Our Mission
The Austin Civic Orchestra fosters the transformative power of orchestral music through diverse, accessible concerts and innovative educational programs for the Greater Austin community.
The Austin Civic Orchestra (ACO) is a non-profit civic organization that has been around since 1977. The ACO is devoted to bringing high quality music to the community and providing a musical outlet for professional and non-professional musicians alike. The ACO performs six to eight concerts each season, all of which offer programming to suit a wide variety of musical tastes, from traditional classics to pops and most everything in between. Presented at assorted convenient locations in the Austin area, the relaxed atmosphere and affordable cost have proven appealing to this community. Our educational programs for youth and adults foster the appreciation of classical music.
Interested in the ACO? There are many different opportunities to get involved and support our mission. Find out more today!
Interim Music Director
Dr. W.P. Sterneman III
Dr. Gus, as he is affectionately known, earned his Doctorate in Opera/Musical Theatre Conducting at Arizona State University where his dissertation focused on Benjamin Britten as a conductor and musical interpretation and his Master’s degree at Butler University in Indianapolis with a double major in Instrumental Conducting and Music History. He also holds a Bachelors of Music in Music Theory from Southwestern University.
Dr. Gus has been on staff with the Austin Civic Orchestra since 2014, currently serving as their Interim Music Director, having also previously performed with the ensemble in the horn section from 2002-2007. In addition to conducting the educational concert, Link-Up, and the Austin ISD Music Memory Contest, Dr. Gus leads the annual outdoor Pops Concert in June and the Great Masked Waltz Ball for the University of Texas Ballroom Dance Society.
Dr. Gus joined the staff of Abiding Love Lutheran Church in South Austin in 2021 as their Director of Worship and Arts, overseeing all aspects of the music program, worship planning, and media technology. In addition to leading the Sanctuary Choir in weekly service, Dr. Gus occasionally joins the band Mixed Blessings on guitar, and directs the biannual Cantata Choir and Orchestra, recently having led Handel’s Messiah and John Rutter’s Requiem.
From 2018-2024, Dr. Gus served as the Music Director for the Heart of Texas Chorus, an acappella barbershop chorus in San Marcos, and worked as an active clinician with the Barbershop Harmony Society. His passion for stagecraft can also be seen on display with Austin’s One Ounce Opera as their Technical Director.
Dr. Gus has conducted a variety of ensembles from small chamber groups to full size orchestras, and has worked with ensembles from middle school through collegiate, amateur, and professional organizations on three continents. He has conducted orchestras, opera and musical theatre productions, wind ensembles, and choral organizations. In 2013, he received an AriZoni Award nomination for Best Music Direction in a Non-Contract Theatre for Little Women: The Broadway Musical at Arizona State University.
A strong advocate for technology in the classroom, Dr. Gus has taught music technology courses at multiple universities, and has been actively involved with the Association for Technology in Music Instruction (ATMI), where he presented a paper on OpenSource music notation software in 2010.
Dr. Gus spends his free time playing tabletop games with his wife, teaching his two children the finer points of musical theatre, and practicing his passion for lutherie and painting miniatures. He feels Menotti is the epitome of English text setting, but always comes home to Beethoven. He enjoys a good pun, but loves a really bad one. And coffee. Lots of coffee.
Music Director Emeritus
Dr. Lois Ferrari
Italian-American conductor Lois Ferrari served as Music Director of the Austin Civic Orchestra from 2002-2023. During her tenure, Maestra Ferrari was thrice awarded 2nd place for the American Prize in community orchestra conducting. She was also honored as the first woman to conduct an orchestral performance at the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin. Over the years, Dr. Ferrari brought many celebrated guest artists to the ACO stage, including David Amram, Peter Bay, Lauren Lane, Jessica Mathaes, Anton Nel, and Michelle Schumann.
Dr. Ferrari was also intimately involved with nurturing future virtuosi through the ACO’s Pearl Amster Youth Concerto Festival and Chamber Music Program, and with the Texas Rising Stars Concert, presented in collaboration with the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas.
