Levinson - Composer in Residence
Ilya Levinson graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory, where he studied composition with Alexander Pirumov and orchestration with Edison Denisov. In 1988, he completed a Ph.D. in Composition at the University of Chicago, studying with Ralph Shapey, Shulamit Ran, John Eaton, and Howard Sandroff. Mr. Levinson is Assistant Professor at the Music Department of Columbia College Chicago and Music Director and Co-Founder of the New Budapest Orpheum Society. His music has been performed on American Music Festivals' programs in Chicago, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Prague, Sarajevo, and Hawaii.
Jaroslaw Golembiowski - Program Manager
Jaroslaw Golembiowski is President and Founder of the Chicago Chopin Society. The composer/pianist is one of the leading Polish-American musicians in the USA, recently receiving the Cultural Achievement Award 2017 from the American Council for Polish Culture. His music has been performed throughout North America and Europe, and he recently finished his fifth CD recording “Adorations,” with violinist Krzysztof Zimowski. Mr. Golembiowski helps oversees logistics for American Music Festivals activities in Chicago.
Anatol Lysenka - Associate Conductor
Anatol Lysenka is Founder and Music Director of the Tutti Chamber Orchestra and for years served as Principal Conductor of the North Shore Chamber Orchestra. Born in Belarus, he earned his Master’s Degrees in conducting at the Belarusian Music Conservatory of Music and Moscow State Conservatory. Mr. Lysenka was awarded first prize for Symphony Orchestra Conducting in the Belarus Republic Contest in 1987. As Associate Conductor of American Music Festivals he has conducted the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, Glenview Symphony, and Community Players Orchestra, and has arranged numerous new orchestral works for performance.
Board Member Jonathan Moore, a native of Lake County, Illinois, was commissioned into the U.S. Foreign Service in 1990 and retired from that career in July. As a U.S. diplomat, he worked in the Balkans, the Baltics, the former Soviet Union, and southern Africa. Ambassador Moore also held fellowships in the U.S. Congress and at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
At the State Department, he played a senior role on issues including the United Nations, health, science, and space diplomacy. He has been a fan of the American Music Festivals family for some time, attending concerts throughout Chicagoland and hosting Maestro Simmons in Belarus.
Vocalist Samir Hadzalic has been a passionate advocate for Bosnian culture for many years. With American Music Festivals he has initiated a number of concert collaborations that have helped bring the community together. He has brought new works and arrangements of Bosnian music to the orchestra, and as a performer has helped promote the Sevdah tradition. Samir was Editor and Host of “Radio Voice of the Bosniaks Chicago,” Event Organizer for a “Celebration of 100 years of Bosniaks in the USA 2005,” and led the cause and fundraising for the reopening of the Sultan Mahmud I Mosque in his hometown city of Prijedor. He is currently writing a book about memories from his childhood, setting some to music. His unique vocal style, in the old improvised folk style, is an important link to the traditions of the past.
