The American classical guitarist Giovanni De Chiaro made his debut in 1976 in a Carnegie Hall performance that brought a rave notice from the New York Times and launched a career of distinction. He has presented seven solo recitals at Carnegie Hall and performed there with the Mississippi Guitar Quartet, an ensemble he established. He has concertized throughout the United States, South America, Canada, Europe and Mexico and has performed for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in Rome. He also was invited to perform for President and Mrs. Bill Clinton for two special Christmas functions at the White House.
De Chiaro has recorded his guitar transcriptions of the complete works of Scott Joplin, guitar transcriptions of familiar piano masterpieces from the Romantic period, two Christmas albums, a Broadway collection and a wedding album.
De Chiaro is the founder and director of the Carlow Choir, a vocal ensemble which has presented concerts of sacred music throughout the United States, Ireland and Italy. While in Italy, the choir performed for Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in Rome. The choir has released a recording of sacred anthems entitled Reflections For The Heart.
He is also the founder and director of the Alexandria Youth Orchestra which has won first place honors in two national competitions in Memphis and Nashville.

Formed in 1904 by a group of 46 musicians who had resigned from London's Queen's Hall Orchestra because of change in policy, the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is an ensemble of "firsts." It was the first orchestra in England to set up a self-governing administrative structure, the first to tour North America, and the first to accept commercial sponsorship. Known as one of England's most gifted and versatile ensembles, it is the resident orchestra at London's famous Barbican Centre. This and the fact that the LSO tours extensively; has provided music for countless films, radio broadcasts, and television productions; and records prolifically has helped to consolidate the group's reputation as one of the world's leading orchestras.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, London musicians worked on a strictly freelance basis, finding work where they could for the highest possible fee. In 1904, Henry Wood, conductor of the Queen's Hall Orchestra, decided that he could no longer tolerate the chaos of the situation and hired players as full-time employees with a small but guaranteed wage for about 100 scheduled performances a year. Many of the best musicians, who were in great demand and who stood to lose a significant portion of their earnings through this restriction, resigned from Wood's ensemble and formed their own, self-governing orchestra.

Soon after its creation, the LSO invited Hans Richter to be its first conductor. He accepted the position on the condition that the orchestra increase its number to at least 100 players. Although Richter conducted a great many of the orchestra's concerts during his eight-year tenure, the group also attracted numerous other distinguished conductors to the podium. These included Nikisch, Steinbach, and Elgar. In so doing, the LSO promoted the idea of guest conductors in English musical society.

Two years after its foundation, the orchestra played its first concerts outside England; two concerts in Paris. Under the direction of Nikisch in 1912, the LSO became the first British orchestra to tour North America, presenting 28 concerts in 21 days, beginning and ending with performances in New York's Carnegie Hall.

Over the next 50 years, the LSO was lead by a number of gifted and distinguished conductors including Sir Thomas Beecham, Albert Coates , Sir Hamilton Harty, Josef Krips, Pierre Monteux, Istvan Kertesz, André Previn, and Claudio Abbado. All of these men, in addition to the many guest conductors and artists invited to work with the LSO, left their marks on the orchestra; shaping and honing the virtuosity of its players into an ensemble of great sensitivity and versatility.

The orchestra's association with the film industry began in 1922 when Walter Wanger, head of United Artists, hired the LSO to play for the presentation of silent films at Covent Garden's Opera House. Since then, the ensemble has provided music for numerous films including the Star Wars series for which the LSO won a platinum disc.

The LSO's connection with the BBC goes back to 1924 when Ralph Vaughan Williams conducted the orchestra in the premiere broadcast performance of his Pastoral Symphony. The LSO was the unofficial orchestra in residence for the BBC until the formation of the BBC Symphony in 1930 and has continued to broadcast concerts and provide background music for many BBC productions.

When Michael Tilson Thomas replaced Abbado in 1987, he set about securing the organization's financial as well as musical future by encouraging the LSO to accept corporate sponsorship. Conducted by Sir Colin Davis from 1995 to 2006, who was succeeded by Valery Gergiev in 2007, the London Symphony Orchestra has long enjoyed its well-deserved reputation as a pioneer in several areas of British orchestral history and is a highly versatile and distinguished world-class ensemble.

“The Romantic spirit lives, breathes, and flourishes in Kermit Poling.” (Fanfare Magazine) Kermit Poling is music director of the South Arkansas Symphony and the Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet. He is also Associate Conductor of the Shreveport Symphony, an orchestra where he was concertmaster for over 27 years. He has produced the Shreveport Symphony’s broadcast series since 1987, having also produced radio programming for WBUR Boston and other public radio stations. He serves as general manager of the Red River Radio public radio network at LSUS, having been appointed to the position in 2006. In 2015 he became music director of the Marshall Symphony Orchestra in Texas.
As a conductor, Maestro Poling performs extensively throughout the United States and around the world. He has been featured with the orchestras such as the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Filharmonia Veneta, Shenzhen Symphony of China and many other orchestras throughout his career. Also a composer, Poling's works include the ballets Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, Wizard of Oz and Phanton of the Opera, his score for the documentary Tarzan, Lord of the Louisiana Jungle and No Sound of Trumpet nor Roll of Drum, an homage to the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War.
A non-stop musician, he also serves as the choirmaster and organist at St. George's Episcopal Church in Bossier City, LA.