Careers

Head Music Librarian, Florida State University

Laura Gayle Green holds degrees from Ashland College (B. music, piano), the University of Virginia (M.A., musicology), and Indiana University (M.L.S. with an emphasis in music librarianship). She became Head of the Warren D. Allen Music Library at Florida State University in July 2012. Previous positions include Director, Music/Media Library at the University of Missouri—Kansas City (UMKC, 1993-2012) with an appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Conservatory of Music and Dance, and Visiting Assistant Librarian, Music Cataloger at Indiana University (1990-1993). Ms. Green has been published in Cataloging and Classification Quarterly and Music Reference Services Quarterly, and has invited articles in Women and Music in America Since 1900 (Oryx Press 2002). She has been a speaker and panelist at the Appalachian Studies Association, Music Library Association (MLA), Music Library Association Midwest Chapter, American Musicological Association, Society for American Music, and Innovative Users Group meetings. Ms. Green has served as Convention Manager, Assistant Convention Manager, Treasurer/Executive Secretary, Program Chair, and Co-Chair Local Arrangements Committee for MLA. Ms. Green serves on the advisory board for Naxos Music Library and is on the editorial board for College Music Symposium.

Professor of Popular Music Studies, University of Agders, Norway

Norwegian Associate Professor Dr. Ingolv Haaland (b.1973) is a composer, arranger, pianist and scholar who have collaborated with independent artists, musicians and academic institutions in Southeast Asia and The Middle East since 2006.

He has a master in popular music performance (2010) and published his PhD thesis Intercultural Musical Collaboration–Towards A Global Sound (2020) as an innovative stand-alone webpage (globalsoundphd.com) combining artistic research and popular musicology.

Haaland has a particular interest in Thai Traditional Music Instruments and are collaborating with Thai, Southeast Asian and Arabic artists on how to compose and perform new and innovative soundscapes rooted in the respective cultures.

Haaland has published six albums since 2009 and in 2019 he received the Norwegian National Grant as a composer.

Haaland is currently employed at the Department of Popular Music, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Agder, Norway.

He is an active member in the network organisations SEADOM and IASPM-SEA and have lectured in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, Lebanon and Palestine.

Professor of Music, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (Emeritus)

Carole Dawn Reinhart was born in Roselle, New Jersey on Dec. 20th, 1941. Her mother played trombone and started her daughter on the slide cornet at age two and a half. By the time Reinhart was 7, she was playing duets in concert with her older brother, who was an accomplished trumpeter. At age 10, she received a scholarship to study with Edward Treutel at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. She was first chair in New Jersey’s All-State Bands and Orchestras. At age 16, she was commissioned as the youngest and only woman bandmaster in the Salvation Army, and made her first international appearance as guest soloist and conductor at a youth congress in Toronto, Canada.

After graduating from high school, Reinhart received a symphony orchestra scholarship to the University of Miami, where she worked under Fabian Sevitzky and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts. A Fulbright scholarship then took her to study with Helmut Wobisch in Vienna, where she was the first woman brass player to achieve the coveted “Reifezeugnis” with honors. Reinhart then returned to New York to complete her education at the Juilliard School of Music, where she was first trumpet in the Juilliard Orchestra and received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Science degrees. Following graduation, Reinhart played regularly in the orchestra at Radio City Music Hall and in Leopold Stokowski’s American Symphony Orchestra. She continued as a Getzen clinician soloing with high school and college bands and various orchestras, and appeared on numerous TV shows, including the “Tonight Show”, the “Mike Douglas Show” and several Al Hirt “Fanfare” shows. In 1968, she performed for American servicemen on a USO tour of Asia during the Vietnam war.

In 1971, Reinhart moved to Berlin, Germany where she played studio sessions, filled in as principal trumpet at the “Deutsche Oper”, and built up her solo career with symphony and chamber orchestras, averaging 125 concerts a year, as well as television performances and radio recordings. In addition she made solo albums for Deutsche Grammophon and BASF with the Munich Philharmonic, German Bach Soloists, Amsterdam Chamber Orchestra and Wuerttemberg Chamber Orchestra. Her concert tours have taken her throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, the United States, Canada, and Australia, where she performed in Melbourne with the Australian Symphony for over 100,000 people with “live” national television coverage.

In 1983, Reinhart was offered a professorship at the prestigious University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In 1994, the Vienna University Press published the book, “Carole Dawn Reinhart – Aspects of a Career”, which is now available from IWBC in an updated 3^rd edition with CD. (<generalmanager@myiwbc.org> Proceeds go to IWBC) After a 40 year performance career, Reinhart ceased concertizing in 1996 but continues to be active teaching at the university in Vienna, giving master classes around the world, and serving as a juror for competitions. In 2009, with the dissertation theme, “Women Brass Musicians”, she earned her PhD. Reinhart, a founding member of ITG who served on the ITG Board of Directors and performed at the 1st International Brass Conference held in Montreux, Switzerland in 1976, is the longest affiliated Getzen playing artist, since “Doc” Severinsen gave her a Getzen trumpet on the “Tonight Show” in 1964.

Fontys University of the Arts, Tilburg

One of the ‘Big Three’ in bass clarinet history, Henri Bok is a very active worldwide ambassador of his beloved instrument, one to which he has devoted his life as a performer, teacher, improviser, and composer. His unique rich and warm sound can be heard on numerous recordings.

Bok is noted for his new sound combinations leading to unusual instrumental groups: Duo Contemporain (with marimba/vibraphone), Duo Novair (with accordion), Bass Instincts (with bass oboe), Duo Clarones (bass clarinet duo with Luis Afonso ‘Montanha’), Duo HeRo (with jazz pianist Rob van Bavel) and Duo Hevans (with Eleri Ann Evans, saxophones).

Bok has also collaborated with fellow musicians Gustavo Beytelmann, José Luis Estellés, Mike Garson, Josef Horák, Bennie Maupin, Justo Sanz, Louis Sclavis, Willem Tanke, Henri Tournier, Dawn Upshaw, Eric Vloeimans, and many others from all styles and genres. These collaborations have resulted in many new pieces dedicated to him.

Bok has been professor of bass clarinet at Codarts/Rotterdam Superior Conservatoire (The Netherlands). He was professor of bass clarinet at Musikene until 2020 (San Sebastian, Spain), as well as guest professor at the Robert Schumann Hochschule für Musik (Düsseldorf, Germany). He has just taken up a new position at the Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Tilburg. Since 2000, he has also taught the bass clarinet class during the annual Julian Menéndez clarinet summer course in Ávila (Spain). Bok is also professor of free improvisation and has performed at several improvisation festivals (amongst others in Tallinn, Estonia).

New Techniques for the Bass Clarinet (www.shoepair.com), which Bok wrote in 1989 (revised in 2011), is the standard work for instrumentalists and composers interested in extended techniques.

In 2005 Bok was the initiator and artistic director of the first World Bass Clarinet Convention, which took place in Rotterdam and was attended by more than five hundred bass clarinetists from all over the world. Following his first piece Vinho do Porto Brasileiro (1997), Bok has written many solo works and chamber music. His compositions are published by Shoepair Music.

