Meet the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra Leaders

Millikin Decatur Symphony Orchestra

Conductor Search

The Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra is currently in the process of hiring a new conductor. After a thoughtful search by the hiring search committee, three outstanding candidates have been selected: Silas Huff, Alison Gaines, and Matthew Sheppard. Full biographies of each candidate will be featured in the Symphony Orchestra Guild of Decatur’s Newsletter “Overture” prior to each performance. To receive a newsletter by mail, please take a moment to Join the Guild. 

Each candidate will conduct one of the first three Masterworks performances at Kirkland Fine Arts Center this season. These concerts provide a unique opportunity for our community to meet the candidates, experience their artistry, and see their vision for the orchestra come to life.

• October 11, 2025 – Masterworks I with Silas Huff
• November 8, 2025 – Masterworks II with Matthew Sheppard
• February 7, 2026 – Masterworks III with Alison Gaines

Each conductor will be doing a pre-concert talk at 6:30 pm as well as a meet and greet reception following the concert in the lobby which all are welcome to attend.

Shortly after the Masterworks III concert, on February 7, 2026, the committee will evaluate all feedback received about each finalist. From there, the committee will craft a recommendation to College of Fine Arts Dean Cameron Jackson outlining who the committee believes should be offered the position and their rationale for the recommendation. Dean Jackson will extend an offer for the position to the finalist he feels is most qualified and begin the negotiation process with them.  

🎶 Join us at these Masterworks concerts and be part of this exciting moment in the MDSO’s history.

Ga-Eun Kim

Concertmaster

Violinist Ga-Eun Kim, a native of South Korea, is the winner of the Nafzger Young Artists Audition, the University of Kansas Concerto Competition, the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, a scholarship recipient from the Kansas Music Club and Sigma Alpha Iota, and was selected as runner-up for the Krannert Center Debut Artist Series among others. She made her professional debut performing Sibelius violin concerto with Sinfonia da Camera for their 38th Season Premier Concert and performed Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto with the KU Symphony Orchestra at the Lied Center. She was invited to perform at the 70th Anniversary for Liberation Korea concert, supported by the Korean Cultural Foundation in Tampa, Florida. She also participated in masterclasses with renowned violinists such as Rachel Burton Pine, Jacques Israelievitch, Benny Kim, Gil Shaham, and Ilya Kaler. She has appeared at several music festivals in the United States and Asia, including the Great Mountain Music Festival, the Summit Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival as twice a full-scholarship recipient as well as serving as concertmaster in the Chautauqua Music Festival Orchestra. She has been a regular member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, playing under conductors including Riccardo Muti, Semyon Bychkov, and Sir Andrew Davis at the Chicago Symphony Center. In addition, she has been performing in the Champaign-Urbana Symphony, the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, the Sinfonia da Camera, and the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. As an active chamber musician, she was a member of the Crimson String Quartet; the quartet’s community outreach included performing for underrepresented audiences, teaching in local schools, and being broadcast on NPR. Her repertoire extends to new music and historical instrument performance, which has led her to regularly perform and lead in the Illinois Modern Ensemble and the University of Illinois’ period instrumental ensemble, Concerto Urbano, at the Krannert Arts Center and the Smith Memorial Hall.

GaEun studied as a full scholarship recipient at the University of Kansas and Northwestern University, where she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. She graduated from Yewon School and Seoul Arts High School in South Korea. She is a candidate for a Doctor of Musical Arts in Violin Performance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she worked as a Violin Teaching Assistant. She currently serves as the Adjunct Violin Professor at Millikin University and the concertmaster at the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra.