LARRY WILGUS is a "home town boy," a graduate of Kent State University School of Music and Education, and recognized as its "Featured Alumnus" in KSU's Spring 1999 Education Newsletter.  He is also a member of the Conductors' Guild and the Akron Area Arts Alliance.  In 1976, his 90-voice high school youth choir presented its first concert at the filled-to-capacity Canton Memorial Civic Center.  Since then, the chorus, ranging in age from 16 to 80, has grown to 160 voices.  The scope and quality of the music productions have increased dramatically over the years.  Choral conducting is Wilgus' forte.  The Larry Wilgus Singers, a select group of area musicians, ring in the holidays with the award-winning "Christmas Music Spectacular."

Orchestral conducting ranks high on Wilgus' list of favorites.  His "October Pops" debuted in 1997 featuring 42 of the best musicians in Northeast Ohio delivering outstanding arrangements of the world's most beautiful melodies, performing at Blossom Music Center in the summer of 2000, and adding "Sweetheart Pops" for Valentine's Day 2006.  He was selected to participate in the advanced Fellows Program of the Conductors' Institute at the University of South Carolina during the summer of 2003.

Wilgus was raised on "good" music.  The son of a professional symphonic violinist, he was accustomed to hearing his father practicing all hours of the day and night.  Sounds of classical music were always in the air.  His mother was piano teacher to all seven Wilgus children.  The keys never had a chance to rest!  Over the years, his tastes have broadened to include pop, jazz, show tunes, and gospel. Larry and wife, Helen, celebrating 31 years of marriage, have spent almost as many years as co-producers of Spectacular Music Productions.  In 2006, they became "Innkeepers" as new owners of The Lamplight Inn Bed & Breakfast in the village of Berlin, the heart of Ohio's Amish country.  www.thelamplightinn.com

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