In recognition of his exceptional contribution to music, Henri Bok was made a knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion by King Willem Alexander in April 2014. In 2018 he received his PhD at Leiden University with a thesis entitled ‘The deep-rooted microtonality of the bass clarinet’. Bok is an endorser for Buffet Crampon , D’Addario reeds, Pomarico, and Wiseman bells and cases.

Chief of the President’s Office, Kunitachi College of Music (Emeritus)

Mr. Hiroshi Ando is a prominent music researcher who has deep insight into music cooperation between Southeast Asia and Japan. Born in Hiroshima, Japan, he studied musicology at the Tokyo University of the Arts. During his involvement with Kunitachi College of Music as director of Concert Office and President’s Office between 1990-2017, he managed and produced numerous concerts and created international exchange programs with more than ten universities in Europe, USA, East Asia and Southeast Asia as well.

Along with those official activities, Mr. Ando is very active in writing and committed to developing music in society. He has published numerous concert reviews, liner notes and articles, appeared on many radio programs, and given presentations at several international conferences.

His recent research reports “Music Education System in ASEAN Countries” have been published in the website of Piano Teachers’ National Association of Japan

Distinguished Professor of Composition, University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory

Born in Guangzhou in 1953, Dr. Chen Yi received her composition degrees from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and Columbia University in New York, studying with Profs. Wu Zuqiang, Chou Wen-chung, and Mario Davidovsky.  She has been the Distinguished Endowed Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory since 1998. She had also served as Composer-in-Residence for the Women’s Philharmonic, the vocal ensemble Chanticleer, and the Aptos Creative Arts Center in San Francisco (1993-96), supported by Meet The Composer, and taught on the composition faculty at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore (1996-98).

Chen Yi blends Chinese and Western traditions, transcending cultural and musical boundaries. She has composed over 150 works ranging from solo instruments and chamber groups (over 60), to chorus (over 30), and large ensembles (over 50, including orchestra or wind band, concertos, or mixed vocal and instrumental works), recorded in over 120 commercially released CDs on various labels, and received the prestigious Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2001. Published by Theodore Presser Company, her music has reached a wide range of audiences and inspired people around the world.

As a strong advocate for new music with diversity and inclusion, particularly for women in music, Prof. Chen has been awarded 5 Honorary Doctorates in the States and Distinguished Visiting Professorship from many music institutes in China. She has been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2019.

International Brass Recording Artists

For 35 years, Boston Brass has set out to establish a one-of-a-kind musical experience. Performing exciting classical arrangements to burning jazz standards, Boston Brass treats audiences to a unique brand of entertainment captivating all ages. The ensemble’s lively repartee, touched with humor and personality, attempts to bridge the ocean of classical formality to delight audiences in an evening of great music and boisterous fun. The philosophy of Boston Brass is to provide audiences with a wide selection of musical styles in unique arrangements, provided in a friendly and fun atmosphere.

Through over 100 performances each year, the members of Boston Brass play to audiences at concerts, educational venues and jazz festivals. In addition to solo performances, Boston Brass regularly performs with orchestras, wind ensemble, brass bands, marching bands and a variety of other ensembles. They have performed in all 50 states and 32 countries and have conducted master classes around the world including sessions and residencies at the Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Peabody Conservatory of Music, University of North Texas, Royal Academy of Music in London, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory at the National University of Singapore, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and Mahidol University in Bangkok.

Boston Brass is a Yamaha Performing Group and has been featured educators and performers at the Mid West Band and Orchestra Clinic, World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, Japan Band Clinic, Music Educators National Conferences, American Bandmaster Association Conference, The American Band College, Western International Band Clinic and Texas Bandmasters Association Convention.

Boston Brass has been featured on The CBS Early Show, National Public Radio’s Performance Today, The Great American Brass Band Festival and has recorded many diverse albums. Their latest recording “Concerto Grosso” is a collaboration with Eric Rombach-Kendall and University of New Mexico Wind Ensemble, “Reminiscing” is a tribute to Rolf Smedvig of the Empire Brass, “Rewired” features new arrangements by the members of Boston Brass, Latin Nights, features a collection of some of the greatest classical and jazz works by Latin composers and performers and features the legendary drummer Steve Gadd, the beautiful voice of Talita Real, percussion and guitar. Other albums include Ya Gotta Try, featuring music from Horace Silver, Chick Corea and Dizzy Gillespie, produced by legendary jazz recording genius Rudy van Gelder andWithin Earshot, featuring classical works by Shostakovich, Ginastera, Dvorak, Liszt and others.

Boston Brass has two holiday recordings, Christmas Bells are Swingin’, and The Stan Kenton Christmas Carols, featuring the Boston Brass All-Stars Big Band playing the truly phenomenal charts made popular by the Stan Kenton Orchestra. Boston Brass tours a vibrant holiday show each year featuring many of the charts from these two albums, combined with a variety of solo and combo selections and some fun surprises, which has quickly established the show as a perennial audience favorite.

2011 marked the 25th Anniversary of Boston Brass and was celebrated with the “25 Fanfares Project,” wherein 25 fanfares were premiered by composers from all over the country.  Boston Brass also premiered a new major commission by noted wind ensemble composer Brian Balmages and new arrangements by the legendary Sam Pilafian. Additionally, Boston Brass was very excited to have the opportunity to collaborate in the 2010/2011 season with the fabulous Imani Winds in a program entitled “Sketches of Spain,” featuring the music of Miles Davis and Gil Evans. In the 2012/2013 season the quintet began touring their “Notes from the Balcony” program with the Enso String Quartet. The program features music based on “Romeo and Juliet”

Vice Principal, Royal Conservatoire, The Hague, Former CEO, Association of European Conservatories (AEC)

Martin Prchal (1967) was born in Prague and grew up in The Netherlands following the move of his family there in 1968. After starting cello lessons with his father, he pursued professional music studies in the US (with cellists Frantisek Smetana and Orlando Cole), Czechoslovakia (with Milos Sadlo), the UK (with William Pleeth) and the Netherlands (with Elias Arizcuren), where he obtained his teaching and performance diplomas. He also holds a MA degree in musicology from Utrecht University. Following a career as a performing musician touring extensively with various ensembles such as the EU Chamber Orchestra and the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, he fulfilled several assignments in the fields of international relations and pre-college training at the conservatoires of Utrecht, Groningen and The Hague. At the Utrecht Conservatory, he founded and coordinated the ERASMUS InterUniversity Co-operation Programme ‘Polyphonia’ in 1992, a network of conservatoires that implemented one of the first ERASMUS student and teacher exchanges in the field of music and various curriculum development programmes at European level. In 2001, he was appointed as the first Chief Executive of the European Association of Conservatoires (AEC), a post he held until 2011. During his time with the AEC, several large European cooperation projects were realised (e.g. the ERASMUS Network for Music ‘Polifonia’, ‘Mundus Musicalis’, ‘DoReMiFaSOCRATES’ and ‘Accreditation in European Professional Music Training’) that developed various tools to support and promote European and international cooperation in the conservatoire sector. These tools include handbooks on curriculum development and international exchange, a subject-specific European Qualification Framework and a European-level subject-specific system to external quality assurance and accreditation in the field of music. In the field of quality assurance in higher education, Martin has served on the boards of the Flemish and Swiss accreditation agencies, has participated as an expert in review and accreditation visits in various countries worldwide, and has until recently been the chair of the board of MusiQuE – Music Quality Enhancement, a European-level organisation for evaluation and accreditation in higher music education based in Brussels, which is executing reviews and accreditations all over the world. Since 2011, Martin is vice-principal at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where he oversees curriculum development, quality assurance, research, curricular innovation and international affairs. He is a frequent author of articles on higher music education, internationalisation and quality assurance in various international journals and publications. Since 2020, Martin is also vice-president of the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA).

