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International Conductors Guild
Marc-André Bougie
Praised for his captivating performances, visionary musical leadership, and engaging personality, American conductor Maestro Bougie made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut in 2010. He has collaborated with world-renowned performers such as Zuill Bailey, Jimmy Brière, Michael Brown, Tony DeSare, the Harlem String Quartet, Sharon Isbin, Scott Kirby, Jean-François Normand, Sandi Patty, Jane Redding, Tatiana Roitman Mann, Elena Urioste, Bradley Welch, and many more. In January 2016, he conducted the premiere of the new educational program Dvořáks’ New World, created by Michael Boudewyns and Sara Valentine – and for which Marc-André was the music collaborator. He has also been active working with contemporary American and Canadian composers, and he has commissioned and premiered many new works – most lately Southern Air and Flourish by award-winning composer Clint Needham. Marc-André is married to soprano Candace Taylor with whom he collaborates as composer, pianist, & conductor. In 2015 they worked on an album featuring one of their new compositions, Ave Maria. He has won the 2001 MTNA National Composition Competition, and holds a Master's Degree in Orchestra Conducting from the University of Missouri-Columbia. In addition to his conducting engagements, Marc-André teaches at Texarkana College, and he was awarded the Texarkana College 2016 Endowed Chair of Teaching Excellence, and a NISOD Excellence Awards recipient in May 2017 on behalf of Texarkana College. In April of 2018, he conducted the New England Symphonic Ensemble and a number of choruses in F. J. Haydn’s Mariazeller Mass at Carnegie Hall as guest conductor for Mid-America Productions. His involvement in the advancement of music in the areas of the conducting profession and education is reflected through his work with organizations dedicated to these disciplines. Among others, he is a board member for the Conductors’ Guild, an international organization dedicated to the advancement of the conducting profession.
Rubén Capriles
RUBÉN CAPRILES starts the 2019- 2020 Season his first season as Artistic Director of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Venezuela, as well as his seventh season as Music Director of the Falcón Symphony Orchestra in Coro, Venezuela. After completing his tenure of two years as President and Music Director of the Baltimore Philharmonia Orchestra in Baltimore, Maryland, where Capriles pursued his graduate orchestral conducting studies at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Capriles started since 2013 a steady conducting career developing to national and international acclaim the Falcón Symphony Orchestra. During his years of studies Capriles developed a close relationship with the Baltimore musical community, not only as graduate conducting assistant of the Peabody Conservatory Conducting Program Orchestras, but also as Cover Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Director of Orchestras at the Baltimore School for the Arts, and as Administrative Assistant of the Peabody Youth Orchestra at the Peabody Preparatory. Other responsibilities during those years of studies in the US included being founding Conductor of the Young Musicians Program Youth Orchestra at the University of California, Berkeley. Awarded with the 2010 Bruno Walter Conducting Fellowship as Assistant Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Academy, Capriles has had his conducting described by his fellow colleagues as passionate and intelligent. Capriles has been finalist of the First Eduardo Mata International Conducting Competition in Mexico City, and of the Sixth Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition in Chattanooga, Tennessee. As one of the selected conducting fellows at the 2007 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music Capriles was nominated for the Thelma A. Robinson Award of the Conductors Guild. He has been recipient of the Mabelle Antionette Leonhardtsen del Mar Scholarship of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and has been awarded with the José Félix Ribas National Order from the Venezuelan government for his contributions to the arts. Capriles started to conduct professionally at 21 in his native Venezuela as the Music Director of the Zulia Boys Singer Orchestra, and later as the founding Music Director of the Caracas Youth Symphony Orchestra. After his five-year tenure there, the Caracas Youth Symphony Orchestra developed a strong and consistent artistic level, becoming a vital part of Venezuela's now internationally renowned El Sistema. Dedicated to the distinguished members of the diplomatic body of the country, his debut concert with