The BJSO STAFF
Dr. Rob Tomaro, Music Director, was handed the BJSO baton by Dr. Crawford Gates in 1999. He holds a Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in Music Composition from New York University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University. He has conducted orchestras around the world.
Edie Baran, Executive Director, a Janesville resident, has worked with the Janesville Performing Arts Center, Rotary Gardens, SpotLight On Kids, the United Arts Alliance of Rock County, Stage One, Rock County Historical Society, Janesville Little Theatre, and UW Rock Theatre. She is the recipient of the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award, and is a 2008 inductee in the United Arts Alliance Arts Hall of Fame.
Tracy Bliss, Marketing Director, is a Beloit native and resident. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design her background includes print, events, apparel, web and social media. She serves on the Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce and LDA of Rock County Board of Directors while managing her own business, DeCori Design, LLC.
Personnel Manager, open position
John Rapp, Interim Music Librarian, 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.
Larisa Chmielewski, Development Coordinator, is a long-time Beloit resident who has served with numerous non-profits in the Rock County area. As Founder of the Alzheimer’s Support Center, Larisa served as its Executive Director, and as counselor for the Stateline Area Memory Clinic. She has performed locally and/or music directed with the BJSO choir, Beloit Civic Theatre, Spotlight on Kids, Theatre Unlimited, Sun Valley Presbyterian Church, Janesville Little Theater and F.J. Turner Schools. She is the proud mother of two creative children who keep her and her husband happily busy with their adventures.
Edie Baran, Executive Director, a Janesville resident, has worked with the Janesville Performing Arts Center, Rotary Gardens, SpotLight On Kids, the United Arts Alliance of Rock County, Stage One, Rock County Historical Society, Janesville Little Theatre, and UW Rock Theatre. She is the recipient of the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award, and is a 2008 inductee in the United Arts Alliance Arts Hall of Fame.
Tracy Bliss, Marketing Director, is a Beloit native and resident. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design her background includes print, events, apparel, web and social media. She serves on the Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce and LDA of Rock County Board of Directors while managing her own business, DeCori Design, LLC.
Personnel Manager, open position
John Rapp, Interim Music Librarian, 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.
Larisa Chmielewski, Development Coordinator, is a long-time Beloit resident who has served with numerous non-profits in the Rock County area. As Founder of the Alzheimer’s Support Center, Larisa served as its Executive Director, and as counselor for the Stateline Area Memory Clinic. She has performed locally and/or music directed with the BJSO choir, Beloit Civic Theatre, Spotlight on Kids, Theatre Unlimited, Sun Valley Presbyterian Church, Janesville Little Theater and F.J. Turner Schools. She is the proud mother of two creative children who keep her and her husband happily busy with their adventures.