Dr. Kaitlin Bove, Pierce College | Puyallup, Washington, USA - FOUNDER
Dr. Kaitlin Bove is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Instrumental Ensembles at Pierce College in Puyallup, Washington. Prior to this appointment, she served as a teaching assistant with the band program at University of Kentucky where she was awarded a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Wind Conducting under the tutelage of Cody Birdwell. Kaitlin completed her studies in the spring of 2019 with a dissertation on her wind band transcription process of Caroline Shaw’s Partita for 8 Voices (Pulitzer Prize, 2013). The work was premiered with the University of Kentucky Wind Symphony in March of 2019. Kaitlin earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Education from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California where she studied with Eric Hammer. Kaitlin also serves as a co-founder with the gender parity organization, Girls Who Conduct, and on the board for Lift Our Voices, a scholarship fund for students of marginalized identities in the field of music composition. Dr. Bove served as Director of Bands at Payson High School and Director of Bands and Orchestras at Mt. Nebo Junior High School in Payson, Utah. She is a member of National Band Association, College Band Directors National Association, and Women Band Directors International.
Christian Amonson, Seeing Sound | Los Angeles, California, USA - MASTERING ENGINEER
Christian Amonson is a recording engineer and producer. He served with "The President's Own" U.S. Marine Band from 2014-2019 and has produced recordings with bands at UMass-Amherst, UNC-Chapel Hill, Arkansas Tech, University of Delaware, the College of William & Mary, Azusa Pacific University, San Jose State University, UCLA, Lee University, and others. He has also worked with professional ensembles like the Capital Wind Symphony, Virginia Grand Military Band, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, Choral Arts Society of Washington, the LA Master Chorale, et al. Christian authored "The Fundamentals of Wind Band Recording" and has developed a philosophy of recording and mixing based on seeing sound. He is a member of the Audio Engineer Society, leads the team of recording engineers at Arts Laureate, and is responsible for mastering And We Were Heard recordings.
Dr. Catharine Bushman, St. Cloud State University | St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA - WIND BAND
Dr. Catharine Sinon Bushman received the DMA in Wind Conducting at The University of Texas at Austin in 2012. She holds degrees in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University. She maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician for marching and concert bands. In 2009, she presented a clinic at the Texas Music Educators Conference, sharing her research on a successful band program in a disadvantaged southwest Texas community. She has also presented on woodwind pedagogy, mentoring of women band conductors and music by underrepresented composers at Minnesota Music Educators Association (2017) and the Midwest Clinic (2016, 2018 & 2021). Dr. Bushman launched the first satellite camp of Athena Music & Leadership Camp in Minnesota in 2018. Her professional memberships include College Band Directors National Association, Women Band Directors International, Society for Music Teacher Education and Minnesota Music Educators Association. She is a member of the Executive Council for the Institute for Composer Diversity and partner for the On the List Project and the wind band recording network And We Were Heard.
Dr. Bushman began her teaching career as Director of Bands at Crystal Lake Central High School in Crystal Lake, Illinois. She was the Associate Director of Bands at Lassiter High School in Marietta, Georgia from 1998-2007. The Lassiter Marching “Trojan” Band is a 280-member organization that has performed at the Tournament of Roses Parade, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and has won numerous regional and national championships. She has served on the faculties of Winthrop University (SC) and St. Cloud State University (MN), where she is Associate Professor of Music Education & Instrumental Conducting and is on sabbatical for the 2021-22 school year. She is also the conductor of the Norseman Band at St. Olaf College for the 2021-22 school year.
Dr. Chun-Ming Chen, University of Evansville | Evansville, Indiana, USA - ORCHESTRA
Born in Taiwan, Dr. Chun-Ming Chen is currently the Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Evansville, Indiana and the conductor of the Evansville Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. Previously, Chen has served as Music Director of the Heartland Symphony Orchestra, MN, interim Conductor of the Grinnell Symphony Orchestra in Grinnell, IA, and acting music director of the Coe College Symphony Orchestra in Cedar Rapids, IA. Chen is an active guest conductor and clinician of the Central Indiana All-Region Honor Orchestra and the Indiana Music Education Association Festival and Clinic. Dr. Chen has received his bachelor’s degree in saxophone performance from Tunghai University, master’s degrees in orchestral conducting from Boston Conservatory and Ithaca College, and a doctorate in orchestral conducting from the University of Iowa. His primary teachers have included Dr. Annie Chung, Bruce Hangen, Dr. Jeffery Meyer, and Dr. William LaRue Jones.