An enthusiastic champion of new music, Dr. Ferrari founded the ACO Composition Contest and is proud to have premiered nearly thirty works during the course of her career. One such work was nominated by the Austin Critics’ Table for Best Symphonic Performance. In addition, she and the ACO were commissioned by composer David Amram to present the Texas premiere of his Symphonic Variations on a Song by Woody Guthrie.
Dr. Ferrari is also Professor Emeritus of Music at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas and was a member of its distinguished faculty for nearly 30 years. During that time she conducted the SU Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Pit Orchestra. She also taught conducting courses and served as host and clinician for the SU Conductors’ Institute in Instrumental conducting.
Maestra Ferrari has served as clinician and guest conductor for all-state, all-county, all-region, and all-city ensembles, from Texas to New York and Washington states. She has also taught music in New York state, for the Levittown and Marcus Whitman public schools.
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where she received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting, Dr. Ferrari received a full doctoral fellowship and was appointed Associate Conductor of the renowned Eastman Wind Ensemble. She also earned a Master of Music degree in conducting and a Bachelor of Music degree with a double major in flute performance and music education from the Ithaca College School of Music. Her principal teachers were Donald Hunsberger, Rodney Winther, David Berman, David Effron, Pamela Gearhart, Larry Doebler, and Donald Neuen.
Originally from Deer Park, NY, Dr. Ferrari now resides in Lewes, Delaware with her husband, Dr. Paul Gaffney, and their black sister kitties, Hilda and Zelda. Her extra-musical interests include cooking, pickleball, and beach strolling.
Strings
Violin I
Carolyn Richards-Chacon | Concertmaster
Samantha Chavira
Raymond D’Alessio
Erika Elder
Raymundo Garcia
Laura Jacobs
Vivian Kwong
Alissa Madsen
Leianna Pavon
Lynn Petro
Dawn Smith
Sol Swords
Sarah Uy
Violin II
Dario Landazuri | Principal
Kyle Bryson | Assistant
Colin Bryson
Deborah Byers
Alessandro Cavedoni Villegas
Ferris Duhon
Andrew Goolsbee
Carrie Houston
Adam Montenegro
Evan Nave
Lydia Oates
Ellen Williams
Viola
Eugene Gott | Principal
Brett Osburn | Assistant
Justin Anderson
David Kaplan
Mark Leger
Lizi Li
Jared Lomangino
Art Monzingo
Iona Olive
Dean Roberts
William Satterfield
Amanda Tofflemire
Ronda von Sehrwald
Paul Zagieboylo
Cello
Jarrod Tuikka | Principal
Tani Barr | Assistant
Ben Bachmeier
Sarah Crawford
Brigit Dever
Claire Dittelmier
Jacob Lambert
Caroline Magee
Man May
Henry Nachman
Meagan O’Neal
Nicole Parillo
Caleb Sebolt
Isabel Tweraser
John Whitney
Double Bass
James Sproat | Principal
Louis Handy
Garrett Jaynes
Alana Lopez
Noah Miller
Harp
Lisa Lamb | Principal
Woodwinds
Flute
Marcia Gillespie-Norder | Principal
Mattie Baker
Brian Teran, Piccolo
Oboe
Madeline Warner | Principal
Margie Yankeelov
Trish Olives, English Horn
Clarinet
YuHua Oliphint | Principal
Laura Gorman
Eric Chen, Bass Clarinet
Bassoon
Amy Crandell | Principal
Matthew Emanuelson
Melissa Vauk
Brass
French Horn
Christine Simpson | Principal
Alyssa Collins
Kathy Nolen
Denise Stiglich
Trumpet
Jose Yznaga | Principal
Randy Howard
Rick Kutcher
Trombone
Ross Ganske | Principal
Jesse Nolen
Robert Tung (Bass)
Tuba
Ethyn Evans | Principal
Percussion and Piano
Percussion
Paul Robertson | Principal
Matt Garcia
Kyle Garza
Jaxon Jedel
Collin Tracy
Piano
Lan-Thach Kratzke | Principal
Christina Fallows
Timpani
Alan Smith | Principal