Dr. Randolph P. Laycock, Music Director
The Dr. Randolph P. Laycock Podium Chair
Donated by Jeffrey P. Laycock, American Mensa Society
“Dr. Randolph P. Laycock conducted his first performance with the orchestra on November 19, 1978. Dr. Laycock taught string and wind music for the Parma City Schools for 36 years and was music department chairman for the Valley Forge Cluster. He and was director of Youth Orchestras at Baldwin-Wallace College from 1978-2016. He previously was director of the University Circle Chamber Orchestra from 1987-1994 and was a double bassist in the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Opera and Cleveland Ballet Orchestras. He has also been guest conductor of the Cleveland Philharmonic.” His educational duties continue as an adjunct professor of applied music at Cuyahoga Community College.
from 2018: PSO To Celebrate 50 Years
He received his Ph.D. in Music Education from Case Western Reserve University in 1992, Master of Music from Bowling Green St. University in 1978, and Bachelor of Music Education from Baldwin-Wallace College in 1977. He has been included in six editions of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and the 58th edition of Who’s Who in America. He also worked for the State Department of Education as a Praxis III assessor of entry year teachers from 2003-2008. He was selected as the Outstanding Secondary Arts Educator in Northeast Ohio by Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio in 2007. In 2017, he was the recipient of The Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award.
His work with area virtuosi is lengthy. He has collaborated with composers Loris Chobanian and Micheal Leese, pianists Alex Wasserman, Spencer Myer, Denise Rosenbaum, Emanuela Friscioni, Jeremy Dittus, and George Cherry; violinists Andrew Sords, Kermit Poling, Hristo Popov, Stephanie Kim, Mari Sato, and Mollie Fung; cellists Brian Thornton, Madeline Kabat, Sawyer Thomson; guitarist Marija Temo; Trumpeter John Brndiar; and piper Brian Bigley to name a few. He has also been music director for numerous music theatre productions in the area, including “Showboat”, “Man of La Mancha”, and “Candide” at the Western Campus of Cuyahoga Community College.