Dr. Cliff Croomes, University of Texas | Austin, Texas, USA - WIND BAND
Dr. Cliff Croomes is Assistant Director of Athletic Bands at Louisiana State University. He recently completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree after earning his Master of Music degree in 2017, both from LSU. Prior to his time at LSU, Dr. Croomes taught middle school and high school band in the Austin and San Antonio, Texas areas for fourteen years, with highly successful programs at Douglas MacArthur High School and Georgetown High School where he was the director of Bands from 2011-2015. Dr. Croomes is an active adjudicator and clinician throughout Louisiana and Texas and has worked with ensembles internationally, most notably in Europe and Japan. Dr. Croomes is originally from the Houston area where his family still resides and he earned his Bachelor of Music Education from The University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Allegra Fisher, Sioux Center Christian School | Sioux Center, Iowa, USA - WIND BAND
Dr. Allegra N. Fisher earned her Ph.D. in music curriculum and instruction from Kansas State University in 2021, where she served as a graduate teaching assistant under Dr. Frank Tracz and Dr. Alex Wimmer. Prior to her time at K-State, Dr. Fisher completed her master’s in ethnomusicology at University College Dublin in Dublin, Ireland working under Dr. Jamie Jones. Dr. Fisher is currently teaching in Iowa at Sioux Center Christian School. She teaches general music classes, provides private lessons, and directs the middle school bands, choirs, and jazz band. She is an active adjudicator and clinician in Kansas, Iowa, and South Dakota, performs regularly on bassoon, and conducts at Dordt University, working alongside Dr. Onsby Rose. Dr. Fisher is passionate about developing student leaders in musical ensembles, arranging for athletic bands, and writing drill for high school/collegiate marching bands.
Christian Michael Folk, University of Maryland | College Park, Maryland, USA - WIND BAND
Christian Folk is a music educator, conductor, and performer interested in advocacy and resources for diverse composers and incorporating diversity and inclusion into the music education curriculum. Christian taught for three years in public and private schools in the Charlotte, NC, and Columbia, SC area, and is currently working on his Master's Degree in Music Education with emphasis in Conducting and Euphonium Performance at The University of South Carolina. As a conductor, Christian has guest conducted with the Carolina Wind Symphony and the Congaree New Horizons Band. As a performer, Christian has performed at the Southeastern Regional Tuba-Euphonium Conference and as a guest soloist with the Winthrop University Wind Symphony, and has commissioned pieces from Cait Nishimura, Kimberly Archer, John Mackey, and Nathan Daughtrey. A strong advocate for music by diverse composers, Christian is the creator of two databases for wind band and orchestra that catalogued thousands of works by women composers and composers of color, which have been featured in clinics at The Midwest Clinic and the National Association for Music Education Conference.
Dr. Thomas Gamboa, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music | Cincinnati, OHio, USA - WIND BAND
Dr. Thomas Gamboa is originally from San Diego, California. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in Music Education and Music Performance in bassoon. He also earned a Masters of Music degree in wind conducting from Northwestern University where he studied with Mallory Thompson and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in wind conducting from the University of Michigan where he studied with Michael Haithcock. Gamboa was a conductor for the United States Air Force Band where he held the rank of Captain and served active duty as the Conductor and Commander of the United States Air Force Band at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. He later served as Associate Conductor and Flight Commander of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Band at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. He earned his commission from Officer Training School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama in February 2011. As an educator, Gamboa taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District at West Adams Preparatory High School in inner city Los Angeles as the Instrumental Music Director and Music Department Chair. He was also an instructor for the National High School Music Institute in the areas of conducting and chamber music, in addition to his duties as Assistant Conductor for the NHSMI Wind Ensemble. Dr. Gamboa currently teaches at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music holding the position of Assistant Professor of Music and Assistant Director of Wind Studies. At CCM, he serves as the director of the Wind Ensemble, teaches undergraduate- and graduate-level conducting courses, and supervises music education interns and student teachers.
Evan Harger, Marywood University | Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA -
ORCHESTRA Historical Research
Evan Harger is Director of Orchestral Activities at Marywood University where he also teaches the undergraduate Music History sequence, conducting classes, and other academic courses. He is currently A.B.D. at Michigan State University under the tutelage of Kevin Noe. An advocate for teaching applied philosophy of music to undergraduate music majors, he has presented at Oxford University's International Conducting Studies Conference on John Dewey’s philosophy of mind and how it can inform our rehearsal design. As a passionate advocate for the undergraduate liberal arts model of education, Evan strives to empower students to engage with the 'musicking' process in a way that encourages empathy and understanding in our interdependent world.
Dr. Hyeyoun Jang, College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University | St. Joseph, Minnesota, USA - ORCHESTRA
Dr. Hyeyoun Jang is passionate about inspiring the next generation of musicians, she has served as Visiting Orchestra Director at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University and as Conductor of the Dubuque Symphony Youth Orchestra. She also was a faculty member at the Florida Southern College String Camp in the summers of 2018 and 2019. Dr. Jang won the Fort Wayne Philharmonic International Workshop in 2019 and led the “Winner Conducts Mozart” concert with that same orchestra in the 2020 season. She has been privileged to actively participate in valued workshops and festivals, including those of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the Gyeong-Gi Philharmonic Orchestra (South Korea), the Chun-Cheon City Philharmonic Orchestra (South Korea), and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. She also was honored to be able to work with the North Texas Symphony Orchestra, the NOVA Contemporary Ensemble, the University of Iowa Orchestra Chamber Orchestra, UI Opera Production, and the Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra. Born in Busan and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Dr. Jang began her music studies by learning violin and piano. She also holds a Master’s in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Iowa and further still, she achieved a DMA in Orchestra Conducting from the University of North Texas. Dr. Jang has studied with famous conductors, including tutorials with Larry Rachleff, Kenneth Kiesler, Andrew Constantine, Gerard Schwarz, Octavio Más-Arocas and Cristian Macelaru. Her conducting is influenced by David Itkin, Ki-sun Sung, and William LaRue Jones.
Janet Song Kim, Nebraska Wesleyan University | Lincoln, Nebraska, USA - WIND BAND
Janet Song Kim is a second-year doctoral assistant in wind band conducting at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where she studies with Travis J. Cross. Previously, she earned a master of arts degree in instrumental conducting from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and her bachelor of music degree in music education and jazz studies magna cum laude from Montclair State University. During her time at Montclair State University, she also had the opportunity to study composition with Alan Ferber and orchestration with Patrick Burns. Kim began her career as a band director at Northern Valley Demarest High School and continued to work with other middle school and high school bands throughout New Jersey during her time as a public school educator. Her primary conducting teachers include Timothy A. Paul, Jason Worzbyt, Shelley Axelson, and Thomas McCauley. Kim also currently serves as the associate director of the Peninsula Symphonic Winds.
Ho-Yin Kwok, Mississippi Valley Orchestra | Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, USA - ORCHESTRA
Described by Classical Voice of North Carolina (CVNC) as an “impressive conductor...outstanding in his attention to detail and his command of the big picture”, Hong Kong-born conductor Ho-Yin Kwok is the winner of 2017-2018 Vincent C. LaGuardia, Jr. Conducting Competition. He concurrently serves as artistic director and conductor of the Mississippi Valley Orchestra in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, assistant conductor of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, and director of the Duluth Superior Youth Symphony. Previously, Ho-Yin served as visiting director of orchestra and violin/viola instructor at the University of Minnesota Duluth and has been adjudicator for competitions such as the Minnesota Orchestra Young People's Symphony Concert Association’s Concerto Competition. He is a DMA candidate at the University of Minnesota. Ho-Yin has previously studied with Gerard Schwarz, Cristian Măcelaru and Colin Metters. Ho-Yin obtained a master's degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Iowa. His principal conducting teachers are Mark Russell Smith and William LaRue Jones.
Mary Kate McNally, Mapleton Public Schools | Denver, CO, USA - WIND BAND
Mary Kate McNally leads the band directing team for Mapleton Public Schools in Thornton, Colorado. Her teaching responsibilities include beginning band, high school marching band, and high school wind ensemble. Before returning to public schools, she served as the Director of Athletic Bands at Ohio Wesleyan University from 2017 to 2021, where she was tasked with reviving a marching band program that had not existed at the institution since the fall of 1961. She earned her Masters of Music in Conducting from Kent State University. In 2016, she was the recipient of Kent State's Wayne D. Gorder Graduate Student Award as well as a CBDNA Mike Moss Conducting Grant. A native of Colorado, Mary Kate previously served as the K-12 music teacher at Deer Trail School District, where she was responsible for teaching all levels of general music, band, choir, and guitar. Mary Kate earned her Bachelor of Music Education from Henderson State University. She is a member of NAfME, OMEA, CBDNA, and is an honorary member of the Alpha Gamma chapter of Tau Beta Sigma.