Director, BBC Orchestras and Chorus

Paul Hughes joined the BBC in 1999 and is Director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and of the BBC Singers.   A graduate of Trinity College of Music where he studied piano, composition and conducting, Paul Hughes came to the BBC following a number of key roles with The Academy of Ancient Music (General Manager), IMG Artists, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Chief Executive) and the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra (General Manager).

Under his directorship, the BBC ensembles have toured the world, recorded extensively, expanded audiences live, on air and on social media, undertaken a wide range of innovative education and audience development projects and championed new music, new composers and new artists.   Paul Hughes has been leading on the design of a new studio complex for the BBC ensembles he directs, which is currently under construction on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the site of the 2021 Olympic Games, and due to open in 2025.

While at the BBC Paul Hughes has attracted the widest range of international artist collaborators, making several key appointments and relationships with, amongst others, Sir Andrew Davis, Jiri Belohlavek, Sakarik Oramo, Semyon Bychkov, Oliver Knussen,  Sofi Jeannin, Jules  Buckley, Dame Judith Weir, John Adams, Mark Anthony Turnage and Brett Dean

A Governor of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for nine years, Paul has a passion for discovering and nurturing the next generation of musicians and audiences, and is a guest lecturer at several of the UK’s leading conservatoires.    He is the recipient of honorary membership from Trinity College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Royal College of Music and has recently been honoured by the Finnish government with the award of Knight First Class of the Order of the Lion,  for services to Finnish music and musicians.

Paul Hughes is a regular juror for international competitions including the inaugural Evgeny Svetlanov Conducting Competition (2007), the Long Thibaud Crespin piano and violin competitions (2014 and 2015), the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition (2018 and 2021), and the Hastings International Piano Competition (2022).   He also returns as a main panel member of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.

From 2021 Paul Hughes is delighted to be joining the International Advisory Council of the College of Music, Mahidol University, Bangkok.

Former Dean, Professor of Music, College of Music, University of the Philippines

Prof. Acoymo is a First-Prize Winner of the United States National Association of Teachers of Singing Voice Competition.  His Recital Debut at the Alice Tully Hall Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts was described as a “triumph” by the New-York – based “Headline Philippines”.

Admitted into the Philippine ALIW (“JOY”) Foundation Awards for Live Music and Theater Performance Hall of Fame – he has garnered from the University of the Philippines the Chancellor’s Award for Most Outstanding Classical Music Performer and two Artist’s Productivity Awards. He has been awarded for outstanding contributions to Music by the same institution’s Alumni Association and its PHI KAPPA PHI International Honor Society Chapter, as well as by the Alumni Association of De La Salle University.

He has served as Committee Chair for the Philippine National Artist Award for Music; Dean of the University of the Philippines College of Music; Chair of the Technical Panel for Music for the Philippines’ Commission on Higher Education; and Secretary-General and Program Director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines National Music Competition for Young Artists.

The Tenor has most recently completed Lectures, Lecture-Performances and/or Performances notably in Phnom Penh, Cambodia at the Royal University of Fine Arts; Yangon, Myanmar for the Philippine National Heritage Month; Hanoi, Vietnam for its Institute of Music; Vientiane, Laos for a Philippine Embassy Voice Workshop; Salaya Thailand for the Mahidol University College of Music Department of Voice; and cities in California, the United States.

He was a Keynote Speaker for the International Conference on Asia-Pacific Arts Studies in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and Stage & Co-Music Director of the World Premiere of the University of the Philippines College of Music Centennial Opera DIWATA (“Enchanted Muse”) staged at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. November 2020 saw the ” Missa Laudato Si’ ” (the music for which he composed) given its World Concert Premiere in the Philippines.

Founding Chief Conductor, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra

Gudni A. Emilsson was born in Reykjavik, Iceland. At the age of 4 he started music lessons with his father. As a master’s degree candidate at the State University of Music Trossingen in Germany, he studied piano with Wolfgang Wagenhauser and conducting with Walter Hugler. Gudni has also taken Master Classes, Workshops and assisted conductors including: Walter Hugler, Sergiu Celibidache, Kirk Trevor,Lutz Koehler, Rudolf Barshai, Ilya Musin, Myung Wung Chung, Helmut
Rilling, John Eliot Gardiner and Bernard Haitink.

Emilsson has made guest appearances throughout the world with major orchestras such as the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestra of Nurnberg, the Symphony Orchestra of Goettingen, the Mannheim Chamber Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Leipzig and the North West Germany Philharmonic. He has further served as a guest conductor for other orchestras and choirs like the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Bankja Chamber Orchestra of Sofia, the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra in Bulgaria, the Kotor Art- Festival Orchestra in Montenegro, the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra in Greece, the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic in Czech Republic, the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra in Prague, Symphony Orchestra of the National Theatre in Prague, Radio Symphony Orchestra in Prague, the Radio Choir of Prague, the Bucharest Radio Choir, the South Bohemian Chamber Orchestra in Czech Republic, the Poland Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tonkunstler Orchestra of Vienna in Austria. Outside of Europe he was been well received as a guest conductor of the Arctic Chamber Orchestra (USA), the Orchestra “Sesi” Porto Alegre (Brazil), the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra USA and the Vietnamese National Symphony Orchestra.

From 2000 to 2004 Emilsson was the Chief Conductor of the Suk Chamber Orchestra in Prague, Czech Republic. In 2005 he started as the Chief Conductor of the Orchestra Camerata Bohemica Prague. Since 2002 he has been serving as the Artistic Director and Cultural Attaché of the Classical Music Festival of the University City of Tubingen in Germany. Since 1999 he has been the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Tubingen Chamber Orchestra touring in over 40 countries all over the world supported by the German Council of Music, the German Government and the Goethe Institute. In 2005 Emilsson took over the new role as the Chief Conductor of the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, which is under the patronage of the Royal Thai Government and Mahidol University College of Music in Bangkok.

