The Houston Symphony is an American orchestra based in Houston, Texas. The orchestra is resident at the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts.
Robert Bonfiglio is an American classical harmonica player. Described by the music critic for the Los Angeles Times, as "the Paganini of the harmonica", he is known for his many recordings and live performances featuring the instrument.
The Tennessee Bassoon Quartet, formed in 1985, consists of bassoonists Keith McClelland, James Lotz, James Lassen and Michael Benjamin. The four, from Knoxville and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, formed the group to provide additional performance opportunities for their bassoon talents. They have performed primarily in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky with a repertoire that includes Renaissance music, jazz, Gilbert and Sullivan, Saint-Saëns, and Scott Joplin.
Emory Brace Remington (1892–1971) was a trombonist and music teacher. His unique method made him one of the most well-known and influential trombone educators in history. He was a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1923 to 1949, and on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY from 1922 until his death in 1971.
Christopher Chapman Rouse III was an American composer. Though he wrote for various ensembles, Rouse is primarily known for his orchestral compositions, including a Requiem, a dozen concertos, and six symphonies. His work received numerous accolades, including the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, the Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, and the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He also served as the composer-in-residence for the New York Philharmonic from 2012 to 2015.
Homer Mensch was a prominent classical bassist who was a former member of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the New York Pops, and the NBC Symphony. Mensch held faculty positions at Yale University, at the Manhattan School of Music, the Juilliard School, the Mannes College of Music, Rutgers University, Dalcroze School, Queens College, and Catholic University. He taught upwards of 45 students a week from beginners, to conservatory students, to professionals both in the classical and jazz fields.
Akira Endo was a Japanese-American conductor and music educator. Maestro Endo held conducting posts with the American Ballet Theatre, Westside Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Austin Symphony Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
Toshiyuki Shimada is a Japanese-born American orchestral conductor. He is Music Director of both the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra in New London, CT; the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes in Corning, NY; and the New Britain Symphony Orchestra. He had been Music Director of the Yale Symphony Orchestra of Yale University from 2005 to 2019, and currently he is Director of Orchestral Activity at the Connecticut College. He is also Music Director Laureate of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, in Portland, Maine, of which he was Music Director from 1986 to 2006. Prior to Portland, he was Associate Conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra for six years, beginning in 1981. He also serves as Principal Conductor of the Vienna Modern Masters, in Austria since 1998.
Daniel George Lewis was an American orchestral conductor and University Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern California (USC).
The Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute was a summer training program held in Los Angeles, California for conservatory aged orchestral instrumentalists and conductors. It ran from 1982 to 1991 under the auspices of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Andrew Shulman is an English virtuoso cellist, conductor and composer. He is currently the principal cellist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and maintains his cello studio at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, California.
Bruce Bransby is an American double-bassist and university professor.
Robert S. Williams is an American bassoonist.
Doriot Anthony Dwyer was an American flutist. She was one of the first women to be awarded principal chair for a major U.S. orchestra. She was the principal flute for the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1952 until 1990. She was second flute for the National Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She was an Adjunct Professor of Music at Boston University.
Benjamin F. Ward, Jr. was an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Duke University Department of Philosophy and was the Associate Dean for Faculty Program at Duke. He was an accomplished pianist who began playing at the age of six. He died in 2013 in Durham, NC, after battling a long illness.
Thomas Daniel Nyfenger was an American flutist and teacher known for his "intense and caring emotion for the flute" and described as “a thorough professional who programs interesting music and is not above having a good time while playing it.” He taught at the Yale School of Music, played piccolo for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and held many part-time playing and teaching positions throughout his career.
The Tulsa Youth Symphony Orchestra (TYS) is an Oklahoma nonprofit arts organization founded in 1963 to provide advanced orchestral training and performance experience for young musicians in Northeastern Oklahoma. As of 2016, more than 200 students, ages 8 to 18, participate in the program’s two orchestras. The orchestra is composed of students from northeast Oklahoma communities and schools including Tulsa, Bartlesville, Owasso, Sapulpa, Sand Springs, Broken Arrow, Bixby, Coweta, Grove, Oologah, Jenks, and Holland Hall, as well as home schooled children.
Black conductors are musicians of African, Caribbean, African-American ancestry and other members of the African diaspora who are musical ensemble leaders who direct classical music performances, such as an orchestral or choral concerts, or jazz ensemble big band concerts by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms, face and head. Conductors of African descent are rare, as the vast majority are male and Caucasian.
Edward "Teddy" Paul Maxwell Abrams is an American conductor, pianist, clarinetist, and composer. He is currently Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra and the Britt Festival Orchestra.
