2010 International String Orchestra
Dorothy McDonald, Music Director

Dorothy McDonald studied violin in Detroit, Michigan with Esther Wyman Miquelle and Mischa Mischakoff, renowned past concertmaster of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.  During that time she performed with several community orchestras, attended the acclaimed Cass Technical High School and later, Wayne State University where she majored in instrumental string music.  Soon after graduating, she taught music and conducted orchestras in public school systems in Michigan, including Detroit, Livonia, Oak Park and East Lansing, where she remained for thirty years as director of the East Lansing High School Chamber and Symphonic Orchestras.

While at East Lansing, her orchestras consistently received the highest ratings at district and state festivals.  Her orchestras have toured to other states and Canada, and performed twice by invitation at the Michigan Midwestern Music Teachers Conference, sponsored by the Michigan Schools Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA).  In 1990, Mrs. McDonald received the MSBOA Orchestra Teacher of the Year Award.  Since then, she has judged orchestra and solo-ensemble festivals, been a guest speaker for music classes at both the University of Michigan and Michigan State University and a string clinician for college music students. 

Mrs. McDonald conducted the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra and the East Lansing High School Orchestra in a combined mentorship program during 1997-2002.  2010 will mark Mrs. McDonald’s tenth summer with Blue Lake and first International Exchange Tour.