Our Conductor, Joseph Lovecchio

Joseph Lovecchio has been the Music Director / Conductor of the WSO since 1995. Prior to that he played principal trumpet and served as the Associate Conductor. Under his baton the orchestra performs the finest orchestral literature and annually features guest soloists of national and international renown. Some of the recent soloists who have performed under his baton include “America’s Violinist – Jenny Oaks Baker”; Broadway stars, Ciaran Sheehan, Sarah Pfisterer, Gay Willis, and Kimilee Bryant; internationally acclaimed solists, Allen Vizutti, trumpet; Velvet Brown, tuba; Philadelphia Orchestra musicians Kimberly Fisher, William and Gloria dePasquale, and legendary performers Eily Patterson and Louis Brown from Ireland. Most recently he worked with acclaimed violinist Ellen DePasquale; and with the President’s official White House Fanfare Ensemble – The U.S. Army Herald Trumpets. With his astute leadership and musical programing, WSO audiences have steadily increased to more than triple in size under his tenure.

One of Mr. Lovecchio’s initiatives with the WSO was to expand the Young Artist Competition to encourage and monetarily reward the young musicians who represent the future of orchestral music. The winners of both the Children’s Division and the Youth Division are afforded an opportunity to perform with the orchestra. Several past winners of this competition have gone on to solo with the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra.

Mr. Lovecchio has earned much recognition for his work as a music educator including being named one of America’s top music educators by the education division of Conn Selmer Corporation, being nominated and chosen for Who’s Who of America’s Teachers on 8 different occasions by 8 different students, and included in 25 editions of Marquis’ Who’s Who in America for contributions in the Arts and Education. School music groups under his direction were regularly chosen to perform at national high-profile events and received national acclaim for superior performance and educational excellence four times.

Mr. Lovecchio is equally adept at working with bands and orchestras and is often asked to guest conduct top scholastic honors groups in the Philadelphia region.

He is a native of Berwick, PA, and was recently inducted into the Berwick High School Hall of Fame. Currently he is a resident of Warminster, PA and was recently honored by the Warminster Township Board of Supervisors for his many contributions to the cultural and educational life of the community.