The West Hartford Symphony Orchestra is proud to introduce Dr. John R. “Rusty” Koenig, our new Music Director and Conductor as of September 1, 2026, following the well-deserved retirement of our beloved founding director Maestro Richard Chiarappa.
Rusty is a Connecticut-based musician who is equally at home as conductor, composer, arranger, performer, musical theatre music director, and—above all—as teacher.
A native of Key West, Florida, Rusty began learning piano at an early age. In high school, he played saxophone in the marching band, bassoon in the concert band, and trombone and piano in the jazz band. He also taught piano and music theory at a local nonprofit providing free lessons to underprivileged youth. He continued his studies at Florida State University, completing his degree in music education in 2017.
After FSU, Rusty taught band at River Springs Middle School in Florida, overseeing a program of over 200 students. In 2020, he pursued further degrees in music conducting
at Western Michigan University and later completed his doctoral studies in instrumental conducting with a minor in music theory at The Hartt School of Music.
Rusty has appeared as a conductor and adjudicator nationally and internationally, in Bulgaria and Australia. Currently, he teaches orchestra at Miss Porter’s School and music directs for Hartt and several musical theatre groups.
As he starts his new role as Music Director of the WHSO, he is grateful for the guidance he has received from his teachers Gary Hernandez, Yehuda Gutman, Franko Richmond, Heidi Williams, Jeff Keesecker, Richard Clary, Mary Roman, Alice-Ann Darrow, Scott Boerma, Edward Cumming, and Glen Adsit who actively shaped and continue to shape his approach to creating and sharing music.
WHSO Conductor Emeritus and Founding Music Director
Richard Chiarappa is the founding music director of the West Hartford Symphony
Orchestra (2002). He was formerly the music director of the Bristol Symphony Orchestra
from 1991-2002, as well as former resident conductor of the Scholar-Athlete-Artist Games
Orchestra, located in Kingston, RI on the University of Rhode Island campus.
His first one-act opera, The Miraculous Staircase is available on Amazon, CD Baby and
iTunes. Prior works are “Uncle Sal’s Cello” for cellist, orchestra and narrator ; “The
Gettysburg Address” for orchestra and narrator published by Robert Wendel Music (NYC);
a commissioned work by the Noah Webster House Museum of West Hartford titled
“Noah’s National Language” for orchestra, chorus, narrator and actor, and the novelty
pieces “Romp for Symphony Orchestra and ‘Celebrity’ Triangulist” (Robert Wendel
Music) and Boom! for Bass Drummer and Orchestra. All works have been premiered by
the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra. The “Gettysburg Address” has been performed by
the Rockford Symphony Orchestra, the Cape Cod SO, the Southern Illinois SO, the
Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the Gulf Coast SO, the Pacific SO and the Arlington SO.
Mr. Chiarappa studied orchestral conducting with Vytautus Marijosius, choral conducting
with Gerald Mack and composition with Arnold Franchetti at the Hartt School. He has
done advanced study in conducting workshops under the guidance of Maestros Gustav
Meier and Raymond Harvey.
Now retired in order to devote time to composing and guest conducting, Mr. Chiarappa
was a faculty member at Kingswood Oxford School in West Hartford since 1979 where he
had been the director of the choral program, the jazz band, director of the annual musical,
and the director of the string orchestra program. He composed and wrote the school’s
Alma Mater “Hail! Kingswood Oxford” in 1981. During summers, for 35 years he was the
musical director/pianist of the Madison Beach Club’s annual “Follies” starting in
1981. Mr. Chiarappa is a member of ASCAP, BMI, the Dramatists Guild as well as the
Conductors Guild. He resides with his wife in West Hartford. They have two grown
daughters and five grandchildren.