Former Dean, Franz Liszt Hochschule,Weimar, Germany

1945 in Zinnwald geboren, erhielt Rolf-Dieter Arens mit fünf Jahren seinen ersten Klavierunterricht. Von 1963 bis 1968 studierte er an der Hochschule für Musik Leipzig Klavier bei Prof. H. Volger und Kammermusik bei Prof. L. Schuster. Außerdem nahm er an Meisterkursen bei Paul Badura-Skoda in Wien teil. Nach intensiver Lehrtätigkeit an den Musikhochschulen in Leipzig und Weimar in den Jahren 1970 bis 1986 wurde er 1986 als ordentlicher Professor für Klavier an die Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar berufen. Parallel dazu unternahm er bis 1991 als Solist des Berliner Sinfonieorchesters ausgedehnte Tourneen durch ganz Europa und spielte darüber hinaus als Solist und Kammermusiker in Europa, Asien und Südamerika. Er konzertierte u. a. mit den Dirigenten Kurt Masur, Herbert Blomstedt, Sir Neville Marriner und Marek Janowski. Neben der Ausrichtung von Meisterkursen in Japan und Südkorea wirkt Arens regelmäßig als Juror bei internationalen Wettbewerben in Bolzano, Budapest, Dublin, Santander, Utrecht, Weimar und Wien. Sein Schaffen ist in einer Fülle von Rundfunk- und TV-Aufnahmen sowie CD-Einspielungen dokumentiert.

Von 1993 bis 1999 sowie erneut seit 2007 ist Rolf-Dieter Arens zudem Künstlerischer Leiter der Sommermusikakademie Schloss Hundisburg. 1995 gründete er die Kammermusikvereinigung “Weimarer Solisten”.  Seit 2000 ist er Künstlerischer Leiter des Internationalen FRANZ LISZT Klavierwettbewerbs Weimar-Bayreuth. Seit 2006 wirkt Arens als Kuratoriumsmitglied in der NEUEN LISZT STIFTUNG WEIMAR. Von 2001 bis 2010 amtierte er als Rektor der Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar. Für seine Verdienste um den Künstler und Musikvisionär Franz Liszt wurde ihm 2011 der “Premio Liszt” in Grottamare (Italien) verliehen. Als Präsident der Kulturstiftung Leipzig war Rolf-Dieter Arens für die Einrichtung einer Wagner-Dauerausstellung in der Alten Nikolaischule in der Geburtsstadt des Komponisten mit verantwortlich, die im Mai 2013 eröffnet wurde. Im Jahr 2014 wurde Arens mit dem Thüringer Verdienstorden geehrt. Im Studienjahr 2014/15 übernimmt er eine Gastprofessur im Fach Klavier an der Mahidol University in Bangkok (Thailand).

Professor of Music, Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing

Dai Zhonghui an international well-known trumpet artist and conductor is the Professor of Trumpet at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, China and former Principal Trumpet of the National Orchestra of China (1996-2006). He is vice president of China Association for Winds, President of Asia chapter of World Trumpet Society.

Over the last two decades, Professor Dai has done more for connecting Chinese trumpet players, teachers, and students to the rest of the world than any other individual in his country. He has hosted many international trumpet conferences and competitions all over China, bringing international guest artists to China for the first time. He has been an active member of the International Trumpet Guild, encouraging his students to participate in ITG competitions, and they have gone on to win prizes. Dai’s former students can be found as professionals throughout China and abroad.

Zhonghui has been studied in the U.S International University and the University of Southern California in the United States where he earned a master’s degree and  he was the first candidate for the Artist diploma program as wind instrument player at the Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California.  His teachers include Thomas Stevens, Boyde Hood, Charlie Shlueter and Rob Roy MacGregor.

Dai recorded several recordings for trumpet and piano and these have been heard in every corner of China and beyond. As a Conductor, he has been invited to lead major orchestras in China, and is frequently invited to conduct internationally, also in academic settings in the United States. He has been a clinician, and adjudicator at major competitions in Asia, Europe, and the US.

In recent Years, his students have won international competitions such as first prize of London “Grand Prize Virtuoso” and one of the three finalists for International Trumpet Guild “Orchestra Excerpt” Competition 2021.

Vice Dean, Yong Siew Tow Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore

Singaporean conductor Tzelaw Chan is Music Director of Singapore’s Metropolitan Festival Orchestra (MFO) and the award-winning Orchestra of The Music Makers (OMM).

In 2020 he made history by conducting OMM and an international star cast at the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay to critical acclaim in Die Walküre, Singapore’s first ever production of a Wagner ring cycle opera with Opera (UK) proclaiming that Chan “elicited a multitude of expressive nuances and drew immense power without force from his musicians.”

Chan has appeared with major orchestras and soloists in the Asia pacific region. His performances of Mahler’s 8th symphony with the Orchestra of the Music Makers and Sing50 concerts with the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra and Lang Lang were named ‘Best concerts of 2015’ by Singapore’s Sunday Times. Germany’s Der neue Merker observed that “listeners felt they have concluded a great journey of time and spirit”. The West Australian lavished praise on his performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring “Tze Law (Chan) did wonders from the podium. It was a tour de force.” American Record Guide remarked that that in Mahler’s Resurrection symphony he led “with a full understanding of the Mahler idiom”. Chan’s performance of Elgar’s The Music Makers was described by Classical Voice America as ‘breathtaking walls of sound and intimate moments of haunting beauty’. In 2020 he conducted Die Walküre, the first ever Singapore production of a Wagner ring cycle opera to critical acclaim, with Opera (UK) proclaiming that Chan “elicited a multitude of expressive nuances and drew immense power without force from his musicians.”

As a pedagogue, Chan is Vice-Dean and a founding faculty member of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, and is widely credited for setting up its conservatory orchestra and New Music Ensemble. Chan was the founding chief conductor of the Australian International Summer Orchestral Institute, and recently conducted the Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp. He has given masterclasses in conducting at the Peabody Institute, USA, and Royal Academy of Music, London and co-lectures on ‘Tune in to leadership’ at the Senior Management programme of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. In 2019 he served on the selection committee of the Oxford (University) Conducting Institute International Conducting Studies Conference.

Chan holds bachelor and doctoral degrees in conducting as well as a master’s degree in management. His conducting teachers included luminaries Christopher Adey and Norman Del Mar, and he made his Singapore conducting debut with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 2001. In 2018 he received the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore’s Artistic excellence award for his numerous contributions to the Singapore music community. Chan’s concerts and CD recordings have been broadcast on Australia’s ABC Classic FM, UK’s BBC Radio 3 and featured on Singapore Airlines Krisworld In-flight Classical Music selection. His most recent recordings are available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Dean, Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Giffiths University

Active internationally for over three decades as an administrator, collaborative pianist, scholar, recording producer and festival director, Professor Bernard Lanskey will return to Brisbane, Australia in July 2021 to take up the position of Director and Professor at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.

Currently Dean of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, he is also President of the Southeast Asian Directors of Music Association, a co-opted Council member of the European Association of Conservatoires and a member of the International Advisory Board for the Tianjin-Juilliard School in China.

Before moving to Singapore in 2006, he was a member of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s Directorate where, as Assistant Director of Music from 1994, he was responsible for overseeing the school’s postgraduate and ensemble programmes. He was awarded a Fellowship by the Guildhall School in 2001 while in 2019 he received the Public Administration Medal (Silver) as part of Singapore’s National Day Awards.