Dr. Kira Omelchenko, Wilfrid Laurier University | Waterloo, Ontario, CA - ORCHESTRA
Winner of the International Conductors Workshop and Competition, Dr. Kira Omelchenko is an Associate Professor of Music and the Conductor of the Wilfrid Laurier University Symphony Orchestra (Ontario, Canada). As the 2017 winner of the International Institute for Conductors in Bulgaria, Dr. Omelchenko has appeared as guest conductor with the Vidin State Philharmonic Orchestra (Bulgaria), University of Aveiro Orchestra (Portugal), Gwinnett Symphony Chamber Symphony (GA), Imperial Symphony Orchestra (FL), as well as conducted at the Seasons Music Festival Orchestra in Yakima, Washington, the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Orchestra (Russia), and the Bulgarian State Opera in Burgas. As a recipient of the National American Prize in Music (Prize Winner in Opera Conducting), she directed and conducted the String Orchestra Camps at Florida Southern College and The University of Tampa. In addition, Dr. Omelchenko served as string director for the International Opera Performing Experience Festival in Mercatello sul Metauro (Italy). A recipient of the Sigma Alpha Iota Conducting Scholarship, Dr. Omelchenko has presented research at national and state conferences in the United States including NSEE, NAfME, ASTA, and FMEA. She has held international conducting fellowships and studied in Vienna, Rotterdam and Amsterdam (Netherland) conservatories. A passionate educator, Dr. Omelchenko was the 2018 recipient of the Miller Distinguished Professor Award, which recognizes excellence in Teaching and Advising. As a highly sought-after and innovative lecturer, clinician, and adjudicator, she has conducted various All-County Orchestra Festivals, and has been invited to conduct the 2021 Florida All-State Honors Orchestra and the 2020 Orlando All-County Orchestra. Dr. Omelchenko holds a doctoral degree in music from the University of Iowa where she studied orchestral conducting with Dr. William LaRue Jones.
Jordan Randall Smith, Susquehanna University | Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, USA - ORCHESTRA
Jordan Randall Smith is the Director of Orchestras at Susquehanna University, Music Director of Symphony Number One (2019 American Prize Winner), and Creative Director of the International Florence Price Festival. Jordan's leadership of Mahler's fourth symphony was praised by the Baltimore Sun: "The third movement, in particular, was quite sensitively molded." Conductor Alan Gilbert called Jordan’s conducting, “impressive.” A former Bruno Walter Fellow at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Smith recently received 2nd Place in The American Prize in Conducting. He has recorded four critically-acclaimed albums and led over 50 world premieres. Smith has mentored hundreds of young musicians across the country as a conductor of youth orchestras and is in demand as a clinician for school orchestras. A Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in Conducting at the Peabody Conservatory, Jordan studied with Gustav Meier, Marin Alsop, and Markand Thakar. For more information, visit jordanrsmith.com.
Dr. David Tedford, Bloomsburg University | Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, USA - ORCHESTRA
Dr. David Tedford is Assistant Professor of Music at Bloomsburg University and Conductor of the Bloomsburg University Community Orchestra. He also oversees multiple educational and community engagement programs for area high school musicians. Other responsibilities include teaching applied violin and viola, instrumental conducting, orchestration, and string methods. Dr. Tedford is an active guest conductor and clinician, having conducted festival orchestras along the East Coast and in the Midwest. An advocate for new music and music education, Dr. Tedford is an active member of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association and the College Orchestra Directors Association’s Repertoire Committee. Dr. Tedford received his bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Grove City College, his master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from Ohio University, and his doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Iowa. He has had the privilege to study conducting with William LaRue Jones, Steven Huang, Kenneth Kiesler, Donald Portnoy, Stuart Malina, Timothy Dixon, Robert Page, and Markand Thakar.
