Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's Richard Spero is Named 2011 Volunteer of the Year by the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County

Baltimore, Md. (September 27, 2011) - The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's Community Liaison Richard (Dick) Spero has been selected as 2011 Volunteer of the Year in the Montgomery County Executive's Awards for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities.  Spero has served as a full-time, unpaid employee for the BSO at Strathmore for over five years. In addition to acting as ambassador to BSO donors, patrons, and audience members, Dick Spero has played a pivotal role in educational outreach initiatives such as the BSO on the Go program, which brings interactive music education workshops to local schools and reaches approximately 2,000 Montgomery County students annually.

The Awards for Excellence are the most prestigious honors conferred by the County. Vice President of BSO at Strathmore Deborah Broder noted Spero's commitment to the arts, saying, "Dick's generosity and dedicated service to the BSO is an excellent example of a model skill-based volunteer…. He is a treasure to the BSO that is unparalleled."  The 2011 Executive's Awards ceremony is set to take place Monday, October 24th at 7 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore.  This event is free and open to the public.

About the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
The Grammy Award-winning Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is internationally recognized as having achieved a preeminent place among the world's most important orchestras. Acclaimed for its enduring pursuit of artistic excellence, the BSO has attracted a devoted national and international following while maintaining deep bonds throughout Maryland with innovative education and community outreach initiatives.

The BSO made musical history in September 2007, when Maestra Marin Alsop led her inaugural concerts as the Orchestra's 12th music director, making her the first woman to head a major American orchestra. With her highly praised artistic vision, her dynamic musicianship and her commitment to accessibility in classical music, Maestra Alsop's leadership has ushered in a new era for the BSO and its audiences.

Under Music Director Marin Alsop's leadership, the BSO has rapidly added several critically acclaimed albums to its already impressive discography. The BSO recently released Dvorák's Symphonies Nos. 6, 7 and 8, the final two discs in its three-disc Dvorák cycle. In August 2009, the BSO and Marin Alsop released Bernstein's Mass featuring baritone Jubilant Sykes, the Morgan State University Choir and the Peabody Children's Chorus. The album rose to number six on the Classical Billboard Charts and received a 2009 Grammy nomination for Best Classical Album. The Orchestra made its foray into online distribution in April 2007 with the release of a live-concert recording of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring on iTunes, which quickly become the site's number one classical music download.

About the Music Center at Strathmore
In addition to the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where the orchestra has performed for 28 years, the BSO is a founding partner and the resident orchestra at the new state-of-the-art Music Center at Strathmore, just outside Washington, D.C. With the opening of Strathmore in February 2005, the BSO became the nation's only major orchestra with year-round venues in two metropolitan areas. The 2011-2012 season marks the seventh full season of the Orchestra's second home, the 1,976-seat Music Center at Strathmore, located in North Bethesda, Maryland. The BSO presents approximately 30 performances in the concert hall annually.

The BSO is actively involved in giving back to Montgomery County and the Greater Washington, D.C. area, building upon the Orchestra's tradition of high-quality education programs for audiences of all ages. The BSO collaborates with the Levine School of Music and Maryland Classical Youth Orchestras to present lecture series and master classes for area youth. The BSO also offers the education initiative, BSO on the Go, which brings small groups of BSO musicians into local schools to present interactive music education workshops, reaching approximately 2,000 students annually.