As a collaborative pianist, he has performed throughout Australia, Southeast Asia, China, Great Britain and in most European countries, working principally with string players and singers in chamber music, mixed recital and lecture-recital combinations. Since 2005, he has been an Artist-in-Residence at La Loingtaine, France. He is also active as a speaker in multiple contexts with recent keynote or plenary presentations in Singapore, Australia, China, Malaysia, Norway and Thailand.

His research interests build out from his longstanding activity as a collaborative pianist and chamber music coach, focusing primarily on the vital role of metaphor and gesture in the pedagogical process or in performance and performance preparation.

As a recording producer, he has produced for Decca, Centaur and Cello Classics.

Dean, Sydney Conservatorium

An alumna of the Sydney Conservatorium, Professor Anna Reid joined the Con in 2010 as Head of School and Associate Dean (teaching and learning). Her practical and research interests in social equity and professional preparation have led to the creation of internship programs, ‘buddy’ relationships with regional conservatoria, freeing up the music curriculum to deliver greater student choice, enhancing student engagement with musical studies, and fostering equity programs for the University’s music faculty.

Professor Reid has established an international reputation for her research and collegial approach to learning and teaching development, supported by her publications, international collaborations with scholars, contributions to the academic community through reviews of others’ scholarly work, and the experience of colleagues who have taken part in her programs.

Her academic approach is underpinned by a strong research base in higher education theory and practice, which informs her interactions with academic staff and allows her to develop reflective and flexible teaching practices; construct curriculum and units that enable students to prepare well for a changing world; build a scholarly approach to the evaluation of teaching; enhance her and her colleagues’ research capacity; develop quality research programs in various academic departments; and identify, implement and evaluate strategic policy for higher degree research.

Professor Reid has a large group of research students whose interests lie in music pedagogy, social impact of music, creativity in theory and practice, and performance as research who she continues to teach.

Her own active career as a researcher in higher education theory and practice, and associated work as an academic developer began at UTS (1996-1999) and Macquarie University (2000-2009) where she gained expertise in tertiary policy and practice.

A tertiary educator her entire career, her first role was director of music for Wesley Institute (1988-1994), when she composed “With Heads Held High” for the opening of Parliament House in Canberra. Her interest in higher education leadership developed during that time, and she gained a Master of Educational Administration from the University of New England. For her PhD on music in higher education, she explored variations in the ways that instrumental and vocal students and teachers learn and teach.

Since starting at the SCM in 2010 Anna’s practical and research interests in social equity and professional preparation have led to the development of internship programs, ‘buddy’ relationships with Regional Conservatoria, ‘freeing’ the curriculum to broaden student choice, measure to ensure student engagement with their musical studies, and fostering equity programs for SCM faculty. She also has a large group of research students whose interests lie in music pedagogy, the social impact of music, creativity in theory and practice, and in performance as research. She still teaches a graduate research seminar.

Professor Reid is also a cellist and viola da gamba player.

Regional Director, Goethe Institute

born July 1953 in Muelheim an der Ruhr/Germany

studied sociology at Bielefeld University with focus on sociology of education and music at Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie in Detmold; PhD in Sociology 1981;

worked as researcher between 1976 and 1984 in the field of sociology of education at the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University and Konstanz University;

studied International Relations between 1984/1985 at Institut Européen des Hautes Études Internationales (European Institute of Higher International Studies)  in Nice/France;

1986/87 trainee program at Goethe–Institut. As of 1987 employed with Goethe-Institut with postings as director of Goethe-Institutes in Khartoum/Sudan, Montreal/Canada, Kabul/Afghanistan, Beirut/Lebanon and Bangkok/Thailand. Between 2013 and 2019 regional director of the network of Goethe-Institutes in Sub–Saharan Africa (15 Goethe-Institutes and 5 Goethe-Centers in 20 countries) based in Johannesburg/South Africa;

between May 2019 and December 2020 director of Goethe-Institut Hamburg/ Germany;

As of January 2021 until June 2021 director of Goethe-Institut Amman/Jordan.

Principal/Rector, Norwegian Academy of Music

Composer Peter Tornquist grew up in Sweden, Switzerland and Brazil, settling in Norway for studies with Lasse Thoresen and concluding his education at the Royal College of Music in London with George Benjamin.

Tornquist has had major works performed by ensembles such as the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and the London Sinfonietta. His work focuses on the interaction between composers and performers through live electronics and improvisation. The theories and methods associated with this approach pioneered the development of artistic research in Norway.

His academic experience covers the fields of composition, electronic music, improvisation and music theory. He has also contributed extensively to the development of phenomenological approaches to music analysis based on the writings of Pierre Schaeffer.

Peter Tornquist has been an active voice in political and organizational aspects of the Norwegian society throughout his career, as president of Ny Musikk (ISCM), and as vice chairman of the Norwegian Composer’s Association and of TONO (Norwegian Performing Rights Society). He has extensive experience of public office at local and regional level, having successfully participated in local elections from 2007 to 2015.

As Principal of the Norwegian Academy of Music since 2013, Tornquist has contributed to the development of higher music education through a widening network of strategic national and international partnerships. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2017 in recognition for his services to music.

Former Principal Guest Conductor, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra

Claude Villaret was born in Lausanne, Switzerland. His career as a conductor has taken him to leading music centers such as Berlin, Milan, Torino, Zurich, Salzburg, Buenos Aires, London, Prague, Athen, Vienna, Lucerne and Geneva in famous concert halls like Buenos Aires Teatro Colon, Tonhalle Zürich, Megaron Athen, KKL Lucern, Teatro Solis Montevideo, Smetana Hall Prague, Teatro Mayor Bogota, Sala Sao Paolo in Sao Paolo and other international venues with orchestras such as: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London (England)  Berliner Symphoniker (Germany), Symphony Orchestra Zurich (Switzerland) , Nara Philharmonic (Japan) Wien Residenz Orchester (Vienna), Sinfônica Nacional (Brasil) Athen State Symphony Orchestra (Greece) Astana National State Orchestra (Kazakhstan) Orchestra I solisti di Milano (Italy) Orquesta Filarmonica de Montevideo (Uruguay), Orquesta Sinfônica da USP (Sao Paolo)

From 1998 to 2006 he was principal guest conductor of the Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional (Brazil), during the seasons 2002 – 2004 permanent guest conductor of the Orquesta Sinfonica UNT de Tucuman (Argentina). In 2004 he was appointed chief conductor/artistic director of the TKO Chamber Orchestra Thurgau (Switzerland), in 2005 he was also appointed a principal guest conductor of the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra.

His recent conducting repertoire includes the operas, La Boheme, Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Il Trovatore. In addition he enjoys he enjoys being innovative in conducting many first performances of both Swiss and foreign composers and realizing projects combining video installations with contemporary music.

