Meet the MSO Team
August Jeske
See Hear Play Artistic Director
Megan Wehrwein
Librarian & Competition Coordinator
Moriah Harting
Executive Assistant, Box Office & Social Media Manager
Board of Directors
Tom Lentz, President
Andrew Willaert, Vice President
John Kind, Treasurer
Todd Westphal, Secretary & Musician Liaison
Dr. Andrew McNamara, Past President
Mohamed Alsadig
Helen Bednar
Katie Heintz
John Kind
Joe Meidl
Scott Miller
Sarah Morgan
Dr. Eric Woller
Executive Committee
Tom Lentz
President
Tom Lentz is a 1985 graduate of Carleton College, majoring in economics. He is a 1992 graduate of the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking at the University of Delaware. He has worked in the banking industry for over 40 years and currently serves as the Market President of West Bank in Mankato. Tom currently serves on the Finance Committee of the South Central College Foundation and also on the Advisory Committee for the South Central College Culinary Arts Program. Tom and his wife Diane have two adult children and have lived in Mankato for almost 30 years.
Andrew Willaert
Vice-President
Andrew Willaert is a seasoned attorney at Gislason & Hunter LLP, bringing over 40 years of experience to his clients. He provides trusted guidance in estate and trust planning, farm and small business succession, probate, real estate, corporate governance, and business transactions. Andrew’s broad legal expertise allows him to craft thoughtful, individualized solutions that help clients make informed decisions with confidence.
In addition to his practice at Gislason & Hunter, Andrew is actively involved in his community, serving on local boards and contributing to various civic organizations. Outside of work, he enjoys travel, cycling, reading, and watching sports. Saturday mornings are often spent over breakfast with close friends, but his favorite time is with his family—especially his children and three grandsons.
Todd Westphal
Secretary & Musician Liaison
Todd Westphal was born and raised in Waseca. He attended Mankato State University, graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree. While attending MSU, he played violin in the MSO. He then obtained a Juris Doctor degree from Hamline University School of Law, and in 1989, moved to St. Peter where he currently resides with his wife Lisa and their canine companion, Willy. Following that move, Todd resumed playing violin with the MSO, which involvement continues to date. After practicing law in St. Peter for 16 years, in 2005, Todd was appointed as a Minnesota District Court Judge chambered in Nicollet County, a position he held until retiring in 2025. Following his retirement, Todd joined the MSO Board of Directors initially as Musician Liaison, and thereafter also serving as its Secretary. In addition to his involvement with the MSO, Todd’s post-retirement activities include undertaking home maintenance and improvement projects on their century old St. Peter home, tending his community garden plots, and travel (including visiting his and Lisa’s three adult sons and their spouses, and spoiling their two grandsons).
John Kind
Treasurer
John Kind is a long-term Mankato Resident, graduating from Mankato High School and Mankato State University with a degree in accounting. He passed the CPA exam and worked in public accounting and as controller and then division president of Taylor Corporation. Following 25 years at Taylor, John served as the Executive Director of the Mankato Family YMCA and then as the Interim CEO and President of Greater Mankato Growth.His musical background includes performing in multiple musicals in high school, college and then in the community. He sang in the MSU concert choir and with the Ellis Street Singers, where he met and performed with his wife, Wendy. He currently sings with the Christ The King senior choir, and with quadrophonic, a quartet that has sung for 8 Twins games along with Timberwolves and Lynx performances.
He has two adult daughters and 3 grandsons, who live in the Mankato area.
Andrew McNamara
Past President
Dr. Andrew McNamara is an orthopaedic surgeon with subspeciality training in hand and upper extremity at the Orthopaedic and Fracture Clinic in Mankato, Minnesota. He holds a B.A from Luther College, a M.D. from the University of Iowa, completed residency at St. Louis University and completed a hand and upper extremity fellowship at the University of Florida in Gainesville FL. He enjoys bicycling, hunting and playing the piano.
He and his wife Jessica live with their two children, Lochlan and Eila. He joined MSO's board in 2021.
Staff Bios
Paraguayan conductor Ernesto Estigarribia Mussi is highly regarded for his versatility and effervescent style on and off the podium. Hailed for his “expert direction” by Fanfare magazine, he is music director of the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra and the Mankato Symphony Orchestra, becoming the first Paraguayan to be music director of a professional orchestra abroad. He holds the position of assistant professor of conducting at Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music and has previously served as associate conductor of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra.