the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela was immediately broadcast in the Venezuelan national television, with the highest recognition by the critics in attendance. As laureate guest conductor of the Regional Orchestras of Venezuela, Capriles toured extensively around the country, also conducting the Caracas Municipal Symphony Orchestra and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Venezuela. In 2005, Capriles was appointed as Music Director of the Ciudad Guayana Symphony Orchestra, where he developed intensive programming of more than sixty concerts during that season across the expansive Guayana region, obtaining the national recognition of the Federation of Regional Orchestras of Venezuela. The Kalamazoo Gazette praised Capriles’ conducting as the “most satisfying… His sweeping baton captured the romantic flavor of Berlioz’s composition. Ensemble remained tight and balanced, making for countless musical thrills” Among his most recent international engagements stands out his guest conducting appearance with the German Chamber Orchestra for its Silvesterkonzert at the Kammermusiksaal of the Berlin Philharmonie. As a committed teacher, Capriles currently serves at the Board of Directors of the Conductors Guild, and has been invited as principal instructor in the National Academy for Conductors that is organized by Venezuela's El Sistema to enhance the preparation of the new generation of conductors from around the country. A strong advocate of young composers of his generation, Capriles has supported and recorded new award-winning orchestral and chamber works at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and at the “Simón Bolívar” Conservatory of Venezuela’s El Sistema. Capriles graduated under the guidance of José Antonio Abreu as the top conductor of his generation at the internationally renowned El Sistema, where he received his pre-college and undergraduate training in Horn, Theory, Solfège, Composition and Conducting. Before pursuing his graduate studies in Conducting, Capriles performed professionally for two years in the horn sections of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in Caracas, and the Maracaibo Symphony Orchestra in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Capriles completed his MM studies in Conducting at the Simón Bolívar University in Caracas, and his DMA studies in Conducting at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He holds MBA and MPP degrees from IESA in Caracas, and completed MA readings in Political Science at Columbia University in New York. His primary conducting teachers have been José Antonio Abreu, Gustav Meier, Helmuth Rilling, Marin Alsop and Markand Thakar.
Peter Cokkinias
A busy freelance clarinetist and saxophone player, Conductor PETER COKKINIAS has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Boston Ballet Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, and in shows at all the major Boston-area theaters. He is a founding member of the Boston Saxophone Quartet and administers their Noteworthy Scholars program, featuring First Night Boston performances of new works by high-school-aged composers. Maestro Peter Cokkinias conducts the Metrowest Symphony Orchestra, and is equally at home conducting symphony, opera, ballet, and theater orchestras. He has conducted in Massachusetts—including the Boston Pops and Boston Ballet Orchestra—as well as Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Kentucky, New York, Texas, and California. Peter Cokkinias is music director/conductor of the Franklin Performing Arts Center’s annual production of The Nutcracker and occasional musicals.
Stephen Czarkowski
John Gingrich
JOHN GINGRICH has been active in the not-for-profit and for-profit performing arts world for almost 45 years and was honored by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters with the Fan Taylor Award for service to the field in 1992. He founded John Gingrich Management in 1983 after many years of experience in management, booking and public relations Beginning as the first graduate assistant with Penn State’s Artists Series, John moved to New York where he’s served as president of Concert Artists Guild (CAG), Opera Managers Association, the National Association of Performing Arts Managers and Agents (NAPAMA), and the Association of American Dance Companies (AADC) – predecessor of Dance USA. He was the first commercial agent to serve on a National Endowment for the Arts review panel (1983 with four more to follow). He also was board secretary for Chamber Music America (CMA) and Dance Perspectives Foundation, while remaining active in a wide range of civic, church and cultural activities. A career highlight was the production of the AIDS Quilt Songbook at Lincoln Center in June 1992.
