Greetings and welcome to the LSO website!

You have come to a special site that describes a remarkable orchestra in a remarkable place. Nestled between the bluffs that surround the Mississippi River is a dynamic city named, La Crosse. It is surrounded by many wonderful communities where the steamboats and butterflies float in the summer sun, and the eagles and the snow fly in the winter. The region is tops in the nation for health care, education and quality of life. And it is a place where people love music!

Join us as the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra performs classical programs on six concert weekends. You can choose either Friday or Saturday night for your special night out at the Viterbo University Fine Arts Center. It is beautiful in every way, and with only 1100 seats, you always feel close to the action on stage. And the new elevator is working, so you can choose to ride up to the balcony if you prefer. And don’t miss our free outdoor Pops concert the last Sunday in June in Onalaska.

As an integral part of the Tri-State region, our audience and our musicians come from a 100 mile radius, and together, we have a great time! Most people who come to the LSO for the first time love it so much they come back again and again. I hope you’ll try it!

Please be sure to enjoy a cup of coffee in the lobby after the concert. I look forward to meeting you there!

Musically yours,
Amy Mills, Music Director
La Crosse Symphony Orchestra

Biography

Maestra Amy Mills is celebrating her thirteenth season as Music Director and Conductor of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra. Called "a fireball of excitement and enthusiasm" by the La Crosse Tribune, the orchestra has flourished under her artistic leadership.

Building the musical performances to an ever increasing level of excellence brought dramatic increases in interest and support from the tri-state area. The LSO now reaches people in the broadest spectrum of the region, performing each concert at least twice to capacity audiences. Under Maestra Mills’ leadership, the LSO has transformed into a dynamic regional orchestra.

Maestra Mills’ leadership and vision have expanded the concert experience to include commissions of new works, composers in residence, cross cultural events, concert opera, international guest artists and family concerts. She also developed and now hosts the LSO’s one-hour radio show on WLSU, Wisconsin Pubic Radio, La Crosse.

Maestra Mills also serves as Music Director of Symphonia Internationale. Based in Washington, DC, the orchestra’s mission is to build global goodwill and increase cultural understanding through the universal voice of music.

Active as a guest conductor, Maestra Mills made her debut in Brazil with the Filharmonia do Rio de Janeiro, she made her debut in Poland with the Szczeczin Symphony Orchestra; and she made her debut in Russia with the Dubna Symphony Orchestra. She conducted the Houston Symphony on a program for the 41st presidential inauguration, and has conducted the New York City Centre Symphony (NY), the Arlington (VA) Symphony, the Springfield (MO) Symphony, the Acadiana (LA) Symphony and the Winona (MN) Symphony. She has served as cover conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC. In the summer of 2002 she served on the faculty of the Conductors’ Institute at Bard College.

In the past Ms. Mills created and served as Music Director for the National Women's Symphony in Washington, DC, a professional orchestra featuring the music of women composers. NWS performed world and American premieres of works by important composers such as Libby Larsen, Augusta Read Thomas, and Pulitzer Prize winner Melinda Wagner. The orchestra also collaborated with the Norwegian and Canadian embassies in presenting American premieres of women composer of their countries.

Prior to her appointment in La Crosse, Ms. Mills served as a conductor in the United States Air Force. The highlight of her military career was serving as the youngest Commander and Conductor of the US Air Force Band and Orchestra in Washington DC. During this time she led a concert featuring Robert Merrill in a performance that was released as a commercial video and continues to be broadcast nationally. Prior to that, she was the first woman to serve as Music Director of the US Air Force Singing Sergeants in Washington DC, conducting the 27-member full-time professional chorus in over 350 concerts around the country, and in a featured performance at the Chorus America national convention, broadcast by National Public Radio. She also served as a conductor in Colorado and Louisiana.

Ms. Mills holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the Catholic University of America, and Master of Music and Bachelor of Music Education degrees from Northwestern University, where she was the School of Music’s 1995 commencement speaker.

She is a motivational speaker, a BMI composer, arranger, pianist, clarinetist, adjudicator, clinician, and President of her music production company, ARMusic. She lives with her husband in the Washington DC area.