Richard and Michelle Hynson, Thiensville, are the 2023 CIVIC MUSIC Lifetime Achievement in Music award recipients. Along with other CITIZEN AWARD recipients, Judy and Gary Jorgensen, Distinguished Citizen – Patrons of the Arts, and Charles Q. Sullivan, Distinguished Citizen – Professional in the Arts, they will be celebrated at CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC for their exceptional service in the musical development of our community. CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC is an event, set for Tuesday, May 16, 2023, that will also feature some great live music, food and fun.  Funds raised will support CIVIC MUSIC MKE’s Youth Music programming.  The event takes place in Milwaukee’s Third Ward at The Ivy House, 906 S. Barclay Street where the fun will begin at 6:30 PM.  For tickets, visit www.civicmusicmilwaukee.org.

 

2023 CIVIC MUSIC LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC

Richard and Michelle Hynson, who reside in Thiensville, are well known in the Milwaukee community for their work with Bel Canto Chorus. Richard Hynson marks this season as his 35th year as Music Director of the Bel Canto Chorus. Additionally, Hynson is in his sixth season as Music Director of the Kettle Moraine Symphony Orchestra.  He has contributed to the Greater Milwaukee community as conductor, composer, and teacher for more than thirty years.  From 2006 to 2014, Hynson served as Music Director of the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra.  He was Music Director and Conductor of the Waukegan (IL) Symphony Orchestra from 1990 to 1998.  Hynson is in demand as a guest conductor; past engagements include performances with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Skylight Music Theatre, and the Racine, Sheboygan, and Waukesha Symphony Orchestras. Hynson has conducted at Carnegie Hall in New York City, where he led a large national festival chorus and orchestra in Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem. 

 

In addition to his work as conductor and educator, Hynson is a composer.  He has written a substantial body of choral, vocal, and instrumental works, many of which have been published.  The U.S. Air Force Singing Sergeants have frequently performed Hynson’s In the Midst of Life, composed in response to the events of Sept. 11. 

 

A native of Washington, DC, Hynson studied orchestral conducting with Gerhard Samuel and Bernard Rubenstein.  He participated in conducting workshops led by Daniel Barenboim, Gustav Meier, and Otto-Werner Mueller. 

He graduated from the DePauw University Music School (IN) and Westminster Choir College (NJ), completing a DMA in choral conducting at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati in 1986.

 

Michelle Hynson has performed with Bel Canto Chorus since 1989 as assistant conductor, accompanist, and soprano section leader. She has been active in Milwaukee as a pianist, soprano soloist, accompanist, composer, church musician, and voice teacher since 1981. She has performed extensively throughout the Midwest as a solo artist, singing with a wide range of notables, including Luciano Pavarotti and Mandy Patinkin.

As a concert pianist, Hynson has performed in concert with area orchestras ranging from the Homestead Chamber Orchestra to the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra. Hynson was featured as performer and composer/arranger throughout the 2019-20 season as Bel Canto celebrated her 30^th season.  Hynson taught voice privately to hundreds of students, both young and old, for over 40 years in her studio in Thiensville.  Many of her high school students went on to participate in vocal and opera programs at prestigious colleges and universities all over the country, some of whom perform and teach professionally today.

Over 4,000 Wisconsin students attended performances of her two original music theater compositions, Not Me, A.D., focusing on drug and alcohol prevention, and It’s Cool To Be Nice, dealing with middle-school social issues. She has published numerous choral arrangements through Hal Leonard, Shawnee Press, and Lorenz Publishing Company.
Committed to supporting developing artists, Ms. Hynson has been the staff accompanist for the Homestead High School choral program since 2001, and regularly accompanies a large number of student instrumentalists and singers. 

 

As an involved community member, Hynson volunteered at the YMCA for over 25 years, working with people stricken with Multiple Sclerosis. She recently completed her sixth 3-Day 60-Mile Komen Breast Cancer Walk, and is a vocal advocate for both MS and breast cancer research.

 

DISTINGUISHED CITIZENS – PATRON OF THE ARTS

Together and separately, Judy and Gary Jorgensen, who have resided in Oconomowoc and recently moved to Milwaukee, have a made an indelible impact on the Greater Milwaukee area and beyond.

