The Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra returns to the Copernicus Center Annex for “Strings and Keys” a program featuring acclaimed keyboard soloist David Schrader, music of Jaroslaw Golembiowski, and students from the Chicago Area Music Teachers Association. Philip Simmons will conduct this spring concert for all ages.

“Strings and Keys” is the latest collaboration between the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra and Chicago Chopin Society. Previous concerts at Copernicus have included programs at Taste of Polonia, Christmas Spectaculars, and events honoring Polish culture and heritage. The May 3 concert, celebrating Polish Constitution Day, is presented by the Chicago Chopin Society and American Music Festivals. Special thanks to Principal Sponsor the Polish National Alliance.

Concert Program:

Performances by students of teachers from the Chicago Area Music Teachers Association

Brief Intermission

Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra
Intermezzo No. 1 Georges Enescu
Piano Concerto No. 14 in A Major Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
David Schrader, piano
Miniatures for String Orchestra (from Piano Notes), world premiere
Jaroslaw Golembiowski
Never Ending River
Sad AI
Bells of the Sorrows
Rapids

About the Artists

The Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra is an award-winning professional ensemble that performs regularly in Lincolnwood and throughout Chicagoland. 2025-26 is the 35th Anniversary Season of the LCO. The orchestra, as part of American Music Festivals mission of promoting cultural exchange, reaches our to diverse communities to bring classical music to a wide variety of audiences and venues.

Piano soloist David Schrader is an acclaimed harpsichordist, organist, and fortepianist. He earned a Bachelor of Music in piano and organ from the University of Colorado in 1974, followed by a Master of Music with High Distinction in 1975 and a Doctor of Music in organ in 1987 from Indiana University. Schrader studied under prominent teachers including Storm Bull, Abbey Simon, Oswald Ragatz, Anthony Newman, and Everett Jay Hilty. He served as a professor at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts for over 35 years, teaching music history, performance, and conducting chamber ensembles. Schrader performed extensively with major orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and Colorado Symphony Orchestra, and appeared at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists. He has also performed at festivals including the Ravinia Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and Boston Early Music Festival. Schrader was the organist at Church of the Ascension in Chicago for 35 years. This concert will be his third solo appearance with the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra.

Composer Jaroslaw Golembiowski founded and leads the Chicago Chopin Society, promoting Polish and American music in the U.S. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts from Fryderyk Chopin University and two Master’s degrees from Karol Lipiński Academy. With over 300 compositions honoring Polish heritage, Golembiowski has received awards such as Outstanding Pole Abroad (2016) and ACPC Achievement Award (2017). His music is performed worldwide, and he regularly gives lectures about Polish music and his compositions. In 2018, he released “Adoration” with violinist Krzysztof Zimowski. In 2022, his orchestral work “Polonaise 2021” premiered at “A Polonia Potpourri,” alongside his orchestration of “Triumphal March of Haller.” He remains active in performance, composition, and lectures. His works are regularly performed by the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, over the last 12 years he has 10 compositions premiered by the ensemble.

Conductor Philip Simmons has conducted in twenty-two countries, performing at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, the Musikverein, and the Great Halls of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia. As Artistic Director of American Music Festivals, he serves as Music Director of the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra and oversees the initiative New Frontiers in Hawaiian Music. Mr. Simmons has conducted extensively throughout Eastern Europe and has held the positions of Associate Conductor of the Orchestra of the Hermitage Theater and Principal Guest Conductor of the Sochi Symphony Orchestra. As a guest of the U.S. Embassy in Minsk in 2012, he directed the Belarusian premiere of West Side Story. He has also led cultural exchange programs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Japan, and Mexico. In Chicago, Mr. Simmons’ previous conducting positions include Music Director of the Lake Shore Symphony and Orchestra Director at Northeastern Illinois University and Lake Forest Academy. He currently resides in Honolulu, Hawaii, with his wife, Jennifer, and their fifteen-year-old daughter, Penelope, an aspiring singer, actress, and dancer.