RUBÉN CAPRILES starts 2020 - 2021, his second 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

In September 1979, Peter Cokkinias became Music Director of the Greater Marlborough Symphony Orchestra (MA) - now known as the Metrowest Symphony Orchestra (MA), which he founded and has conducted continuously for the past 41 years. Dr. Cokkinias is equally at home conducting symphony, opera, ballet, and theater orchestras. He has had conducting engagements with the Boston Pops , Boston Ballet, Springfield Symphony (MA) , New Hampshire Symphony (NH) and with All-State Orchestras in NY, CT, KY, NH.

Peter Cokkinias has been music director/conductor of the Franklin Performing Arts Center’s annual production of The Nutcracker , and for several musicals, for 13 seasons. Dr. Cokkinias produced seven fully-staged operas as conductor and founder of the Tufts Opera Theater (Tufts University). He founded the Berklee College of Music’s Contemporary Symphony Orchestra and helped to create the musical theater program at Berklee producing eight full Broadway productions. In the Fall of 2014, Peter was awarded a sabbatical by Berklee College of music for travel to NYC to attend and research the Broadway revival of Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town.

Dr. Cokkinias' conducting teachers included Leonard Bernstein, Boris Goldovsky, Richard Lert, Thomas Schippers, Vytautas Marijosius, and Gustav Meier.  He attended conducting masterclasses with Aaron Copland, Max Rudolf, Louis Lane, André Previn, and Seiji Ozawa.  Dr. Cokkinias' professorship positions have included Tufts University , Boston Conservatory , and Berklee College of Music.  He is a graduate of Hartt College (BM, BM ED), Manhattan School of Music (MM), and College-Conservatory University of Cincinnati (DMA).  His principal clarinet teachers were  Robert Marcellus, Bernard Portnoy, Herbert Blayman, Henry Larsen, Harvey Brigham.                       

As a busy freelance clarinetist and woodwind specialist/ clinician, Peter Cokkinias has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Boston Ballet Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh (PA), Springfield (MA) orchestras and in major Broadway theaters in Greater Boston and Providence, and clarinet finalist for both the Boston, and Chicago Symphony Orchestras. 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. Dr. Cokkinias is a member of Board of Directors of the International Conductors Guild and a member of the Mentoring/Consulting Committee. 

Stephen Czarkowski     

• Music Director and Conductor, Apollo Orchestra
• Assistant Conductor, York Symphony
• Music Director, Symphonette at Landon School
  
  

   Maestro Stephen Czarkowski is in his tenth season as music director and conductor of The Apollo Orchestra,   Assistant Conductor of York Symphony Orchestra and Associate Conductor of Opera Camerata. He has guest   conducted Prince George’s Philharmonic, Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia, Old Bridge   Chamber Orchestra, Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, Symphony of the Potomac, Washington Sinfonietta,   Honolulu  Symphony and Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Stephen has also guest conducted the National   Symphony Orchestra through the National Conducting Institute under Leonard Slatkin. Stephen has worked with   internationally esteemed soloists, including soprano Harolyn Blackwell, harpist Nancy Allen, violinist Cho-Liang   Lin, trumpeter Chris Gekker, guitarist Ana Vidovic and cellists Carter Brey, Jerry Grossman and Amit Peled. He is   director of strings at Norwood School (fifth year), where his orchestra received a superior rating in festival; music   director and conductor of Frederick Regional Youth Orchestra; music director and conductor of The Symphonette at Landon School; and resident conductor and cello faculty at Luzerne Music Center. Stephen was a soloist with Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, performing Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C Major and performed Bach’s Cello Suites at St. James Catholic Church in Charles Town, West Virginia. He was a special guest artist at the Library of Congress, the White House and in concerts honoring Pope Francis and President Obama. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Catholic University of America and Mannes College of Music at The New School. In addition to serving on the Conductors Guild Board of Directors he has recently been appointed to the New School Alumni Council. www.stephenczarkowski.com
   

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

• Omaha Symphony, Associate Conductor  

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   

• Music Director, Bangor Symphony Orchestra

 Jeffrey Schindler 

Conductor Jeffrey Schindler enjoys a dynamic international career that takes him from concert podiums around the world to the recording studios of Hollywood and London. Whether leading symphonic works of the Masters, multi-million dollar film scores, or cutting edge contemporary and commercial music, Mr. Schindler’s energy and visionary musical storytelling are hallmarks of every performance. In every aspect of his diverse career, Mr. Schindler demonstrates his commitment to profound musical communication, technical excellence, versatility, breadth of knowledge and a quest for imaginative and creative musical interaction.  

Known as a versatile conductor, Mr. Schindler has conducted world renowned orchestras across the globe, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, Charlotte Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Austin Symphony, Madison (WI) Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago (Chile), Orquesta Filarmónica de Puerto Rico, Strauss Orchestra of Montreal, Orquesta Internacional de Las Artes (Mexico City), Metropolitan Festival Orchestra (Singapore), Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Colombia (Bogota), Czech Philharmonic, London Session Orchestra, AISOI Symphony Orchestra in Australia (with whom he led the Tasmanian premiere of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps), the Metro Voices of London, and the Bach Choir of London.  