John Koshak
JOHN KOSHAK is Conductor and Professor Emeritus, Chapman University, and Music Director and Conductor Emeritus and holder of the Ambassador and Mrs. George L. Argyros Music Director's Chair of the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra. His leadership of the OCYSO established the orchestra as one of the prominent youth orchestras in the United States and has brought national attention to the arts in Orange County. He recently completed his thirty-two year tenure at Chapman University where he served as Director of Orchestras and Instrumental Music. At the university Professor Koshak was responsible for building Chapman's nationally prominent orchestra program and one of the nation's leading undergraduate conductor training programs in orchestral conducting. To honor his achievements and contributions, Chapman University recognized John Koshak as Conductor and Professor Emeritus and established the John Koshak Visiting Professorship. The university also established the John Koshak Practice Studio in Oliphant Hall, the newest music building on the Chapman University campus. Critics both at home and abroad have enthusiastically reviewed Maestro Koshak. A Los Angeles Times reviewer wrote: "Carefully regulating each crescendo, Koshak made every climax powerful, dramatic and exhilarating without exhausting his resources at the first fortissimo." In Germany, the Rhein Zeitung reviewer wrote: "both the overall harmonic picture and the artistic discipline can be attributed to the conductor, John Koshak." Of the Brahms Symphony No. 1, the critic described Koshak as a "true Salzburgian." While in Australia, the Sydney Herald music critic wrote: "John Koshak presided over first rate string sounds in the Barber Adagio, and in a Gabrielli Canzona made the brass ring out triumphantly, while Bernstein's Candide Overture hustled along with irresistible panache." About Maestro Koshak's Celebration/Finale Concert with the OCYSO, Timothy Mangan, from the Orange County Register, wrote, "A medley from West Side Story, followed, the orchestra showing a fine sense of its brash and sentimental style, and judging the instrumental balances well, Koshak led them in precise but expressive motions, giving them just what they needed for accuracy's sake without fuss, but also gently shaping the musical flow." Koshak has conducted orchestras in Australia, China and Europe, and has conducted honor, festival and all-state orchestras in California, Nevada, Montana, Washington, and New York. He has served as artist-in-residence and guest conductor at the Sydney (Australia) Conservatorium of Music and was twice invited as guest conductor of the Pan Pacific Music Festival in Australia. Maestro Koshak has toured extensively with his orchestras, including performances in Europe, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and New York. He has conducted in some of the world's greatest concert halls, including the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria, the Konzerthaus, Vienna, Austria, the Sydney Opera House, Australia, and New York's prestigious Carnegie Hall. Prior to his appointment to the faculty of Chapman University, he was a public school music educator and conductor in New York, Germany, New Jersey, and California. In Orange County, California, Professor Koshak was recognized for his work in music education when he received the Irene Schoepfle Award for distinguished contributions to Orange County music and by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County which presented him with their Golden Lyre Award for his work with their music education programs and for his artistic leadership of the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra. Arts Orange County recognized him and the OCYSO with the Arts Educator of the Year Award. With the OCYSO Maestro Koshak has conducted youth concerts in Orange County for over a half million Orange County students. While conducting and teaching in Europe, Professor Koshak received recognition by the United States Government, which granted him the Superior Performance Award for his work in Germany. He and his orchestras have twice received the ASCAP Award from the American Symphony Orchestra League for the performance of American music. At Chapman University, Professor Koshak received the Faculty of the Year Award from the Chapman Alumni Association for his outstanding teaching and conducting. Arts Orange County recognized his music and arts leadership by giving him their prestigious Artistic Visionary Award for lifetime achievement in the arts. He is the author of the conducting book, The Conductor's Role: Preparation for Individual Study, Rehearsal and Performance that is now in its 5th edition. Professor Koshak received his Bachelor of Music degree from The Pennsylvania State University, his Master's degree from Columbia University, and his Conducting Diploma from the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. He serves as Chair of the Mentoring Committee of the Conductors Guild.
Everett McCorvey
Maestro Everett McCorvey is in his 6th Season as the Artistic Director of the National Chorale and Orchestra at Lincoln Center in New York City. The National Chorale, in its 52nd Season, is known for concerts featuring the major titans of the choral repertory as well as New York’s popular Messiah Sing-In at Lincoln Center which just celebrated 52 years. Maestro McCorvey is also the Founder and Music Director of the American Spiritual Ensemble celebrating 25 years of touring throughout the world celebrating the American Negro Spiritual. Recent performances of Maestro McCorvey include conducting the North Czech Philharmonic in a New Year’s Eve concert of the Dvorak “New World” Symphony in Smetana Hall in Prague, Czech Republic. And the Taormina Music Festival Orchestra in a concert of Opera Scenes in Taormina, Italy. Future conducting stents will include conducting the Euro Sinfonietta Vienna Orchestra in a concert of the Beethoven 1st Symphony at Haydn Hall in Vienna in August of 2020 and conducting the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic at the famed Musikverin in Vienna in November of 2020. A Scholar, Educator and Impresario, Maestro McCorvey is also a Music Professor at the University of Kentucky where he holds an Endowed Chair in Opera Studies and is Director of the University of Kentucky Opera Program, a program that is recognized by the Richard Tucker Foundation as one of the top 20 Recommended Opera Training Programs in the country. Maestro McCorvey was recently chosen as the 2020 recipient for the Southeastern Athletic Conference Faculty Achievement Award for the University of Kentucky and was the 2018 recipient of the University of Kentucky Libraries Medallion for Intellectual Achievement Award, one of the highest awards presented by the University. The award promotes education and creative thought. National PBS stations are currently running two concerts produced by Maestro McCorvey throughout the country during the 2019-2020 season. One featuring the American Spiritual Ensemble and a PBS special featuring another one of Maestro McCorvey’s creations, a Broadway Salute entitled “It’s a Grand Night for Singing!” In September of 2010, Dr. McCorvey served as the Executive Producer of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Alltech 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games held in Lexington, Kentucky. The Opening Ceremony was broadcasted on NBC Sports and was viewed by over 500 million people worldwide. The Alltech 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games was the largest equestrian event to ever be held in the United States. www.everettmccorvey.com
Jon C. Mitchell
Chicago native JON CEANDER MITCHELL conducts the Chamber Orchestra at University of Massachusetts Boston, where he is Professor of Music. He also conducts the Boston Neo-politan Chamber Orchestra. Prior to his 1992 arrival in Boston, he held full-time music faculty positions at University of Georgia, Carnegie Mellon University, and Hanover College. He also served as music director of the North Pittsburgh Civic Symphony. In recent years he has done a significant amount of guest conducting with professional and college orchestras throughout Europe and the United States. His research covers many areas, but is centered mostly on Holst and Beethoven. He has over seventy publications, with five published books including The Braunschweig Scores: Felix Weingartner and Erich Leinsdorf on Beethoven’s First Four Symphonies, A Comprehensive Biography of Composer Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Wind Works, and From Kneller Hall to Hammersmith: The Band Works of Gustav Holst. His latest “book” is a scholarly edition and realization of the orchestration of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in E Flat, WoO4. He is also editor of the CODA (College orchestra Directors Association) Journal. He has conducted six CDs with professional orchestras for Centaur Records and Vienna Music Masters and is in the latter stages of recording the cycle of Anton Rubinstein’s piano concertos with pianist Grigorios Zamparas for Centaur.
Ian Passmore
With adventurous musicality and an infectious stage presence, Dr. Ian Passmore leads a rich career as conductor and educator. Praised by Fanfare Magazine as “a rising young conductor” whose work “just glows,” his performances are recognized for their distinctive, often daring interpretations. Following two seasons as the Omaha Symphony’s Assistant Conductor, the orchestra named him their Associate Conductor in 2019, a position never before created in its nearly 100 year history. Passmore otherwise maintains an active guest conducting schedule: his previous engagements include a residency at the Vietnam National Academy of Music in Hanoi, where he worked with the conservatory’s musicians and led the Hanoi Philharmonic in concert, premiering Vĩnh Cát’s “An everlasting moment at the change of the millennium” in tandem with performances of Ives and Dvořák. In the 2015-16 season, he was honored as the Schmidt Conducting Fellow with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Having begun his own conducting studies at the age of ten, Dr. Passmore’s career also emphasizes conducting pedagogy and music education at large. In this vein, upcoming speaking engagements include his co-presentation at the 2019 Nebraska Music Educators Association conference, where he will lead a workshop on rehearsal techniques. He continues his extensive experience in working with young artists this year, once again serving as a recurring guest conductor of the Omaha Area Youth Orchestras. Prior to his appointment in Omaha, he worked with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s high school Side-by-Side program; and served as Associate Instructor of Orchestral Conducting at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he taught all levels of conducting and led many of the IU orchestras, often preparing them for guest artists such as Franz Welser-Möst and Joshua Bell. Dr. Passmore maintains an active private teaching schedule, and his students have gone on to attend conservatories and summer festivals such as the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, the Conservatoire de musique de Lyon, and the Aspen Music Festival & School. Passmore holds a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University, writing a dissertation entitled “The Pedagogical Philosophies & Techniques of David Effron.” Additional education includes a Master of Music degree from the University of Delaware and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, with further studies at the University of North Carolina. He is grateful to his conducting mentors, who include David Effron, Arthur Fagen, James Allen Anderson, Tonu Kalam, and the late Robert Gutter. Dr. Ian Passmore is a member of the League of American Orchestras, Conductors Guild, and the honors music society Pi Kappa Lambda. In 2019, he was elected to the Conductors Guild Board of Directors. He is now based in Omaha with his fiancée, the conductor Dianna Fiore, and their two miniature long-haired dachshunds: Beethoven and Charlie. Learn more at maestropassmore.com.
