SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music Marks LoKo Arts Festival with ‘Joy!’ at May 1 Concert
Maestro Miguel Harth-Bedoya will visit SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music for a residency and a special Spring Festival Concert on Friday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m., in Hosmer Hall
SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music will welcome a distinguished visiting conductor and present a special Spring Festival Concert during the 2026 LoKo Arts Festival.
The renowned choral composer and conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya will lead the Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra in the LoKo performance on Friday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m., in the Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall.
The public is also invited to a Q&A/pre-concert talk led by Harth-Bedoya, also on May 1, from 3 to 3:50 p.m., in the Proscenium Theater, located in the Performing Arts Center.
The orchestra will open the performance with the overture to Leonard Bernstein’s operetta, “Candide,” followed by “Fiesta! Four Pop Dances for Orchestra” by Jimmy Lopez, an eclectic work that ends with a blazing “Techno” finale. In addition to performing other works, the Crane Chorus will join the orchestra onstage for an epic close, presenting the final moment from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the “Ode to Joy.” Performing alongside the student musicians, four faculty soloists will be featured, including Lorraine Yaros-Sullivan (mezzo-soprano), Nathan Strock (bass-baritone), Kathleen Miller (soprano) and Christopher MacRae (tenor).
The Crane Symphony Orchestra and Crane Chorus have been preparing for the major performance under the direction of Professor Michael Colburn, Dr. Nils Klykken, and Dr. P. Wesley Roy.
Maestro Harth-Bedoya will complete a residency on campus in the week leading up to the performance, as the 2026 Dorothy Albrecht Gregory Visiting Conductor. The Crane School is excited to be working with Maestro Harth-Bedoya, who was recently appointed as Distinguished Director of Orchestras and Professor of Conducting at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, a position previously held by Larry Rachleff when he was the Gregory Visiting Conductor in 2014.
“I am delighted to bring Miguel Harth-Bedoya to Potsdam for the 2026 Crane Spring Festival. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Miguel, many years ago, and I feel the combination of conducting expertise and teaching experience he brings is ideal for the Dorothy Gregory residency. I am sure that having him here for the entire week leading up to the concert, working with our students, will be extremely meaningful and rewarding for them,” said Crane School of Music Interim Dean Dr. David Heuser.
The concert will close out the LoKo Arts Festival, including an array of masterclasses and activities at The Crane School of Music. All events are free, and the public is invited to attend. For a full schedule, visit www.potsdam.edu/loko.
This performance will be broadcast live on the Crane School of Music YouTube channel at the concert time. To view the program and see other upcoming streaming performances, visit www.potsdam.edu/cranelive.
About the guest conductor:
Miguel Harth-Bedoya is an Emmy Award-winning and Grammy-nominated conductor with 35 years of professional conducting experience and a deep commitment to passing his experience on to the next generation of musicians. In addition to college teaching, he also established The Conducting Institute, where students from high school age and up can learn the fundamentals of conducting. 
Harth-Bedoya has led a number of orchestras, serving tenures as chief conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and as music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, where he now holds the title of music director laureate. Previously, he has held music director positions with the Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand, the Eugene Symphony in Oregon, the Lima Philharmonic Orchestra in Peru, and the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall, and he has an extensive list of guest conducting appearances around the world.
Born and raised in Peru, Harth-Bedoya received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and his Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, both under the guidance of Otto-Werner Mueller. He also studied with Seiji Ozawa and Gustav Meier at Tanglewood, and was awarded an Honorary Doctor in Music degree from Texas Christian University.
The partnership of the Dorothy Albrecht Gregory Visiting Conductor Fund, established by Dorothy Albrecht Gregory ’61, and the Adeline Maltzan Crane Chorus Performance Tour Fund, established by Dr. Gary C. Jaquay ’67, brings distinguished conductors to The Crane School of Music for festival performances by the Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra, and travel funds for the Crane Chorus to perform at major venues outside of Potsdam.
LoKo Arts is made possible by the generosity and artistic vision of Kathryn Kofoed Lougheed ’54 and Donald Lougheed (Hon. ’54). To learn more, visit www.potsdam.edu/loko.
About The Crane School of Music:
Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York’s only All-Steinway institution and was one of the first Yamaha Institutions of Excellence. For more information, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.
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