Jeffrey Schindler recently celebrated his 130^th Harry Potter live orchestra with film concert performance. His repertoire spans many similar productions including Amadeus, DreamWorks Animation in Concert, and the Christmas favorite It’s A Wonderful Life. In July of 2015, he produced, reconstructed, orchestrated, and conducted the live with orchestra world premiere of the Academy Award winning March of the Penguins for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. An authorized conductor for the Walt Disney Company, he made his debut Star Wars galaxy performances in the  in the winter of 2019 with the Nashville Symphony.  

Mr. Schindler’s extensive podium experience, efficient rehearsals, and precise yet expressive baton technique place him in high demand among film composers who seek the passion and refined artistry he elicits from an orchestra. He has led the recording sessions for many international feature film and television projects including: X-men: Apocalypse, X-men: Days of Future Past, Jack the Giant Slayer, The Wolfman, Astroboy, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Temple Grandin, Four Christmases, Bernard and Doris, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Hollywood Homicide, and the most successful documentary of all time: March of the Penguins.  

Mr. Schindler is a sought-after orchestrator and arranger, highly regarded for his orchestral knowledge, and expert musicianship. His more than 250 Hollywood production credits include: Hotel Transylvania 2, Pee Wee’s Big Holiday, Ice Age: Eggscapade, 22 Jump Street, Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers, Gnomeo and Juliet, Superman Returns, The Invasion, Firewall, Next, as well as orchestrations for Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz. Orchestras and ensembles around the world have played Mr. Schindler’s orchestrations and arrangements, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Czech Philharmonic. 

A virtuoso harpsichordist and organist, Mr. Schindler has performed concerts with ensembles nationally including extensive recitals throughout New England. He has appeared as soloist with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra and in concert with members of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and New York Philharmonic. An early music scholar, Mr. Schindler is a consummate accompanist and has performed with major symphonies throughout the United States improvising from the basso continuo. He served as Harpsichordist in Residence at the National Flute Convention and most recently performed all six Brandenburg Concerti in concert with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the Hollywood Chamber Orchestra (where he is Principal Harpsichordist) with Martin Chalifour, (concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic). He has also performed with early music luminaries such as Jaap Schroder, as well as with members of Tafelmusik and Aston Magna.

 Julie Sorensen

•  Music Director , Idaho State-Civic Symphony
• Flute Instructor, Idaho State University

A former assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, Maestro MARKAND THAKAR'S appearances include concerts and a national radio broadcast with that orchestra; as well as concerts with the National, San Antonio, Columbus, Fort Worth, Alabama, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Amarillo, Charlotte, Wichita, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Richmond, Colorado Springs, Greensboro, Illinois, Kalamazoo, Windsor, Flint, Maryland, Ann Arbor, National Gallery, Waterbury, Annapolis, and Florida West Coast symphony orchestras; the Calgary, Louisiana, Long Island, and Ulsan (South Korea) philharmonics; and the Boston Pro Arte, National and Cleveland chamber orchestras; and opera productions with the Baltimore Opera Theater, the Teatro Lirico d’Europa, Opera on the James, and the Duluth Festival Opera. A frequent guest conductor at the Aspen Music Festival, Mr. Thakar has appeared with Yo-Yo Ma and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and with Itzhak Perlman and the Boulder Philharmonic, and is a winner of the Geraldine C. and Emory M. Ford Foundation Award. Familiar to national radio audiences as a frequent commentator for National Public Radio’s Performance Today, he has appeared on CBS This Morning and CNN conducting the Colorado Symphony.

With BCO Thakar has recorded three CDs for the Naxos label, including disks of concertos by Classical Era masters Stamitz, Hoffmeister and Pleyel, and music by Jonathan Leshnoff on the American Classics imprint, named to Naxos’ “Best of the Best” list. BCO traveled to China to perform a series of Viennese New Year’s concerts, and recent a performance in New York earned a warm review from the New York Times, which praised the group’s “warmth and substance.” During his 12-year tenure in Duluth, the DSSO saw dramatic growth in both audience and artistic prominence, to what Minnesota Public Radio called “Minnesota’s other great orchestra.” Noted internationally as a pedagogue, his two annual intensive conducting programs with BCO have drawn conductors from five continents. His students have won significant conducting positions across North America and internationally, including music directorships with the Aachen (Germany), Winnipeg, Hartford, Eugene, Charleston, Lubbock, Muncie, Williamsport, Amarillo, Young Musician’s Foundation, Lake Forest, Mid-Atlantic, Sioux City, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Lake Charles, Washington-Idaho, and Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestras; staff conducting positions with the Metropolitan Opera and the orchestras of Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Dallas, Seattle, Saint Louis, Portland (OR), Richmond, Winnipeg, Portland (ME), Buffalo, Phoenix, Charlotte, Kansas City, Canton, Winston-Salem, and El Paso; as well as numerous collegiate positions.

Markand Thakar is the author of three seminal books. Counterpoint: Fundamentals of Music Making (Yale University Press, 1990), also issued in Italian and Czech, uses species counterpoint to promote an understanding of how both composer and performer contribute to the experience of musical beauty. Looking for the “Harp” Quartet; An Investigation into Musical Beauty (University of Rochester Press, 2011) is a study of musical beauty from the standpoint of the composer, performer and listener. On the Principles and Practice of Conducting (University of Rochester Press, anticipated 2016) is a manual for conductors at all levels.