BRAVA, BRAVO!

As Jim Stephenson prepares to guest conduct the Lake Forest Civic Orchestra at a November 7 Bravo Waukegan event, he reflects on receiving his first musical instrument and what it meant to him.

JIM STEPHENSON REMEMBERS that Christmas like it were yesterday. Small town kid in Lockport, Illinois—son of an electrical engineer who also happened to be a phenomenal keyboard player—ripping paper off a present that would change his life.

“I’ll never forget getting that trumpet under the Christmas tree,” says Stephenson, today an accomplished composer who lives in Lake Forest with wife, Sally Stephenson, a professional violinist. “You open that case and it has this smell to it. You see this shiny silver instrument and it’s the best thing in the world. If you want a picture of a wide-eyed kid at Christmastime, that was me.”

He was just 9 years old.

“My father was a brilliant man whose first love was always music,” Stephenson recalls. “He started a company and was very successful in the electrical engineering world but when he had someone like me as a kid, he supported it from the get-go. Both my parents never stopped supporting me.”

So, when Stephenson met Pat Sikorovsky—cofounder and a board director of Bravo Waukegan, a nonprofit organization that provides opportunities for Waukegan students to grow through music—he was inspired.

“My wife and I ended up sharing studio space with Bravo Waukegan at Gorton Center,” he explains. “They said ‘hey, you can use half of our room if you want.’ In many ways, we were neighbors so I got to know some of their staff and comings and goings of Bravo. What they were doing was right up my alley.”

In addition to attending the same Lake Forest church as Sikorovsky, The Church of the Holy Spirit, the couple was invited to her annual Christmas parties and quickly became an extension of the Bravo Waukegan family. He was also part of a church organization called Young Pups and saw how they became active in Bravo’s mission to bring music opportunities to young people.

“Being a musician myself, knowing how I had the chance to get an instrument in my hands at 9 years old, to have something like Bravo that’s giving this opportunity to young kids is amazing,” adds Stephenson, who served as a long-time trumpeter with the Naples Philharmonic in Florida before returning to Lake Forest to focus on composing full time.

Earlier this year, Waukegan music teacher Karen Griffin—who famously provided a “wish list” of what her students needed when the organization was founded 15 years ago—asked Stephenson to write a piece to honor the now 94-year-old Sikorovsky.

Aptly titled “Bravo,” the piece will be performed by the Lake Forest Civic Orchestra (LFCO) at Gorton Center on November 7 in a showcase of current Bravo Waukegan students. The LFCO will perform the piece again as part of LFCO’s November 9 “Symphonic Cascade.” Stephenson is guest conducting both concerts.

“Karen called me in May and I had a slot in my writing schedule to do it and wrote it in the following week. I had the sounds in my head and wrote it all in one fell swoop, which for me is the best way to compose,” he says, adding that Sikorovsky’s husband, Gene, has also been a shining light behind the scenes. “I thought of my impressions of Pat and as a beautiful woman who is strong, won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. I wanted to write a piece that represented that grit and determination. It’s a slow piece … very American sounding but has these qualities that show that strength that Pat embodies.”

Stephenson says it is an honor to be guest conducting as part of LFCO’s 2025-26 season, which has a “Postcards from America” theme that features composers who lived or worked in a certain region of the country or whose work is evocative of iconic American locations.

As far as conducting a piece of his own creation, he says there are upsides and downsides.

“Obviously I know how it goes so there’s no question about tempo and what parts are important. I can cut to the chase right away, so that’s the good part,” he explains. “The other side of the coin is missing out on seeing another conductor’s approach to my music. They might come at it from a different angle, which is always interesting to see how they ‘hear’ my music.”

Most of all, Stephenson says he is looking forward to providing the same level of support to Sikorovsky and the students at Bravo Waukegan that he received as a 9-year-old growing up in central Illinois.

“Music can be transformative,” he adds. “If everyone has access to music at some point in their life, I can’t help but think the world would be a better place.”

For more information about Lake Forest Civic Orchestra, the November concerts, and the upcoming season, visit lakeforestcivicorchestra.org. For more information about Bravo Waukegan, visit bravowaukegan.org.