Larry Dissmore
Title: Professor of Music
Office: Music Department
Professional Information: The varied career of Dr. Larry Dissmore has included work as a conductor, violinist, and teacher. At Evangel University, he has served as the Director of Orchestras and as Professor of Violin and Viola since 1988. Under his leadership, the Evangel Concert Orchestra has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe and has recorded six compact discs. In addition, the Evangel University Orchestra has been recognized for its outstanding work through invited performances at the Missouri Music Educators Convention.
Since 2002, Dr. Dissmore has served as the Music Director of the Springfield Youth Symphony. Under his baton, this ensemble recently made its Carnegie Hall debut (June, 2007). The Youth Symphony has also performed for the Midwest Clinic and has toured within Missouri and Illinois. In addition to his work as a conductor at Evangel and with the Springfield Youth Symphony, Dr. Dissmore is frequently invited to serve as a guest conductor/clinician with orchestras in southwest Missouri and Northwest Arkansas.
As a violinist, Dr. Dissmore performs regularly with the Excelsis Trio and serves as the Principal Second Violinist with the Springfield (MO) Symphony. Past orchestral positions have included serving as Concertmaster of the Springfield Regional Opera Orchestra, as Concertmaster of the La Crosse (WI) Symphony, as First Violinist with the Wichita (KS) Symphony and Music Theatre Orchestras, and as First Violinist with the Rochester (MN) Symphony. Dr. Dissmore has appeared as soloist with orchestras in Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. In the commercial arena, Dr. Dissmore has performed with such varied entertainers as Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Price, Kenny Rogers, Leslie Uggams, Regis and Kathy Lee, John Tesch, Mel Torme, Daniel O’Donnell, and many others.
Dr. Dissmore’s scholarly work has centered on the orchestral music of the American composer, David Kraehenbuehl. Recently, he, along with other distinguished scholars from the United States and Great Britain, was invited by Yale University to present his most recent paper, “The Triad as Symbol in the Mature Orchestral Works of David Kraehenbuehl” at a one-day Kraehenbuehl Conference co-sponsored by the Yale Music Library and the David Kraehenbuehl Society. In addition to this presentation, Dr. Dissmore has also presented lecture concerts and other performances of Kraehenbuehl’s music in Missouri and Wisconsin.
Dr. Dissmore holds a BME degree from the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire (1983), an MM in Violin Performance from Wichita State University (1985), and a DMA in Orchestral Conducting from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri--Kansas City (2003) where he was a student of Dr. Robert Olson.
Job Responsibilities: Concert Orchestra, University Orchestra, Violin, Viola, Instrumental Conducting
Org Memberships: Music Educators National Conference, American String Teachers Association, International Conductors Guild, College Orchestra Directors Association, Music Teachers National Association, The David Kraehenbuehl Society, Christian Instrumentalists and Directors Association, Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Eta Sigman, Kappa Delta Pi
Started Work: 1988
Favorite Thing About Work: The Students!
Originally From: Kenosha, WI