THE BJSO Board of directors
President: Larry Arft is the former City Manager of Beloit, having served from 2003 – 2015. He is the recipient of the Ken Hendricks Community Spirit Award presented by the Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce, and the Beloit Daily News Headliner Award. Larry is an active member of his community, and is a member of long-standing of the Beloit Rotary Club.
Vice-President: Kara Purviance was born in Janesville, WI and has resided in Rock County for most of her life. She has had a love of music since she was a child. She began performing in Spotlight on Kids at the age of 8 and continued to perform in various musicals through high school. As a senior in high school, she began to study classical voice through a private teacher. As a Beloit College music major, she continued her training in voice and piano. Kara enjoys performing choral music and has done so with numerous academic and professional groups. Some of her favorite pieces she has performed include: Brahm’s Requiem, Faure Requiem, and Russian Liturgical pieces. Ms. Purviance is currently teaching Science at McNeel Intermediate in Beloit, WI. She enjoys serving on the BJSO Board and supporting the Arts in our community.
Secretary: Cori Olin is currently the Development director for the YWCA of Rock County in Janesville, WI. Previously, she held the position of Resource Development Director of the Beloit Boys & Girls Club, and prior to that, was the Executive Director of the Milton House Museum.
Treasurer: John Rapp is an emeritus professor of Political Science at Beloit College, having retired in May 2019 after 33 years of teaching comparative politics at Beloit. A son of two professional musicians, he has had a lifelong love for classical music. He designed and constructed the website in honor of his late father’s life in music, at robertmrapp.org, including posts of his father’s choral and vocal recordings (including duets with John’s mother, Dorothy Davies Rapp), compositions, and scholarly works. John has also presented talks on works by Sergei Rachmaninoff for concerts in Beloit, Washington D.C., and Evansville Indiana. He also produced and hosted summer radio programs on WBCR on the music of Rachmaninoff. He has sung with the Beloit Masterworks Chorus in Rachmaninoff’s Vespers and in the BJSO concert presentation of Puccini’s Turandot. He has an extensive classical music collection on vinyl, cassettes, and CD’s and DVD’s and has been privileged to hear concerts of some of the world’s greatest conductors and soloists, including Andre Previn and the LSO, Leonard Bernstein guest conducting the National Symphony Orchestra, Sir George Solti and the CSO, Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin, and the second to last recital of Arthur Rubinstein, plus numerous soloists and conductors at concerts at Ravinia and elsewhere.
Musicians' Representative: Joe Kania is the BJSO Principal Clarinetist. Joe has played with the BJSO since 2004. He plays in numerous regional orchestras and music groups. He is a resident of Avalon, WI and is currently employed by Dannon North America.
Daniel M. Youd has been a professor of Chinese language and literature in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Beloit College since 2002. He completed his undergraduate education at Harvard College with a degree in East Asian Languages and Civilizations. He received both his MA and PhD from Princeton University in Asian Studies. He teaches all levels of Modern Standard Chinese and Classical Chinese. He also teaches classes on Chinese literature and culture. A published translator from the Chinese, Daniel's current research focuses on the history and practice of literary translation from Chinese to various European languages. He is also interested, in general, in the history of Chinese-European cultural contact from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century. Daniel is an avid fan of a wide variety of musical genres, from Western classical music, to Broadway musicals, to Chinese Beijing and Kun opera. He is the script translator and a board member of the New York-based Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera Company. He also enjoys playing the piano.
Vice-President: Kara Purviance was born in Janesville, WI and has resided in Rock County for most of her life. She has had a love of music since she was a child. She began performing in Spotlight on Kids at the age of 8 and continued to perform in various musicals through high school. As a senior in high school, she began to study classical voice through a private teacher. As a Beloit College music major, she continued her training in voice and piano. Kara enjoys performing choral music and has done so with numerous academic and professional groups. Some of her favorite pieces she has performed include: Brahm’s Requiem, Faure Requiem, and Russian Liturgical pieces. Ms. Purviance is currently teaching Science at McNeel Intermediate in Beloit, WI. She enjoys serving on the BJSO Board and supporting the Arts in our community.
Secretary: Cori Olin is currently the Development director for the YWCA of Rock County in Janesville, WI. Previously, she held the position of Resource Development Director of the Beloit Boys & Girls Club, and prior to that, was the Executive Director of the Milton House Museum.
Treasurer: John Rapp is an emeritus professor of Political Science at Beloit College, having retired in May 2019 after 33 years of teaching comparative politics at Beloit. A son of two professional musicians, he has had a lifelong love for classical music. He designed and constructed the website in honor of his late father’s life in music, at robertmrapp.org, including posts of his father’s choral and vocal recordings (including duets with John’s mother, Dorothy Davies Rapp), compositions, and scholarly works. John has also presented talks on works by Sergei Rachmaninoff for concerts in Beloit, Washington D.C., and Evansville Indiana. He also produced and hosted summer radio programs on WBCR on the music of Rachmaninoff. He has sung with the Beloit Masterworks Chorus in Rachmaninoff’s Vespers and in the BJSO concert presentation of Puccini’s Turandot. He has an extensive classical music collection on vinyl, cassettes, and CD’s and DVD’s and has been privileged to hear concerts of some of the world’s greatest conductors and soloists, including Andre Previn and the LSO, Leonard Bernstein guest conducting the National Symphony Orchestra, Sir George Solti and the CSO, Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin, and the second to last recital of Arthur Rubinstein, plus numerous soloists and conductors at concerts at Ravinia and elsewhere.
Musicians' Representative: Joe Kania is the BJSO Principal Clarinetist. Joe has played with the BJSO since 2004. He plays in numerous regional orchestras and music groups. He is a resident of Avalon, WI and is currently employed by Dannon North America.
Daniel M. Youd has been a professor of Chinese language and literature in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Beloit College since 2002. He completed his undergraduate education at Harvard College with a degree in East Asian Languages and Civilizations. He received both his MA and PhD from Princeton University in Asian Studies. He teaches all levels of Modern Standard Chinese and Classical Chinese. He also teaches classes on Chinese literature and culture. A published translator from the Chinese, Daniel's current research focuses on the history and practice of literary translation from Chinese to various European languages. He is also interested, in general, in the history of Chinese-European cultural contact from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century. Daniel is an avid fan of a wide variety of musical genres, from Western classical music, to Broadway musicals, to Chinese Beijing and Kun opera. He is the script translator and a board member of the New York-based Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera Company. He also enjoys playing the piano.
MEMBERS AT LARGE
Carol Fosshage is a Janesville resident and a former elementary school vocal music teacher. She was a music copyist and executive assistant for BJSO’s conductor Dr. Crawford Gates. Her community affiliations include the MacDowell Music Club, the AAUW, and the Sigma Alpha Iota. Carol hold a Lifetime Membership on the Board.