About 75 people recently have been eliminated by a Bismarck selection committee.

Now, there are only five people left.

It's a tough business, but this committee has to do it.

A selection committee to find a new conductor for the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra recently narrowed the field from about 80 applicants to 17, and then, more recently, to five: one from Portland, Ore., one from Maryland, two from Minnesota and one from Indiana.

Karen daSilva, the symphony's operations manager, said Thursday all five are great prospects - all have master's degrees or doctorates, are exceptional musicians and among other attractive qualities are all educators, too, and have team-building skills.

The symphony, which hasn't had a full-time conductor since Tom Wellin's 2005 resignation, still won't have one for a while.

The plan is to have one on board by the end of February 2008.

The five candidates will be cut to three in the next three weeks after phone interviews with the two long-distance candidates and in-person interviews by the Midwest candidates, who are willing to pay their own travel expenses.

The three finalists will each plan and conduct a concert during the symphony's 2007-08 season and, sometime in February 2008, the final choice will be made.

The current candidate crop:

3 Beverly Everett, of Bemidji, Minn., is in her second season as music director of the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra. A couple of the Bismarck symphony's musicians have worked with her and are excited about the prospect of her having the position, daSilva said.

During her time in Bemidji, audience attendance has increased by 50 percent, filling the 1,200-seat performance hall to capacity, according to information she submitted. Everett also started an annual summer pops concert by the shore of Lake Bemidji and established the Bemidji Youth Symphony. She has degrees in organ and conducting from Baylor University and a doctorate of musical arts from the University of Iowa.

3 Stephen J. Ramsey, of Minneapolis, is the founding music director and conductor of the Dakota Valley Symphony in Burnsville, Minn. He has been there for nine years and the group has 55 members. Ramsey - who has a master's degree in orchestral conducting from University of Missouri and a bachelor's degree in music performance from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. - also is the conductor for the Austin Symphony Orchestra in Austin, Minn.

3 Akira Mori, of Evansville, Ind., is a visiting assistant professor and director of orchestral activities for the University of Evansville. Prior to that, he was music director for three years for Bloomington Symphony in Bloomington, Minn. He has a bachelor's degree in flute performance from the New England Conservatory and did his studies in orchestral conducting at Boston University and at Wiener Meisterkurse in Vienna, Austria.

3 Jason Love, of Baltimore, has been the music director of Columbia Orchestra in Columbia, Md., for eight years and prior to that was the artistic director for the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestras. He has a bachelor's in violoncello performance and a master's in conducting.

3 Travis Hatton, of Portland, Ore., has worked as an opera conductor, appearing with opera companies in Europe and here. He is now the music director of the Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Portland; director of orchestras at Valley Catholic School in Beaverton, Ore.; director of music at the First Baptist Church in Portland; and conductor of the Vancouver Children's Opera.

DaSilva said it's possible candidates could find another position by the time this selection process reaches an end. But she also has said in past interviews that conductor positions are few and far between, and that, according to information from the American Orchestral League, it typically takes two or three years for a symphony orchestra to hire someone.

Whoever wins the job will be required to live in Bismarck, and will receive a $35,000 annual salary and health benefits.

(Reach reporter Virginia Grantier at 250-8254 or at virginia.grantier@;bismarcktribune.com.)