Oboe, Berlin Philharmonic

He got his first oboe at the age of ten. Two years later Christoph Hartmann was already studying with Georg Fischer at the conservatory in Augsburg. In 1984 he continued his training with Günther Passin at the Munich Musikhochschule, where after passing his final examination, he also became an instructor. He began his career as an orchestral musician in 1991 with the Stuttgart Philharmonic, and the following year moved to Berlin. A teacher since 1993 in the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Orchestra Academy, in 1999 Hartmann, together with colleagues, founded the Landsberger Sommermusiken (Landsberg Summer Music), out of which evolved the Ensemble Berlin.

In recent years he has devoted himself increasingly to research, and has discovered and enriched his own repertoire with compositions by the once legendary, now nearly forgotten oboe virtuoso Antonino Pasculli.

Principal, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Pianist and composer Jeffrey Sharkey became Principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in September 2014, leading Scotland’s national conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production and screen. During his tenure the RCS has grown its global reach, ranking in the top 10 of the world in QS performing arts rankings for 5 out of the last 6 years, including number 3 in 2021. As principal, he is equally concerned with developing pathways for young Scots and is a contributor to the Music for Scotland Manifesto. Jeffrey is on the governing boards of the ABRSM and the Cumnock Tryst and is a council member for the Assocation of European Conservatoires. In addition to his duties as principal, he teaches chamber music at the conservatoire and maintains his performance collaborations with both teachers and with students. He became a British citizen in 1993 and his career spans work in both the UK and the USA.

Jeffrey previously served as Director of Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute from 2006-2014, where he helped to revitalise the curriculum and start a number of successful programmes with the colleges of Arts and Science, Engineering, Business, Education and the School of Medicine. Jeffrey served on the Board of Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, an institution founded by the Peabody Institute, contributing to its strategic direction and helping it become one of the most important conservatoires in Asia. He also developed key partnerships in Korea, Taiwan and China. In Baltimore, Jeffrey started free programmes in music and dance to reach out to the wider community. These were connected to key arts organisations in the city and created pathways for talented youngsters to receive support throughout their studies. He also created the Academy programmes within the Preparatory to serve future professional musicians. Before Peabody, he was Dean of the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Jeffrey lived in the United Kingdom for 13 years, serving as director of music at the Purcell School in London and head of academic music at Wells Cathedral School where he started the school’s composition department. He was a founding member of the Pirasti Piano Trio, which recorded with ASV Records in the United Kingdom and toured throughout Europe and the United States. He maintained his performing profile in the United States, and Europe coaching chamber music as a faculty member and in master classes and summer festivals throughout the country. He performed with the Baltimore Symphony and collaborated with members of the Cleveland, Orion, and Cavani Quartets. Jeffrey Sharkey is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music where he was the conservatory’s first double major in piano and composition. He earned a Master of Music degree in composition from Yale University and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge. His teachers have included pianists John Browning, Boris Berman, Constance Keene and Peter Frankl and composers Aaron Copland, Jacob Druckman, Earle Brown, John Corigliano and Robin Holloway.

Artist Fellow, Royal Academy of Music, London

As a professional musician, Paul Archibald has enjoyed long established relationships with the Brandenburg Sinfonia, Britten Sinfonia, London Mozart Players and Orchestra of St John’s. He is currently Music Director Emeritus of Regent Brass, one of the UK’s finest brass bands.

He is Executive Producer of STAND, a work by Rebecca Dale and Selina Nwulu, recorded at Air Studios London by the London Mozart Players, for lead vocalist, SATB choir, Gospel choir and children’s choir. The song will act as the launch of a new charity founded by Paul – Harmony: Action Through the Arts – bringing benefit to young people who are socially and economically disadvantaged through activity in a range of musical projects.

Paul has been a principal player in the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London Sinfonietta and BBC National Orchestra of Wales and was a member of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and English Brass Ensemble.

He has recorded with many popular artists including Barbara Streisand, Shirley Bassey, Sir Paul McCartney and Oasis and film work includes Batman, Gladiator, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and Shrek.

Paul has been a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music and was Head of Wind, Brass and Percussion at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is currently Head of Woodwind and Brass at Shrewsbury International School, Bangkok.

In 2003 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, London, limited to 300 former Academy students.

Professor of Composition, The Juilliard School

Robert Beaser was born May 29th 1954 in Boston, Massachusetts. One of the most accomplished creative musicians of his generation, Beaser’s music has been performed and commissioned by major orchestras, conductors, ensembles and performers worldwide. Cited early in the 1980’s as one of the “New Tonalists”, his works now defy categorization, and chart their own unique
trajectories through a wide range of media, blurring boundaries and reconciling seemingly contradictory worlds in unexpected ways. He is the recipient of numerous major awards and honors including Grammy and Emmy nominations, Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships and The Rome Prize, from the American Academy in Rome. In 2004 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Beaser studied literature, political philosophy and music at Yale College, graduating summa cum laude, in 1976. He went on to earn his Master of Music, M.M.A. and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Yale School of Music. His principal composition teachers have included Jacob Druckman, Earle Brown, Toru Takemitsu, Arnold Franchetti, Yehudi Wyner Lukas Foss and Goffredo Petrassi. In addition, he studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller and William Steinberg at Yale, and composition with Betsy Jolas on a Tanglewood Fellowship.

From 1978-1990 he served as co-Music Director and Conductor of the innovative New York contemporary chamber ensemble Musical Elements at the 92nd street Y, binging premieres of over two hundred works to Manhattan. From 1988-1993 he was the Meet the Composer/Composer-in-Residence with the American Composers Orchestra, and has served as the ACO’s artistic advisor until January 2001. There he spearheaded the groundbreaking Sonidos de Las Americas Festival, bringing musical exchanges of the music and composers of Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Cuba to Carnegie Hall. Until 2013 he served as the ACO’s Artistic Director, and currently he is the Artistic Director Laureate. Since 1993, he has been Professor and Chairman of the Composition Department at the Juilliard School in New York City.

In Beaser’s article in the New York Times Opinionator section (2012), he describes his artistic epiphany and transformation from 1970’s modernism to a more personal flexible stylistic hybridity. Since the latest 70’s, he has appropriated elements from folk traditions, pop and other sources, and synthesized them with western classical tradition to create music whose simple surface transparency belies deeper complexities, conflicts and contradictions. His acclaimed opera, The Food of Love, written with playwright Terrance McNally,

has been Televised nationally for PBS “Great Performances” series, and his Grammy-nominated Mountain Songs for flute and guitar has become one of the most performed works in its genre. His recent commission, from 27 Wind Ensembles across the US, The End of Knowing has been hailed as a unique and significant addition to the repertoire.

Beaser’s works have been recorded for London/Argo, EMI. Naxos, Linn, New World Records, Innova, Bridge, Summit, CRI and Musicmasters. He has been guest lecturer at major universities and conservatories throughout the US and Europe, and has served as co-issue editor for the Contemporary Music Review “The New Tonality” issue. Beaser has served as trustee of numerous institutions including the American Academy in Rome and The MacDowell Colony. His music is published exclusively by Schott Music Corporation, New York.

Music Director, South Dakota Symphony Orchestra

Delta David Gier has been called a dynamic voice on the American music scene, recognized widely for his penetrating interpretations of the standard symphonic repertoire, passionate commitment to new music, and significant community engagement.

