Marc-André Bougie is entering his seventh season as Music Director for the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra. Other conducting engagements have included concerts with the Pleven Philharmonic in Pleven, Bulgaria, Orchestra Cantelli in Milan, Italy, Shreveport Symphony, Shreveport Opera, Texarkana Regional Chorale, and the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of North-Louisiana. Marc-André made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut in 2010. Moving to Missouri in 1999, he has conducted the University Philharmonic, the Contemporary Chamber Players, the University Singers, the Columbia Youth Orchestra, and the Show-Me Opera Studio. Active as a composer, he won the 2001 MTNA National Composition Competition. He holds a Master’s Degree in Orchestra Conducting from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Jane K. Brown earned a Bachelor of Music (magna cum laude) from Brigham Young University and a Master of Arts in Music with honors in woodwind performance and conducting from California State University, Chico. She served as Music Director in the public schools of Utah, California, and Nevada for 12 years, before embarking on a new career conducting symphonic music in the Spring of 2001. From 2001-2004, Ms. Brown conducted the Reno Philharmonic Youth Symphony Orchestra. Under her leadership, this excellent group performed professional orchestral literature for over 23,000 people, including the highly acclaimed Young People’s concerts for children. In the Fall of 2004, she joined the Reno Pops Orchestra as its highly acclaimed conductor and musical director. Under her direction, the Reno Pops has developed into one of our region’s finest community orchestras. Jane continues to be called upon by schools in California and Nevada as a consultant, festival adjudicator, clinician and guest conductor. Her most recent musical pursuits include studying conducting with such internationally renowned masters as Gustav Meier, Mark Gibson, and Markand Thakar. Ms. Brown is known as a positive, passionate and energetic teacher, a great motivator of musicians of all ages, and a seasoned educator and program builder. Her artistic sense helps the musicians truly tap into the soul of the music being played.

JoAnna Cochenet is a young and energetic conductor and educator. Ms. Cochenet is an Artist Faculty at the Omaha Conservatory of Music (OCM) in Nebraska. As a conductor on staff, Cochenet conducts the Pre-Chamber Repertoire Ensemble, and in 2011-2012 she led the OCM Baroque Camerata. In conjunction with the Omaha Area Youth Orchestras, she was appointed a site conductor at OCM for the all-city Prelude Strings program in 2012 and will once again work with them in 2013. An experienced private teacher, she instructs students on viola and violin, coaches chamber music, and teaches other classes through the Conservatory. Ms. Cochenet was 1 of 13 conducting participants in the 2012 Beyond the Baton Seminar Level I with Diane Wittry and members of the Norwalk Symphony in Norwalk, CT. She has conducted ensembles in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Connecticut. Ms. Cochenet holds a M. M. in Orchestral Conducting and Viola Performance, B. M. with Instrumental Music Education Certification, and a Certificate in Viola Performance. Conducting teachers and mentors include Kenneth Meints, David Barg, Diane Wittry, Margery Deutsch, Dr. Marc Falk, Joshua Reznicow, Dr. William Carson, and the late Richard Hoffman. Cochenet is active as a professional violist in the Omaha area, and is a member of the League of American Orchestras and the Conductor’s Guild.

Mark Crim has conducted outstanding wind band, orchestral and choral ensembles for over twenty years. A product of the fine band program in Van, Texas under the direction of Kenneth Griffin, Mr. Crim studied music education, trumpet and conducting at the University of Texas at Tyler, Stephen F. Austin State University and Boston University. His principal conducting teachers were Melvin Montomery, John Whitwell, Fred J. Allen and Diane Wittry. Mr. Crim was appointed Music Director/Principal Conductor of the Longview Area Youth Orchestras in 2010. His responsibilities include artistic and administrative responsibility for the Longview Area Preparatory Strings (LAPS) and the Longview Area Youth Symphony Orchestra (LAYSO).The ensembles under his direction have collaborated with regional arts organizations including the East Texas Youth Chorus and Artsview Children’s Theater to enrich the area with innovative programming for children, youth and adult audiences. As Assistant Professor of Music at East Texas Baptist University, Mr. Crim conducts the Symphonic Band as well as serving as music director and conductor of the University’s opera and musical theater ensembles. He teaches upper-level courses in music education, conducting and chamber music. A professional church musician since 1990, Mr. Crim has a repertoire of over five hundred choral anthems and masterworks, including Handel’s Messiah. Mark was a 2004 Toyota International Teaching Scholar, spending a summer in Tokyo and Kyoto conducting and teaching and studying Japanese culture and arts. In addition to his Japan residency, Mark has taught, performed and conducted abroad in Germany, France and Bulgaria.

