Len Ingrao: Conductor

Len Ingrao is Artistic Director of the London Community Orchestra. He began studying conducting with Charles Zachary Bornstein in London Ontario and became Artistic Assistant Conductor of the London Mozart Festival in 1985. Subsequent training was with Karl Österreicher (Vienna, as auditor), John Barrnum (Toronto), and Gustav Meier (Windsor, Kitchener, and London OFSO Workshops).

Len was Assistant Conductor of the UWO Symphony Orchestra (1990-94) under Prof. Jerome Summers and Assistant Conductor with UWOPERA (1991-1999) under Prof. Jim McKay. He was Assistant Conductor to Stan Kopac for the London Youth Symphony (1997-2002) and the Niagara Youth Symphony (1997-2000). With that ensemble, he recorded Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture on CD and conducted them during their 1998 European Tour of Holland, Germany, Belgium and France.

Guest appearances include the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra London Canada, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, and the Woodstock Strings. In June-July 2002, he led the London Youth Symphony on its tour of Austria and Italy, and on Remembrance Day 2006 he conducted LYS during a performance of Elgar’s Violoncello Concerto at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, the first time a symphony orchestra had performed at the venue. He was also Principal Conductor of the Waterloo Chamber Players from 2002- 2009, Conductor of the UWO Chamber Orchestra in 2007-2008, and Conductor of the London Youth Symphony until 2022.

Carolyn Martinelli: Concertmaster

Carolyn Martinelli first began her studies on the violin with Joan Hysen at St. Mary’s Choir and Orchestra School, and subsequently began private studies with Mary Case and Jane Seaman. As a secondary school student, Carolyn continued private studies with Marion MacDougall, and pursued her leadership skills under the direction of Tom Hart at Catholic Central High School serving as concertmaster of both the Junior and Senior Orchestras while maintaining a position in the First Violin Section of the London Youth Symphony under the direction of Steve Wolsley and Edit Haboczki.

The recipient of continuing scholarships at the University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Western Ontario, Carolyn continued her violin studies at the Don Wright Faculty of Music with Robert Skelton, studying chamber music under the mentor-ship of Ralph Aldrich and performing with the UWO Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Jerome Summers while concurrently achieving her Associate (Performer) Violin Degree with the Royal Conservatory of Music (ARCT, Toronto) and her Associate (Performer) Piano with the Western Conservatory of Music (AMUS-London).

Having performed as Assistant Concertmaster in the Woodstock Strings, Principal Second Violin in the American University Orchestra in Siena, Italy (Sessione Senese della Musica e l’Arte), First Violin in the National Orchestra of Malta and in the Ontario Festival Symphony Orchestra (China, 2013), Carolyn is presently a faculty member of the Fine Arts Department at Catholic Central High School in London, and is pleased to have served as Concertmaster of the London Community Orchestra since 2005.