Philharmonic East and West, Music Director and Conductor

Russell E. Berlin, Jr. taught instrumental music in the Lee’s Summit School District from 1969-1999.  During his 30 year tenure, Mr. Berlin is credited with building the national reputation of the Lee’s Summit orchestral program.  Ensembles under his direction have performed for the Missouri Music Educators Association, the Midwest-International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, the Music Educators national Conference, Carnegie Hall in New York City, and the International Youth and Music Festival in Vienna, Austria.

The Lee’s Summit Chamber of Commerce recognized Mr. Berlin as a recipient of the Excellence-In–Teaching Award in 1985. He received the 1994 Missouri School Music Educator of the Year Award presented by the Missouri Chapter of the American String Teachers’ Association and the 1999  “Silver Shoe” Award in recognition for making a significant difference in the lives of the students and staff at Lee’s Summit North.

 Mr. Berlin has served as the orchestra chairman for the Missouri Music Educators’ Association. He has conducted the orchestra for the Kansas City Ambassadors of Music for eight European Concert Tours, the Central Missouri State University Music Camp, and the Midwestern Music Camp at Kansas University.  He is active as a clinician and adjudicator in the Midwest. 

Mr. Berlin received his BME from Kansas State University and his MME from Kansas University.  He also has completed advanced orchestral training at the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.