Orchestras Mr. Gier has conducted include the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra. Last season he conducted the American Composers Orchestra in the inaugural concert of the China-U.S Composers Project; this season will include engagements with several Chinese orchestras and master classes at the Shanghai Conservatory.

In Europe, his engagements include the Bergen Philharmonic (Norway), the Polish National Radio Symphony (with which he has several recordings), and the Bucharest Philharmonic, along with many other orchestras in Italy, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Turkey. In the Americas, he has had a long relationship with the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica and has conducted several orchestras in Mexico, including the Orquesta de Camera de Bellas Artes. In Asia, Mr. Gier’s engagements have included the Singapore Symphony and the Thailand Philharmonic, where he will return three times this season.

Since 2004, Mr. Gier has been music director of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. During that period the orchestra has been lauded for its programming (including seven ASCAP awards). His series based on the Pulitzer Prize was called “an unprecedented programming innovation” by the Wall Street Journal and has included residencies with composers Jennifer Higdon, Steven Stucky, Zhou Long, and Paul Moravec. Under his direction, the SDSO has expanded its offerings with a cycle of Mahler symphonies and an annual semi-staged opera.

The Lakota Music Project was developed under Gier’s direction to address racial tensions between Native Americans and whites in the region the SDSO serves. Now in its sixth year, the LMP is a side-by-side program with the SDSO and Lakota musicians which explores the role music plays in their respective cultures, seeking to engender understanding and healing between estranged peoples. Other engagement projects with the SDSO have included Arab (with Simon Shaheen), Chinese (with composers Chen Yi and Zhou Long) and Sudanese/Somali refugees (with the Bernard Woma Ensemble).

For 15 seasons, Delta David Gier served as an assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic. He studied at the University of Michigan under the renowned conducting teacher Gustav Meier, along with studies at the Tanglewood Music Center and Aspen Music Festival. He was a Fulbright scholar in eastern Europe from 1988-90. Also in demand as an educator, Mr. Gier has served as guest faculty at the Curtis Institute, Yale School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory, and SUNY Stony Brook. He has chaired the music jury of the Pulitzer Prize and is a frequent panelist for the League of American Orchestras.

Head Music Librarian, University of Northern Colorado

Stephen Luttmann is Emeritus Professor of University Libraries at the University of Northern Colorado, where he served for 20 years as music librarian and member of the musicology faculty.  Publications include Paul Hindemith: A Research and Information Guide (2nd edition, Routledge, 2009) and numerous articles and reviews on music librarianship and nineteenth- and twentieth-century music.  Service activities include four terms on the board of directors of the Music OCLC Users Group, including one term as chair; two terms as book review editor for the Music Library Association’s journal Notes, six terms as chair of his university’s faculty senate, and consultant service for the Jiew Bangsue Music Library of the Mahidol University College of Music.

Director of Orchestras, Arizona State University

Jeffery Meyer has developed a career as an accomplished conductor, pianist and educator throughout North America, Europe, Russia and Asia with a reputation for championing contemporary orchestral music and innovative collaborations. His programming has been awarded multiple prizes including three ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming and two Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Awards in Orchestral Programming.

He is the Director of Orchestras at the Arizona State University as well as the Artistic Director of the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic in Russia. Praised as “one of the most interesting and creatively productive conductors working in St. Petersburg” by Sergei Slonimsky, Jeffery Meyer’s extensive work with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra has been noted for its breadth and innovation. The orchestra’s American debut with three performances at Symphony Space’s Wall-to-Wall Festival in New York City were described by The New York Times as “impressive”, “powerful”, “splendid” and “blazing.”

Recent projects and appearances include a newly-developed multi-media performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Petrushka with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong with soprano Dawn Upshaw, a theatrical symphonic concert focused on themes of social justice developed in collaboration with Daniel Bernard Roumain and Marc Bamuthi Joseph, the world premiere recording of Laura Kaminsky’s Piano Concerto with pianist Ursula Oppens, nearly one dozen world premieres of new works, and return engagements with the Sichuan Symphony and Xalapa Symphony Orchestra.

Passionate about working with young musicians and music education, Meyer has led the orchestra program at Arizona State University, one of the top schools of music in the United States, since 2016, and is an active adjudicator, guest clinician, and masterclass teacher. Prior to his appointment at ASU, he was the Director of Orchestras at Ithaca College for over a decade. He has given masterclasses throughout the United States as well as Canada and Asia, and recently led conducting masterclasses at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, China, Tianjin Conservatory, the Jacobs School at Indiana University, the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna and the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Meyer holds degrees in piano as well as composition and completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance with Gilbert Kalish at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Certification Board for Music Therapists

Dr. Dena Register is a seasoned music therapy clinician, educator and researcher, who specializes in program development. In 2009, Dr. Register was awarded a Council for International Exchange of Scholars Fulbright Scholar grant to teach and conduct research at Mahidol University, Thailand. She developed the “Therapeutic Uses of Music” training to begin building awareness and appreciation of music therapy as a discipline among medical and education personnel. She helped developed and launch the first music therapy Masters degree program in Southeast Asia at Mahidol University College of Music in 2013. She continues her work there as a consultant, teacher and researcher.

She is pleased to support the FGCU music therapy program as an adjunct professor. Prior to joining the Bower School of Music in this capacity, she designed and implemented the music therapy program at West Virginia University, serving as the director of music therapy from 2015-2018, and was an Associate Professor in the music therapy program at the University of Kansas from 2003-2015.  Additionally, she served as the Director of Faculty Programs in the Office of International Programs and a Faculty Fellow in the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Kansas.

Dr. Register also serves as the Director of Program Development and Talent Recruitment for Enlighten Continuing Education (www.enlighten-ce.org). Her clinical experiences provided the foundation for her teaching interests. She is also the faculty leader of an intensive summer study abroad programs for students in music therapy. Her teaching experiences reflect her love for engaged learning, travel and international perspectives in the field of music therapy for students and professionals alike.

Her consulting work in the US is primarily centered on the recognition of music therapy by state governments and the recognition of the MT-BC credential as the required credential for all practicing professionals. As the Regulatory Affairs Advisor for the Certification Board for Music Therapists, she works with music therapists across the country on obtaining this professional recognition.

Senior Music Administrator, Florida Public Schools

Lindsey Williams is the K-12 Performing Arts Curriculum Specialist for Seminole County Public Schools (Florida, USA). Prior to his appointment with SCPS, he was the Assistant Director of Bands and a member of the music education faculty at West Virginia University, and a member of the music education faculty at University of Missouri–Kansas City, and Kansas State University. Dr. Williams’ public school teaching experience includes elementary, junior high, high school, and senior adult instrumental and choral music. He has a passion for senior adult music making opportunities. Williams is the former music director of wind bands for senior adults for the Roeland Park New Horizons Band (Kansas, USA) and founder and former music director of the MonRiver New Horizons Band (West Virginia, USA). He is an active performer, conductor, and clinician for music educators and musicians from youth to senior adults throughout the United States and Southeast Asia. Williams earned his doctorate (PhD) in Music Education with an emphasis in Wind Conducting from The Florida State University, and Music Education degrees from the University of Kansas (BME, MME).