Dr. Chaowen Ting, NANOWorks Opera and Georgia Tech | Atlanta, Georgia, USA - ORCHESTRA
Conductor Chaowen Ting’s work is driven by the passion for demystifying classical music for the general public. In the past years, she is dedicated to creating innovative concert experiences that are relevant to the community, such as the Opera for Everyone concert series and the music—mathematics—dance performance of The Seven Bridges of Königsberg. Equally at home in the symphonic realm and opera houses, Ting was conducting fellow of The Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute for Women Conductors and conducting fellow of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. She has conducted through the U.S. and Europe, including the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Lucerne Festival Strings (Switzerland), Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (Norway), the Dallas Opera Orchestra, the Philadelphia Opera, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Ting currently serves as Music Director of NANOWorks Opera and Principal Guest Conductor of Ensemble VIM, a contemporary music collective with a focus on diversity within the arts.
Ogechi Ukazu, University of Texas | Austin, Texas, USA - WIND BAND
Ogechi Ukazu is a doctoral candidate at University of Texas in Austin where she is a teaching assistant with the UT band program. Prior to this position, she served as Visiting Instructor of Instrumental Music at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas. Ms. Ukazu spent 10 years as a Band Director in both middle and high schools in the Houston area. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Houston and a Master’s Degree in Conducting from Sam Houston State University. In 2011, the Claughton Middle School Symphonic Band, under the direction of Ms. Ukazu, performed at the Midwest International Band & Orchestra Clinic. Ms. Ukazu is an avid proponent of quality music education for all students and has presented on music education advocacy at workshops and clinics around the state of Texas.
Jonathan M. Villela, University of Texas | Austin, Texas, USA - WIND BAND
Jonathan M. Villela serves as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Texas at Austin where he assists with concert ensembles, undergraduate conducting instruction, and the Longhorn Marching Band. He holds a Bachelor in Music Education from the Greenwood School of Music at Oklahoma State University, where he graduated as a Velma Forbes Scholar. Subsequently, Villela taught at Four Points Middle School (Leander ISD) where he conducted the group at the 69th Midwest Clinic and was a presenter in the following year. A guest conductor of Cedar Park Winds, Villela led the ensemble’s submission to the international conference, thus yielding the group’s invitation and performance at the 71st Midwest Clinic where he premiered Donald Grantham’s Effulgent Light. At the University of Texas, Villela was recently named recipient of the Richard E. Rainwater Grant for Innovation, recipient of the Austin Cultural Arts Initiative, and is a Texas Music Educators Graduate Scholar. Villela is currently pursuing graduate work in Wind Conducting through the tutelage of Professor Jerry Junkin.
Dr. Rachel L. Waddell, University of Rochester | Rochester, New York, USA – Orchestra
American conductor Rachel Waddell is in the business of shared experiences. She became a conductor because of her own love of the process of music creation, and she wants to enable as many as possible to share their own stories through music. She believes 21st century orchestras have an opportunity to mirror the American people through diverse programs, orchestras, and audiences, and she is passionately committed to bringing that vision to fruition. As a conductor she prides herself in her ability to grow orchestras and their resources, on her innovative programming, and her ability to build meaningful connections with her community. Rachel serves as the Director of Orchestral Activities and Assistant Professor, with the Arthur Satz Department of Music at the University of Rochester in New York. Lauded as, “a conductor of creativity and courage,” she won both second place (2019) and third place (2020) in the American Prize’s Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award in Orchestral Programming for her work with the UR Orchestras. She marries her commitment to conducting and education by maintaining a busy profile in the professional and academic worlds. Currently she is a Music Director Candidate for the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra. She has conducted orchestras across the country including the Rochester, Las Vegas, and Fort Wayne Philharmonics, and Cleveland’s Suburban Symphony. Previously she served as the Associate Conductor of the Canton Symphony Orchestra.
Rachel’s interest in the constantly evolving role and responsibility of orchestras within their communities led her to co-found Conductors for Change, Inc., a New York-based non-profit organization. In addition to Waddell’s active professional career, she places immense value on continuing to develop her own craft and to inspire and educate others. She is a student of Ennio Nicotra, Italian conductor and famed Musin Technique pedagogue. She has attended numerous conducting workshops, seminars, and institutes including the Dallas Opera’s prestigious Hart Institute for Women Conductors, and Mark Shapiro’s Intermediate Conducting Intensive at Juilliard. Rachel holds a DMA in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a certificate in Music Industry Essentials from the prestigious Clive Davis of Record Music at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.