Amy Andreassen is the Assistant Conductor of the Springfield Regional Opera and of the Springfield-Drury Civic Orchestra. She is also an accomplished horn player and frequently performs throughout Southwest Missouri and Northwest Arkansas in a variety of ensembles including SoNA, Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, and Springfield Symphony. She earned a Master of Music degree in Horn Performance from Northern Illinois University in 2000, with emphases in conducting and theory. She was Director of Instrumental Activity at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska from 2000 to 2003. Classroom work quickly became one of her most rewarding endeavors. She has also completed two conducting workshops with Markand Thakar, who inspires her with his clarity and precision. She is most passionate about collaborating with musicians whose desire it is to make music of the highest quality.

Kalena Bovell has been described as a young conductor who possesses innate confidence and charisma. Praised for her “brilliant conducting skills” (Chicago Tribune) and a vibrant, conductor and educator, Kalena began her tenure as Assistant Conductor for the 2016-17 Season with the Chicago Sinfonietta. For the 2015-2016 season, Kalena was selected to be one of three Chicago Sinfonietta Freeman Conducting Fellows. This opportunity allowed her to work closely with Mei-Ann Chen and also take part in Maestro Paul Freeman’s vision of fostering and promoting cultural diversity within classical music. Kalena also traveled to Memphis Tennessee in May of 2016 and assisted Mei-Ann Chen for her final masterworks concert with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra; conducting the off-stage brass in Mahler’s First Symphony. Kalena has also served as the cover conductor to Carolyn Kuan, Music Director of the Hartford Symphony, on various masterworks concerts. She has also assisted Hartford Symphony guest conductors Bill Eddins and Gerard Schwartz.  Currently the Orchestra Director at the Loomis Chaffee School, Kalena received a Master’s Degree and Graduate Professional Diploma in orchestral conducting from The Hartt School where she was a student of Edward Cumming.

Brent Douglas is quickly establishing himself as a conductor after a successful career as an orchestral pianist, accompanist, musical director and chamber musician.  He was just appointed Conductor of the Dusseldorf (Germany) Lyric Opera, and will make his European debut in a production of THE MAGIC FLUTE in November 2017.  In March 2016, he was invited to perform in Havana, Cuba, where he conducted the National Women’s Chorus of Cuba, Ensemble Vocal Luna.  He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance and a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting (2016) from the University of South Florida, where he studied with Dr. William Wiedrich and Dr. James Bass. He furthered his conducting studies with Michael Francis (The Florida Orchestra), Kenneth Kiesler (U. of Michigan), and Harold Farberman (Bard College). This is his fifth season playing piano and celeste in the Florida Orchestra.  He is active as a chamber musician and serves as a vocal coach and accompanist for St. Petersburg Opera, Opera Tampa and the Savannah Voice Festival. Brent is the Choral and Large Ensembles Director and Piano Instructor at Eckerd College.

Ryan Ferguson is a conductor with a passion for collaboration, research, and education. As Assistant Conductor and principal horn of the Baltimore Philharmonia Orchestra, Ryan regularly serves as cover conductor and assistant for the ensemble. He is also Director of Music at Saint James United Methodist Church (Marriottsville, MD) where he leads the Music Ministry and directs the Chancel Choir, and is on faculty as Performing Arts Instructor at The Summit School (Edgewater, MD).  Ryan Ferguson graduated cum laude with an Honors Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Science degrees from Shorter University, and a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. Additional studies have taken place at the Aaron Copeland School of Music at Queens College, Smith College, and with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. Conducting influences include Markand Thakar, Carolyn Kuan, Jonathan Hirsh, Dimitar Nikolov, Tong Chen, and Maurice Peress.

Lucy Ginther is director of the Ohio Wesleyan University Chamber Orchestra where she is also professor of violin, string methods and appreciation of musical literature. She is also active in the professional community as violist with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Jazz Arts and in the Broadway pit. She enjoys diverse opportunities for solo work and chamber music collaboration.  Instrumental mentors include Robert Vernon, Masao Kawasaki and Jeffrey K. Irvine. Conducting mentors include Mercedes Diaz, Harvey Felder, Carmon DeLeone and Dr. Larry Griffin. Dr. Ginther holds a BM and BME from Wichita State University and a MM and DMA from the College-Conservatory of Music.