Estigarribia Mussi has guest conducted the Minnesota Orchestra, La Crosse Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, St. Cloud Symphony, Rochester Symphony, Orquesta de Cámara del Centro del Conocimiento (Argentina), Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional-Paraguay, and is the most frequent guest conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Congreso Nacional (Paraguay). In addition to symphonic performances, Ernesto has led numerous opera productions including Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Mozart's Idomeneo, Britten's Albert Herring, Zimmermann's Weisse Rose, and Jake Heggie’s Two Remain.
He holds degrees from Pittsburg State University (BM) and the University of Minnesota (MM and DMA), where he studied conducting with Mark Russell Smith. In his free time he enjoys cooking vegan recipes with his wife Sabrina.
Pianist and arts leader Bethel Balge, recipient of the Louis B. Sudler Award in the Arts, serves as Executive Director of the Mankato Symphony Orchestra (MSO). Since 2020, she has guided the organization through a period of artistic growth, expanding access to symphonic music across Southern Minnesota and strengthening community connections.
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An internationally experienced performer, Bethel has appeared in Germany, including at Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, and in Russia as soloist with the Voronezh Philharmonic. In the United States, she has performed widely and has been featured on American Public Media’s Performance Today as pianist of the ProMusica Minnesota Chamber Music Series & Festival, which she founded in 2016 and still serves artistic director.
She holds degrees from the Frankfurt, Germany Hochschule for Music and Performing Arts, the University of Wisconsin (M.M.), and Michigan State University (B.M.). In 2014 she earned her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Minnesota, studying with Lydia Artymiw. In 2022, she was selected as one of 35 orchestra leaders from across the U.S. and Canada to participate in the League of American Orchestras’ Essentials in Orchestra Management at The Juilliard School.
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Whether on stage or behind the scenes, Bethel is committed to the power of music to connect and enrich communities. She is grateful for the support of her husband, Dan, and their five children, who keep life full and lively.
New Zealand cellist Richard Belcher joined the SPCO in 2019 after a twenty year career as founding cellist of the Grammy-nominated Enso String Quartet. With the quartet he earned highly critical accolades from recording and concertizing in many of the world’s major concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Kennedy Center in the United States, as well as abroad in Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand.
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Richard is the Artistic Director of Music on the Hill in Mankato, Minnesota, and since 2008 has been Principal Cellist of River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Houston, Texas. He has taught and performed at many festivals including St. Bart’s, Festival d’Aix en Provence, Prussia Cove, Madeline Island, Campos do Jordao International Winter Festival, SummerFest La Jolla, and the San Miguel de Allende International Chamber Music Festival.
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In demand as a teacher and chamber music coach, Richard has previously served as Adjunct Faculty at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and has given numerous masterclasses around the world.
Richard moved to the United States in 1998 to study with Aldo Parisot at Yale University, and it was while there that he founded the Enso String Quartet. Richard’s other principal teachers include Norman Fischer, Marc Johnson, and Alexander Ivashkin. He plays an N.F. Vuillaume cello made in 1856, and is married to Cecilia Belcher, Assistant Principal 2nd Violin of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Abby Coffey brings together arts administration, music education, and orchestral performance in a career marked by versatility and dedication. From the preschool music classroom to the nonprofit boardroom, Abby brings the same passion and precision to every facet of her work.
A native of rural Missouri, Abby earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Belmont University, studying flute with Dr. Carolyn Totaro and graduating Summa Cum Laude. She received her Master of Music in Flute Performance from Arizona State University, studying with Dr. Elizabeth Buck, and completed a Core Certification Program in Arts Management through the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Abby is a passionate advocate for arts accessibility. She served as Executive Director of Arizona Philharmonic for three seasons, helping the organization balance its budget, triple its outreach programming, grow its donor base by 47%, and increase audience engagement by 36%. She also served for six years on the Board of the Arizona Flute Society and now partners with small arts nonprofits as a coach to help them leverage their resources to increase community impact.
As an orchestral piccoloist, Abby held the Flute 2/Piccolo position in the Symphony of the Southwest for seven seasons and performed frequently with The Phoenix Symphony, West Valley Symphony, Chandler Symphony, Nashville Ballet, Arizona Opera, Arizona MusicFest and Colorado Music Festival. She won first prize in the 2019 National Flute Association's Piccolo Orchestral Audition and Masterclass Competition.
When not writing grant proposals, meeting with clients, or obsessing over tuning exercises on the piccolo, Abby enjoys spending time with friends and family and gently coercing them to taste-test yet another homemade pasta recipe.