NICHOLAS L. WALLIN

Nicholas L. Wallin is thrilled to be joining the AYSO as the recently appointed Music Director & Conductor. Wallin currently serves as an Associate Professor of Music at Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, IL. At Lake Forest he conducts the orchestra and teaches courses in music theory. Prior to his appointment at Lake Forest, Wallin served on the faculty at Washington State University. 2022 also marks Wallin’s 14th season as Music Director and Conductor of the Mid-Columbia Symphony in Richland, WA.

Wallin has conducted numerous ensembles across the country including the Spokane (WA) Symphony and Hartford (CT) Opera Theater. He has served as guest conductor or adjudicator for orchestras and music festivals across Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Illinois, and Michigan, and previously served as Music Director for the Washington-Idaho Symphony. His conducting teachers have included Gustav Meier, Markand Thakar, Akira Mori and Craig Kirchhoff, and he has conducted in workshops and masterclasses for numerous leading conductors, including Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman and Gunther Schuller.

Wallin is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and began his musical training there on piano and tuba. In 1991 he enrolled at Northwestern University, where he earned three degrees, a bachelor of arts in mathematics, a bachelor of music in tuba performance and a master of music in tuba performance. After leaving Northwestern, he earned a master of music degree in orchestral conducting from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. In December 2004, he completed a doctor of musical arts degree in conducting, with a secondary area in music theory at the University of Minnesota, where he received a College of Liberal Arts Graduate Fellowship. Wallin believes strongly in music education for all ages and enjoys speaking to organizations and music classes in the schools. He and his wife, Alice Swan, live in Evanston, IL with their sons, Rex and Enzo.