Michelle Bickhaus

Michelle Bickhaus has been finding reasons to perform in front of people for more than four decades. She was Miss Adams County Fair and Miss Illinois County Fair in 1987 and, more recently, appeared on the Quincy Community Theatre stage as Roxie Hart in Chicago. Graduate school has kept her away from the stage lately, but she is eagerly awaiting the day her doctorate finally releases her back into the theatre.

Of all the roles she has played, however, her favorite is Mimi to her two granddaughters and Mom to her three daughters.

A lifelong musician, piano teacher, educator, and unapologetic lover of the arts, Michelle believes music heals, nature recharges, and there are very few problems that cannot be improved by one or the other. When she isn’t teaching, studying, playing the piano, wandering somewhere outdoors, or volunteering in the community, she is probably trying to figure out how to squeeze one more thing into an already unreasonable schedule.

Which brings us to Battle for the Baton.

After years of directing students, daughters, piano pupils, and assorted theatrical characters, Michelle figures conducting an orchestra is really just the logical next step.

She is delighted to take up the baton for Encore! and help support the musical opportunities it provides for young people throughout the area.

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