Kypros Markou, director of orchestral studies in the music department at Wayne State University, has been appointed music director of the Dearborn Symphony Orchestra, effective September 1, 1997. Markou, of Grosse Pointe Farms, also is music director of the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra in Greensburg, Pa.

Markou was selected from 162 applicants from across the country to direct the more than 75-member orchestra now in its 36th year. The orchestra presents four subscription concerts, two Nutcracker concerts, one holiday and one family concert as well as a cabaret evening each year.

Among the soloists for scheduled concerts are WSU adjunct faculty members and leading members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. A May concert will feature "Star Dancer," a composition by WSU music Professor James Hartway. Markou conducted the first performance of "Star Dancer" in April with the WSU Symphony Orchestra.

From 1987-1994 Markou was music director of the Brevard Symphony Orchestra in Florida. He has been music director or conductor of 11 different orchestras in the United States and guest conductor in Italy, Germany, Cyprus, Greece, England and Poland.

Markou had his early training at the National Conservatory of Greece in Nicosia, Cyprus, his native city and continued at the Royal College of Music in London. He attended the University of Indiana in Bloomington and has a master's degree in orchestral conducting from the New England Conservatory in Boston, Mass. Markou also earned a law degree from the Inns of Court School of Law, London, England.

The conductor also is an accomplished violinist and avid chamber musician, having studied violin with Ruggiero Ricci and chamber music with the Amadeus Quartet. He was a member of the Ronda String Trio, the Canton Symphony's Resident String Quartet and the Pittsburgh Chamber Soloists.

He won several awards including conducting fellowships from the Aspen Festival and the American Symphony Orchestra League.

In 1989 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Seton Hill College in Pennsylvania and in 1994 he received the Distinguished Artist of the Year Award from the Cultural Council of Greensburg, Pa.

For more information call the music department at (313) 577-1795.