 

Gary Jorgensen is the Chairman of VJS Construction Services. For over four decades, Gary has been involved in hundreds of construction projects that have shaped the Greater Milwaukee region. He has been a leading voice in the construction industry itself over that time. His passion lies beyond the brick and mortar. He is driven to create distinctive buildings that truly impact people’s lives, and his leadership can be found in such places as Mount Mary University, St. John’s on the Lake, Rogers Memorial Hospital and United Community Center, among many others. Judy spent 25 years holding various positions at Waukesha County Technical College, retiring as Dean of Academic Support.

 

The list of leadership and support to the non-profit community for both is lengthy. Gary has been the board president or chair of Neighborhood House, Mount Mary University, Calvary Lutheran Church in Brookfield, and the Milwaukee Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, where he received a Distinguished Service Award from that chapter, as well as awarded President of the Year by the national organization. He has also served on the Executive

 

Committee at Rogers Memorial Hospital. While living in Clinton, IA, Gary was Disaster Chairman of the Red Cross, president of the Kiwanis Club, and named Man of the Year by the radio station KROS.  Judy has been a board member of the Milwaukee REP, Milwaukee Art Museum, Collier County (FL) Foundation, and Fresh Start Fund for Abused Women. In addition, she has served as chair and board member of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Ten Chimneys Foundation, Women’s Philanthropy Council of UW-Madison and board member and the first woman board chair of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. She was one of the 2011 Milwaukee Business Journal’s Women of Influence and the Waukesha County Women’s and Girl’s Fund 1980 Woman of Distinction.

 

In 2018, Gary received the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Frank Kirkpatrick Award, which recognizes individuals whose efforts have led to significant physical improvements in the community. 

 

Gary was a member of the original steering committee formed to build the concept of what is now the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, Brookfield from the ground up.  And then Gary’s company, VJS Construction Services, literally built the Center.  Judy became involved as well and has served as a board member.

 

DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN – PROFESSIONAL IN THE ARTS

CHARLES Q. SULLIVAN

Charles Q. Sullivan, who resides in Milwaukee, has been active in Milwaukee’s cultural scene since founding the Sullivan Chamber Ensemble (later the Sullivan Ensemble) in 1971. This semiprofessional collective of singers and instrumentalists presented more than 200 performances of over 120 programs of choral and orchestral music ranging from chant to avant-garde, in performances ranging from solo recitals and chamber operas to large choral and orchestral works before disbanding in 1982.  Among its honors, the Ensemble was invited to perform for the National Convention of the American Choral Directors in 1978, the year before Sullivan was named the Milwaukee Jaycee’s Outstanding Young Artist of the Year.

 

Sullivan got his start as a conductor and organist while still in grade school in his hometown of Kendall, Wisconsin. Since that early start, he has continued to serve in music and liturgy roles in churches of multiple religious traditions in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Washington, and Massachusetts, including diocesan leadership positions in Minnesota and Ohio. He is currently continuing a long-term appointment as Chapel Musician at St. John’s On The Lake in Milwaukee.

 

From 1985-1992 he was Executive Producer/Director of the highly successful liturgical drama productions at The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, presenting multiple sold-out staged performances of the Medieval Play of Daniel and Britten’s St. Nicolas. In 1999, he took on the leadership of Early Music Now serving as Executive and Artistic Director until his retirement from that organization in 2017, he successfully expanded the scope of the organization’s programming, outreach, organizational stability, and international recognition.  Since retirement from Early Music Now, he has performed regularly at Saint John’s On The Lake, a senior residence community, as Chapel Musician, and frequent soloist and music historian.

 

CIVIC MUSIC MKE has presented Distinguished Citizen awards since 1954. That first award recipient was Liborious Semmann, who founded the Civic Music Association of Milwaukee in 1918. He was the Dean of the College of Music at Marquette University.  It was initially a membership organization funded by member dues and support from the City of Milwaukee.  Now in its 104^th season, CIVIC MUSIC MKE supports music education and provides performance opportunities for young musicians in the greater Milwaukee area and honors their teachers who provide them with inspiration and citizens who keep music alive and thriving in the Greater Milwaukee area. Through instruction, coaching, scholarships, performance opportunities and award programs, CIVIC MUSIC MKE helps creative young people realize their dreams.