Meet The People Who Lead The Houston Civic Symphony

Dr. Brian Runnels, Music Director

Dr. Brian Runnels first conducted the Houston Civic Symphony in 1979 when he served as Apprentice Conductor with the orchestra under Robert Linder. Since that time, he has conducted orchestras, musical theatre, oratorio, and opera in Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, and Kentucky. He returned to Houston in 2005 to serve as Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at Houston Baptist University. After earning a degree in music education at that institution he went on to earn a masters degree in church music and choral conducting at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestra conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He has had additional conducting training at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and in the United States with Max Rudolf and Herbert Blomstedt. He has held teaching positions at Bemidji State University in Minnesota and Murray State University in Kentucky.

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Michael Alan Isadore, Assistant Conductor

Michael Alan Isadore came to Houston after graduating with Masters Degrees in conducting and clarinet performance from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, Conservatory of Music. Since moving to Houston, Isadore has built an important career teaching and conducting while maintaining his recognized performance ability on the clarinet. As a conductor, Isadore was appointed the Associate Conductor of the Houston Civic Symphony starting with the 2007 season, was guest conductor of the Brazosport Symphony Orchestra in 2003, The Civic Symphony of Houston in 2004 and the Houston Sinfonietta on two occasions in 2004 and 2005. Recently, Isadore joined the staff of the Houston Youth Symphony as one of their conductors. Isadore has been director of the Dulles High School Orchestra since 1999. Under his leadership, the Dulles Orchestra was chosen to play at the Midwest Convention in Chicago in December 2004 and was chosen as the Runner up for TMEA Honor Orchestra in 2005.

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