Holly Choe is a recent graduate of the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSU Long Beach, CA where she earned a BM in Clarinet Performance and Music Education. She served as the Associate Conductor of the Four Seasons Youth Orchestra from 2013 – 2015. She was the Assistant Conductor of the Shoreline Symphonic Winds from 2013-2014. Along with her conducting positions, she has interned with a film music orchestra, Golden State Pops Orchestra in San Pedro, CA, where she worked on concerts with featured composers such as Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, Michael Giacchino, Alan Silvestri, John Powell, Brian Tyler, Lee Holdridge, John Debney, Bear McCreary, Cliff Eidelman, Chris Lennertz, and many more. She has guest conducted with several bands and youth orchestras in the southern California region. She made her international conducting debut with CSULB Wind Symphony this past fall at the 2014 Korea International Wind Band Festival in Seoul, South Korea. She is also passionate about music education; she is an active clarinet private teacher, leadership seminar speaker for high school students, and a music coach at local high schools. This fall, she will be attending the prestigious New England Conservatory in Boston, MA for her graduate studies in conducting with Charles Peltz.

Paul G. Davis holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to his appointment at Webster, Dr. Davis served as a member of the conducting faculties at the University of Alabama School of Music, the Petrie School of Music at Converse College in South Carolina, Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, Georgia and at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.  He has conducted celebrated performances of the Huxford Symphony Orchestra, OperAlaBama, the Alabama Wind Ensemble and the Alabama Chamber Winds, as well as being Founder and Music Director of the Rhodes Chamber Players in Memphis.  As a supporter of new music, he led a commissioning project to produce Donald Grantham’s From ‘An Alabama Songbook’, and recently collaborated with Ballet Memphis in a full stage production of Michael Whalen’s Shadows of October. 

As a conductor and performer, Paul has worked with such artists as Awadagin Pratt, Sandra Wolf-Meei Cameron, Byron Stripling, Kevin Mahogany, Bob Mintzer of the Yellowjackets, Doc Severinsen, Maynard Ferguson and Ernie Watts.  Other conducting activities include work with Fred Mills of the Canadian Brass, the Dallas Wind Symphony, the Empire Brass and the Monarch Brass.

Alicia Lieu is the co-founder of New York City based Composers Collective, spearheading new music concerts and readings for chamber ensembles as well as orchestral performances. She has conducted in master classes in New York, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. Her teachers include John Keenan and Paul Nadler of the New York Metropolitan Opera and has also been coached by Mark Stringer, Alexander Polishchuk, Kirk Trevor, Don Schleicher, Tomas Netopil, and Diane Wittry. Alicia’s works have been performed in San Francisco, New York, Paris, and Shanghai. Alicia received her Master’s Degree in Music Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Geoffrey Pope has been recognized as a Conductor and composer through numerous appointments and commissions. Mr. Pope received his undergraduate degree in composition at the University of Southern California. He received Master’s degrees in composition and conducting at the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded the prestigious Walter Hagen Conducting Prize. A proponent of contemporary music and opera, Pope seeks to present provocative and engaging programs that have a strong cultural impact.

Mr. Pope is currently pursuing a DMA at UCLA, studying orchestral and opera conducting with Neal Stulberg. Recent out-of-state engagements include several performances of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and a “warm and expressive rendering” (Boston Musical Intelligencer) of Britten’s opera The Rape of Lucretia. He particularly looks forward to music directing and conducting Opera UCLA’s production of Kurt Weill’s Down in the Valley this spring, as well as a multimedia concert with soprano Terri Richter at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.

As a composer, Pope received Third Prize in the 2013 American Prize competition for his chamber orchestra piece Votive. He is currently finishing an opera, Sarajevo Vespers, based on a true incident from the 1990s war. His scholarly interests include Austrian and Austrian-American music of the early 20th century.

Suzanne Rome is currently pursuing her Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting at Louisiana State University. As a graduate teaching assistant, she works with the LSU Symphony Orchestra, the LSU Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra, and also teaches theory labs to the undergraduate music students. Additionally, Ms. Rome is a conductor for Project Opera, a student-led performance ensemble affiliated with LSU’s College of Music and Dramatic Arts. Ms. Rome has directed ensembles at the secondary and collegiate levels, and has assisted a variety of non-profit music organizations. Currently studying with Carlos Riazuelo, Ms. Rome has studied with Jacob Chi and has attended workshops under the tutelage of Diane Wittry, Lawrence Golan, and David Effron. Additionally, she has attended conducting classes at the Eastman School of Music under the direction of Neil Varon. Ms. Rome holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education, and is a member of the Conductors Guild and the College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA).

Gabriela van Dyck, a Dutch Brazilian Conductor, initiated her studies in music at age five, having learned the piano and violin. In order to further enhance her studies, she moved to Sao Paulo City in 2010, where she has been a violin student of Fukuda Institute of Music and piano student of Magda Tagliaferro School. At present, Gabriela is in the fourh year of her bachelor studies in orchestral conducting at Unesp –Sao Paulo State University in Brazil. She is also a pupil of Andrea Huguenin Botelho, German Brazilian maestro, traveling to Berlin every year for private lessons. Ms. van Dyck regularly attends music festivals and masterclasses in Brazil and abroad, having participated in International Berlin Masterclass for Orchestral Conductors by Maestro Collin Metters (2013) and Lior Shambadal (2014). As result of her participation as a conducting student at Curitiba Music Festival, in January 2015, Ms. van Dyck has been invited by Maestro Cláudio Cruz to attend his masterclasses at Emesp- Tom Jobim (São Paulo State School of Music), with São Paulo Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Roz Whaley is based in Zimbabwe and is currently Director of Fine Arts at the American International School. She has extensive experience as a conductor of orchestras, choirs and bands, having performed across Southern Africa and in England. Roz is in demand as guest conductor at international music festivals as well as community events, and has worked with leading performers such as Lesley Howard (UK) and Walter Klauss (USA). She is the current music director of the Harare Youth Orchestra and the official arranger for New York based recording artists TEATRO.

Spencer Zembrodt is a recent graduate of University of Louisville, where he earned a Bachelor of Music Performance degree in percussion. During his time there, he studied conducting with Ms. Kimcherie Lloyd. A musician of many interests, he also pursued studies in piano, composition, and music education. In addition to his university studies, Spencer also studies conducting with Mr. Robert Trevino. Equally at home with standard repertoire and contemporary music, Spencer has worked with composers Brett Dean, Michel van der Aa, Victoria Bond, Samuel Jones, Roberto Sierra and others. In 2014, Spencer was Conductor’s Assistant at the Shippensburg Symphony Festival, where he worked with soloists Stephen Hough and Joshua Bell. He will be returning to the festival in 2015.