Janette LaBarre has been Interim Professor of Instrumental Music at the Greatbatch School of Music, Houghton College where she directed the Wind Ensemble, taught trumpet and lead the Graduate Instrumental Conducting program.  Janette is the founder and director of the WestSide Chamber Orchestra in Rochester, NY.  She has studied conducting with Kenneth Keisler, Tomas Netopil, Larry Rachleff, Donald Schleicher, Paul Shewan, and Markand Thakar.  Since 2015, Janette has directed the Adelphi University Players, the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra in the Czech Republic and the Houghton Symphony Orchestra. She has worked with the New Symphony Orchestra of Sophia, Bulgaria, the Baltimore and Boulder Chamber Orchestras, and the Roberts Wesleyan College Community Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. Janette holds both a Master of Music degree and a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Roberts Wesleyan College and has taught at Rochester Christian School in Webster, NY, and with the Churchville-Chili School District. She has directed the orchestra and wind ensemble at the Csehy Summer School of Music since 2013, and also serves on their board of directors.

Gregory D. McDaniel, conductor and passionate educator, is very active in many different musical surroundings. He is currently in his second season as Assistant Conductor with the Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra, and he is the Director of the newly formed Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra Chorus, which ended its first season performing Orff’s Carmina Burana. He has conducted stage performances of musical theatre and opera, such as Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites , Once on this Island , Little Mermaid , and more. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from the Moores School of Music, University of Houston. At the University of Houston, he studied conducting with Dr. Betsy Cook Weber, Dr. Charles Hausmann, and Professor Franz Anton Krager. Gregory was the winner of the American Choral Directors Association Undergraduate Conducting   Competition in 2009. Gregory is a proud native of Houston, TX.

Tyler Readinger is the assistant conductor of the Reading Philharmonic Orchestra, and conductor of the Kutztown University Chamber Players. He began conducting in high school and has since been invited to conduct throughout the community, regionally, and nationally. Currently a student of Dr. Peter Isaacson at Kutztown University, he has also studied briefly with Christian Capocaccia, Georgios Vranos, Gavriel Heine and Willis Rapp. Tyler was a fellow of the Conductors Institute of South Carolina, where he worked with conductors Donald Portoy, Jorge Mester, Peter Jaffe, and Victoria Bond, and has been invited to numerous other conducting institutions. He has collaborated with world class artists such as NYC Ballet concertmaster Kurt Nikkanen, pianist Maria Asteriadou, flautist Susanna Loewy, as well as students from The Curtis Institute, The Manhattan School of Music, and Kutztown University. As a clarinetist, he performs regularly as an ensemble, chamber and solo musician regionally, nationally, and internationally. He has appeared with the Reading Pops Orchestra, Penn Symphony Orchestra, and the Northern Lights Festival Orchestra. Tyler has performed in master classes for Mark Nuccio, Kevin Schempf, and Michele Gingras to name a few, and studied briefly with Miltos Mumulides, Rie Suzuki, and Julie Beth Drey. He has participated in festivals such as the Cape May Piano Festival, Kutztown University Summer Chamber Music Festival, and the Northern Lights Music Festival.

Hannah Schendel, a native of Minnesota, currently serves as Director of Music at Christ Lutheran Church, and Assistant Conductor of the Minnetonka Civic Orchestra, and has recently been appointed as Director of Orchestras, and Director of String Activities at Bethel University (Saint Paul, MN), effective August 2017. Her previous positions include, Conductor of South of the River Youth Orchestras, Conductor of Bemidji Youth Orchestras,  Assistant Conductor for Opera at USC, Principal Conductor of the Columbia Community Orchestra, and she has recently appeared as Guest Conductor with the Bemidji Symphony, Brevard Philharmonic, University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra, and Campus Orchestra. She has attended the Lamont Conducting Workshop, Conducting Masterclasses and Workshop Series (Chicago), Conductors Retreat at Medomak, Conductors Institute at the University of South Carolina, and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra Summer Conducting Seminar. Ms. Schendel holds a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the University of South Carolina, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Minnesota, where she studied violin and pre-med. In addition to her conducting engagements, Hannah is an active violinist, pianist, and organist.

Katsu Yamane, a Native of Japan, is a robotics engineer but has always been passionate about music. Katsu has an extensive musical experience of more than 10 years as a choir member and an orchestra player (oboe and English horn). His choir experience also includes leadership roles such as leading the bass part and conducting small choir groups. As an orchestra member, he has played for many distinguished conductors such as James Lockhart, Ken-ichiro Kobayashi, Kazuki Sawa, and Kazuki Yamada. In order to pursue his goal of conducting an orchestra, he has recently started taking private conducting lessons as well as participating in workshops with Peter Fender in London, UK and Martin Akerwall in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria.