Brian Dollinger is continuing in his sixth season as the Music Director of the Muscatine Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Music Director and Conductor for the Bradley Symphony Orchestra and Double Bass instructor at Bradley University in Peoria, IL and continues into his third season as the Music Director and Conductor for the Clinton Symphony (IA). He was the Assistant Conductor of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra and Ball State University Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the East Central Indiana Youth Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Dollinger has conducted the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, the Marion Philharmonic Orchestra (IN), and the Muncie Symphony Orchestra (IN).

Mr. Dollinger is a frequent conductor and clinician for various youth string festivals, competitions, and workshops. He continues to be a frequent guest/cover conductor for the Central Illinois Youth Symphony organization. In November of 2008, Mr. Dollinger is the Guest Conductor for the Illinois Music Educators Association District Festival for Districts 2 & 8. The day-long event, held on the campus of Northern Illinois University, will be Mr. Dollinger’s first appearance for the IMEA.

He has been a participant at various conducting workshops which were organized by the American Symphony Orchestra League, the International Academy of Advanced Conducting, and the Conductor’s Institute of South Carolina, among others. He has studied conducting with Leonid Korchmar, Oleg Proskurnya, Adrian Gnam, Manuel Alvarez, Larry Rachleff, Glenn Block, Leonard Atherton, and Tomasz Golka.

In 2008, Mr. Dollinger traveled to Lomza, Poland to appear as guest conductor of the Lomzynska Orkiestra Kameralna (Lomza Chamber Orchestra). The capacity audience was entertained by music of Haydn, Wagner, and various works for saxophone and orchestra. Dariusz Samol was the featured instrumental guest artist for this performance that also included numerous students from his week-long masterclass session. Mr. Dollinger has been invited back to conduct more programs in Poland.

This year, Mr. Dollinger is expecting to finish his Doctor of Arts degree at Ball State University with a primary emphasis in orchestral conducting and a secondary emphasis in double bass performance. Mr. Dollinger graduated from Illinois State University in 1994 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Double Bass Performance and in 2000 with a Master of Music Degree in Orchestral Conducting and Double Bass Performance. Mr. Dollinger was the recipient of three academic awards from Ball State University; “Outstanding Graduate Student” in the School of Music, a “Certificate of Achievement” from the Graduate School at Ball State, and an inductee into the Phi Kappa Lambda Honor Society.

Mr. Dollinger is the proud father of nine-year old daughter, Arianna Rose, who is in her fourth year of taking violin lessons.