Robert Magruder Ford is a young conductor from the Baltimore area with significant experience in both the choral and orchestral worlds. He frequently conducts the Gettysburg Concert and College choirs as well as the Gettysburg College Symphony Orchestra. He has formed many ensembles such as the IES Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Gettysburg Conductors Choir, which showcases young conductors and composers. Along with his work as a conductor, Robert has performed with several noted choirs in both the United States and abroad. He is currently the director of the Onstage program in choral arts and theater at Mcdonogh School in Baltimore, Maryland. Robert received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a vocal concentration from the Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College and studied at the IES institute in Vienna, Austria. His past teachers include Alexander Kahn, Robert Natter, WOlfgang Harrer, and Philip Olsen.

Israel Getzov is in his 8th season as Music Director of the Conway Symphony Orchestra. Under Getzov’s leadership the CSO has reached new artistic heights and has been called “Energetic and highly entertaining… A joy to hear” (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette). Mr. Getzov has conducted orchestras around the United States including the Asheville Symphony, Abilene Philharmonic, Monroe Symphony, Skokie Valley Symphony, and Symphony of the Mountains. Since his debut at the International Fuzhou Music Festival in 2005, Getzov has appeared regularly in China and currently holds the posts of principal guest conductor with the Fujian Symphony Orchestra and East China Normal University Symphony in Shanghai. He is also a frequent guest conductor with the Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra in Hangzhou. As the Associate Conductor of the Arkansas Symphony from 2001-2008, he led classical subscription, pops, and education concerts as well as numerous outreach concerts around the state. Raised in Chicago, his musical studies began with the violin at age four and later included viola, piano and percussion. At age sixteen he became a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and went on to study the violin and orchestral performance at the Chicago College of the Performing Arts. He earned a Master of Music in Conducting degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and received additional training at the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and the National Conducting Institute with the National Symphony Orchestra.

Raul Gomez is a rising young conductor increasingly recognized for his highly polished and energetic performances. In high demand as a conductor and violinist, Raul is known for his ability to connect and interact with audiences of all kinds. In 2012, he was appointed Assistant Conductor of Louisiana Sinfonietta in Baton Rouge and Sinfonietta Belo Horizonte in Brazil. He has appeared as guest conductor with Nicholls State University Orchestra, LSU Symphony Orchestra, Miami Chamber Orchestra, the Youth Orchestra of Panama, the Contemporary String Ensemble in New Orleans and the Premier Orchestral Institute in Madison, Mississippi. A champion of new music, Raul has recently conducted two important world premieres: Liduino Pitombeira’s Concerto for Piano 4 Hands and Ronaldo Cadeu’s ballet Crime and Punishment, to very favorable reviews. As a 2011 Conducting Fellow at Aspen Music Festival, Raul worked with Robert Spano, Hugh Wolff, Larry Rachleff and Murry Sidlin. In June 2011, Raul started work as Artistic Director of Kids’ Orchestra, a year round program designed to foster social change and nurture promising futures for youth in Baton Rouge. In collaboration with a broad array of community partners, Kids’ Orchestra provides music education, instruments, leadership development and performance opportunities to Baton Rouge’s kindergarten through fifth graders. His work with Kids’ Orchestra made him the recipient of the Hildegard Behrens Foundation Young Artist Humanitarian Award in 2012.

Lucas Maia was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He started to play violin when he was seven years old. By age twelve he was concertmaster of the Villa-Lobos Music School Youth Orchestra. Lucas did his undergraduate studies at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where he focused his studies on string teaching, performance, and conducting. Lucas was a member of the prestigious Brazilian Youth Orchestra from 2006-2010. Here he had the opportunity to play under the baton of some of Brazil’s best consuctors. Lucas is currently pursuing his Master of Music degree in instrumental conducting and Suzuki pedagogy at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He currently studies conducting with Dr. Jorge Richter. He also directs two Suzuki outreach programs in Greenville and is a teaching assistant at the Eastern Youth Orchestra.

Theresa McGee is experienced in conducting both choral and orchestra repertoire. She has spent nearly a decade as the Music Director of the Wallingford Chorus and the Wallingford Chamber Orchestra. In 2010, she was name a semi-finalist for the American Prize for orchestral conducting. She holds degrees of the University of Bridgeport and the Manhattan School of Music.

Mark Perlman is Music Director and Conductor of the Willamette Falls Symphony He was recently a finalist for The American Prize (2011) in two different categories – Orchestral Conducting and Programming. He also was awarded Honorable Mention in the 2011 International Conducting Workshop and Competition in Macon, Georgia. He has recently conducted world premieres of Kevin Elmore’s “The Mischief of the Fae”, Joseph Harchanko’s “Chamber Symphony: Oregon Landscapes”, and two works by Michael Landers: his tone poem “On the Morning of 9-11” and comic piece “The Clown Car”. In the 2003-04 season he conducted the Oregon premiere of Daniel Bukvich’s “From the Journals of Lewis and Clark”, and the second performance ever of Eric Ewazen’s “Cascadian Concerto for Wind Quintet and Orchestra”. He also conducted a recording in 1997 for CD of the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Scottsdale Symphony and pianist Nicholas Carey. He has conducted other orchestras across the U.S., as well as internationally in Germany, Russia, Romania and Bulgaria. He was featured on Romanian television for his September 11, 2006 concert in honor of victims of terrorism. He also studied in Munich, Germany, traveling Europe to hear every major European orchestra, and he has become an expert in historical orchestral recordings. His studies of conducting have included work with Leonard Pearlman, Jorma Panula, Markus Lehtinen, Murry Sidlin, Petr Gribanov, Leonid Kochmar, Adrian Gnam, Alexander Polishchuck, Daniel Lewis, Don Thulean, John Farrer, and Sian Edwards. The result of this diverse training is an unusual depth of perception and performance.

Federico J. Piantini, Jr. brings years of performance and directing experience to this seminar. Having received a bachelor’s degree in violin performance and a master’s in music education from the Combs College of Music, Mr. Piantini serves as the assistant concert master and assistant conductor of the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra and as a guest soloist and conductor of the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia and conductor of the Coro Gabriele D’Annunzio Italian Choir. Up until this year, Mr. Piantini served as the Director of Orchestras at the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

Suzanne Rome is an active musician along the Colorado Front Range. She fell in love with conducting at an early age and also became an instrumentalist who has continuously studied and performed on many wind instruments. Ms. Rome has taught all levels as a music director in public and private schools in Colorado and holds an undergraduate degree in Music Education. Although clarinet is her primary instrument, her active studies reside with cello and conducting. In addition, Ms. Rome manages her own private music studio in Colorado Springs, enjoys supporting local music organizations by volunteering her time, and is the conductor of the ensemble, Chamber Canzoni. Ms. Rome currently studies conducting with Jacob Chi and plans to pursue a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting.

Dominique Royem has worked with ensembles such as the Plevin Philharmonic [Plevin, Bulgaria], Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra, Galveston Symphony, Moores Opera Center, Sugarland Opera, HBU Opera Theatre, Houston Grand Opera’s “Opera to Go!”, and the Houston Civic Orchestra. She is was just named Conducting Fellow for the Allentown Symphony Orchestra’s 2012-2013 season, and currently serves as Assistant Conductor of the Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her orchestral work, she serves as Music Director and Conductor for the Bayou City Concert Musicals, and was Resident Conductor for Masquerade Theatre during their 2011-2012 season. She has a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Houston Moores School of Music, where she studied with Franz Krager and was attached to the Moores Opera Center. Her dissertation, entitled “Generic Integration and Its Expressive Potential in the Music of Kurt Weill and Richard Rodgers,” uses semiotic and genre theory to illuminate the similarities between opera and musical theatre in the 1940’s and 1950’s

Jeffrey A. Spenner is the Founder and Music Director of the Bay Area Summer Music Festival in his hometown of Essexville, Michigan. Additionally, he is the Graduate Conducting Assistant of the Western Michigan University Symphony Orchestra where he is studying for his Master of Music degree under the tutelage of Bruce Uchimura, Kimberly Dunn Adams, and Robert Spradling. He is also the Artistic and Music Director for the Western Michigan Repertoire Ensemble and Director for the WMU Strings. He has conducted ensembles such as the Bacau Philharmonic (Romania), Sinfonia da Camera (IL), Prairie Fire Theater Opera Company (IL), the Illinois Wind Symphony, University of Illinois Chamber Orchestra, University of Illinois Symphonic Band I, University of Illinois Opera Studio, and Centre College (KY) Orchestra. In 2011 Spenner was a top finalist for a conducting position with the United States Army Band Pershing’s Own. As Artistic and Education Coordinator for the Lexington Philharmonic (KY), Spenner oversaw all aspects of the LexPhil music library and educational programs while also assisting with artistic planning, concert production, community outreach, and internship coordination. Spenner received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois, where he studied trumpet performance with Ronald Romm, Jake Walburn, and the late Michael “Doc” Ewald. His study of conducting has taken him to conferences, workshops, and auditions worldwide where he has worked with teachers such as Kenneth Kiesler, Timothy Mahr, and Timothy Reynish. Additional musical mentors include Kevin Cole, Timothy W. Foley, and Scott Terrell.