Williams was named a Fulbright Scholar and worked with music education students, faculty, and researchers in Thailand. He was founding editor or the ASEAN Music Journal. A respected and published researcher and member of research review boards of both International Journal of Music Education, Contributions to Music Education, and Research Perspectives in Music Education and is currently the incoming president of the Florida Music Supervision Association (a component organization for the Florida Music Education Association). He has presented research at state, regional, national, and international conferences of the International Society for Music Education, National Association for Music Education, and the American Music Therapy Association and has been published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Research in Music Education, International Journal of Music Education, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Journal of Band Research, Contributions to Music Education, and the Missouri Journal of Research in Music Education as well as Kansas Music Review and Missouri School Music. His research interests include life-long learning, musicians’ focus of attention, musical complexity, music assessment and evaluation, and music teacher training.

Director of International Relations, Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California

I experience. As a composer those experiences get woven into a tapestry of musical sound which becomes a reflection of my life´s experiences; my soul.

As a leader I strive for a similar evolution. I aim to empower and inspire my faculty and staff through encounters that connect and flow in an atmosphere of mutual trust. I dream along with them and together we make new discoveries that further empower us all.

Jazz Lecturer, New York University

Jazz festivals worldwide have seen Alex Sipiagin performing with the likes of Dave Holland, Michael Brecker, the Mingus groups, and many more. Born on June 11, 1967 in Yaroslavl, Russia, Alex began studying the trumpet at age 12, at the Moscow Music Institute and the Gnesin Conservatory in Moscow where he received his Baccalaureate. In 1990, Alex participated in the International Louis Armstrong Competition sponsored by the Thelonius Monk Institute in Washington DC, winning top honors. He has since relocated to New York City.

Very soon, Alex became a favored player for various bands including the Gil Evans Orchestra, Gil Goldstein’s Zebra Coast Orchestra, the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, drummer Bob Moses’ band Mozamba, the Mingus Big Band as well as the Mingus Dynasty and Mingus Orchestra, and the Dave Holland Big Band, Sextet and Octet groups.

In 2003 he recorded with Michael Brecker’s Quindectet, touring also with the Michael Brecker Sextet. Alex has also worked with Eric Clapton, DrJohn, Aaron Neville, Elvis Costello, Michael Franks, Dave Sanborn, Deborah Cox, legendary producer Phil Ramone, Gonzalo Rubalcaba among other artistes. Many of the recordings he has been involved in have been nominated for and/or won at the Grammy Awards. He is part of the Grammy award-winning albums by the Dave Holland Big Band, “What Goes Around” and “Overtime,” Michael Brecker Quindectet’s “Wide Angles,” and most recently the Dafnis Prieto Big Band’s “Into the Sunset”.

As a soloist, Sipiagin has more than twenty recordings to his credit including having jazz greats such as Mulgrew Miller and Chris Potter featured in them. He has toured extensively throughout Europe, the United States, Asia and Russia with his own group. He holds a professorship at New York University (NYU), and has residencies at the Amsterdam Conservatory and Academy of Music in Basel Switzerland.

Alex Sipiagin has recorded 15 solo albums for the prestigious jazz label “CrissCross- Jazz,” including an album of his compositions and arrangements “Balance 38-58” featuring noted musicians such as Eric Harland, David Binney, Adam Rogers and Matt Brewer. His recent album titled “Moments Captured” features notable musicians Chris Potter, Eric Harland, John Escreet, Matt Brewer, Will Vinson and the up-and-coming Alina Engibaryan. September 2018 saw the production of Alex’s newest album titled “NoFo Skies,” which was released in April last year, reprising the same artists from “Moments Captured.” In end 2020, Alex recorded another solo album titled “Upstream” with the Positone Label, featuring a mix of his new original compositions, originals by his band members Art Hirahara, Boris Kozlov, Rudy Royston and standards from Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter and Mulgrew Miller.

Professor of Bassoon, University of Colorado at Boulder

Yoshiyuki Ishikawa is the Professor of Bassoon and the Chair of the Woodwind Area at the University of Colorado Boulder, College of Music. He has performed and presented solo recitals, masterclasses and workshops at prestigious conservatories, schools of music, and festivals in North America, Eastern and Southeast Asia, Europe and Oceania.

A leader in the double reed community, he founded and is the president of the Asian Double Reed Association (ADRA), which maintains memberships in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. From 1990 to 2020, he served as a member of the IDRS Executive Board holding the positions of President, Secretary, and Editor of IDRS Online Publications. He is the founder and creator of the original idrs.org, which he launched in 1995, three years before the introduction of Google, PDF and Yahoo! Search. Ishikawa supervised and maintained the idrs.org for twenty-two years until the most recent update in 2018. Idrs.org has been online continuously since its inception and is one of the oldest public web sites dedicated to a music organization. Ishikawa has produced and edited over 525 archival on-demand videos for IDRS, and in 2016 he produced the first live stream event of the IDRS Gillet-Fox Competition.

In 1987, Ishikawa hosted the 16th annual IDRS conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, and he has continued to advise and support double-reed conferences worldwide. In 2015, he co-sponsored the IDRS conference in Tokyo under the auspices of the third ADRA conferene. In 2011, he collaborated with Dr. Chris Schaub of Mahidol University, College of Music in Thailand to organize the first ADRA conference. In 2013, he worked with professor Rong-Yi Liu of the National Chiayi University of Taiwan to organize the second ADRA conference during the Chiayi International Band Festival. Most recently in November 2019, he collaborated with professor Chang Tian Piao of Minzu University in Beijing (中央民族大) to organize the fourth conference of ADRA. Ishikawa, with his colleague Peter Cooper, will host the fiftieth anniversary conference of IDRS at the University of Colorado Boulder in July 2022.

Ishikawa has presented world premieres of numerous works for bassoon, including: Daniel Kellogg’s Quartet for Bassoon and Strings and Respiratus for Bassoon and Orchestra; Bill Douglas’ Partita No. 2 for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano and Quartet for Flute, Oboe, Bassoon and Piano; Falling Water by Barry Conyngham; and Ishikawa’s realization of the Concerto for Oboe, Bassoon and Basso Continuo by Handel. Ishikawa serves as an advisor for international competitions and has served as a judge for: the IDRS Gillet and Young Artists Competition; the Tokyo Wind and Brass Competition; the Rimsky-Korsakov Competition and the Moscow Conservatory Wind and Percussion Competition; and the Asian Double Reed Association International Competitions.

Ishikawa performs often with his pianist wife, Dr. Brenda Ishikawa (DMA in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado Boulder). His daughter, Dr. Marisa Ishikawa (DMA in Violin Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado Boulder) is a member of Carpe Diem String Quartet and is a founding member of Austin Camerata. A graduate of Northwestern University (BME, MM Bassoon Performance) and the University of Michigan (DMA Bassoon Performance), he studied with Wilber Simpson and L. Hugh Cooper. Ishikawa also studied individually with Norman Herzberg.