Lucas Richman
LUCAS RICHMAN has served as Music Director for the Bangor Symphony Orchestra since 2010 and recently completed a 12-year tenure as Music Director for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra from 2003-2015. Mr. Richman received a GRAMMY Award (2011) in the category of Best Classical Crossover Album for having conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on Christopher Tin’s classical/world fusion album, Calling All Dawns. He has appeared as guest conductor with numerous orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the SWR Radio Orchestra of Kaiserslautern, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Zagreb Philharmonic. In recent years, he has led performances with notable soloists such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Garrick Ohlsson, Lang Lang, Midori, Gil Shaham, Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Frank Peter Zimmerman, Mark O’Connor, Andre Watts, Frederica von Stade and Radu Lupu. Mr. Richman has also conducted for a panoply of commercial artists that includes James Taylor, Michael Jackson, Pat Boone, Michael Feinstein, Gloria Estefan, Megan Hilty, Matthew Morrison, George Benson, Anne Murray, the Smothers Brothers, Martin Short, Tony Randall and Victor Borge. Mr. Richman’s numerous collaborations with film composers as their conductor has yielded recorded scores for such films as the Academy Award-nominated The Village (with violinist, Hilary Hahn), As Good As It Gets, Face/Off, Se7en, Breakdown, The Manchurian Candidateand Kit Kittredge: An American Girl; in 2010, John Williams invited him to lead the three-month national summer tour of Star Wars in Concert. Recent recordings he has led from the podium include Symphony of Hope: The Haiti Project (a project from within the film music community that has generated over $200K in donations), Noel Paul Stookey’s recent solo release One & Many, and Marvin Hamlisch’s final score, written for the Emmy Award-winning HBO movie, Behind the Candelabra. Mr. Richman served as Assistant and Resident Conductor for Mariss Jansons and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra between 1998-2004 and, from 1988-1991, he was the Assistant Conductor for the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. Also an accomplished composer, Mr. Richman has had his music performed by over two hundred orchestras across the United States including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops and the symphonies of Detroit, Atlanta, New Jersey and Houston. In November, 2009, as the result of an NEA commission, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra premiered his Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, a setting of poetry by Children’s Poet Laureate, Jack Prelutsky, which Jahja Ling and the SDSO recorded for release in December, 2011. He has fulfilled commissions for numerous organizations including the Pittsburgh Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Johnstown Symphony, the Debussy Trio, the Seattle Chamber Music Society and the Organ Artists Series of Pittsburgh. September, 2015, brought the now critically-acclaimed Albany Records release of a new CD, IN TRUTH Lucas Richman, which features the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performing his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: In Truth(Jeffrey Biegel, piano), in addition to his Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra: The Clearing (Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida, oboe) and Three Pieces for Cello and Orchestra (Inbal Segev, cello).
Mr. Richman is a respected leader in the field of planning and conducting concerts for young people and his works written specifically for children have been featured in young people’s concerts presented by numerous orchestras including the Atlanta Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Antonio Symphony. Recordings of Richman’s music include those featuring Giora Feidman (Variations for Clarinet and Cello), the Tiroler Kammerorchester InnStrumenti of Innsbruck (The Seven Circles of Life) and members of the Pittsburgh Symphony (Day is Done), the latter of which is an album of original and traditional lullabies composed and arranged by Mr. Richman as an aid for parents wishing to introduce their children to the joys of music.
Dominique Røyem
DOMINIQUE RØYEM is the Music Director of the Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra. An active guest conductor, she has worked with ensembles such as the Ukrainian State Orchestra, Plevin Philharmonic, Galveston Symphony, Moores Opera Center, Sugarland Opera, HBU Opera Theatre, and the Houston Civic Orchestra. She was the Resident Conductor for Bayou City Concert Musicals, and Music Director for Houston Grand Opera’s Opera to Go! during the 12-13 and 13-14 seasons, and the Conducting Fellow for the Allentown Symphony Orchestra’s 2012-2013 season. She serves on the National Board of the Conductors Guild. Ms. Røyem earned her Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Houston Moores School of Music. 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. Dominique currently lectures at the Women’s Institute of Houston.
Jeffrey Schindler |
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