2008 High School State Honors Project Conductors
|
An accomplished conductor, educator, clinician, lecturer, and performer, Dr. Jean Montès is passionate about challenging and stimulating audiences and musicians alike. He is currently Director of Orchestras at Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana. More recently he has been the Director of Orchestral Studies and Coordinator of Strings at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) where he conducted the Virginia Commonwealth University Symphony Orchestra (VCUSO), the VCU Chamber Orchestra, the VCU Baroque Ensemble, the VCU New Music Ensemble, the All VCU String Orchestra and the Opera Orchestra. In addition to his conducting duties Montès coached Chamber Music, String Masterclasses and taught string pedagogy and conducting.
Growing up in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, Montès studied the cello at the Holy Trinity School of Music. He left Haiti after winning a full scholarship to pursue his bachelor's degree in cello performance at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. He then received an assistantship at the University of Akron in Ohio where he also earned his masters in music education. He completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts in orchestral conducting at the University of Iowa under the tutelage of Dr. William LaRue Jones. His dissertation topic is An Annotated Translation from French to English of the History of Music in Haiti. He is currently focusing his research on the performance and promotion of orchestral works by Haitian composers.
 |
Virginia Allen is a member of the conducting faculty at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and The Juilliard School in New York City.
Miss Allen has served as Executive Director of the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at Juilliard and co-founded and co-directed The Juilliard Trombone Choir. She was also Artistic Director of the Sun Valley Summer Music Workshops in Idaho, where she founded and conducted the Sun Valley Youth Orchestra.
A former conductor in the U.S. Army Bands Program, Miss Allen was a pioneer for women in military bands. She was the first woman to command and conduct an active duty military band that included women when she was appointed Principal Conductor of The U.S. Army Forces Command Band in Atlanta. As the Associate Conductor of The U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point, she was the first woman conductor of that historic organization, as well as the Cadet Glee Club and Cadet Band. She also performed on stages from the Hollywood Bowl to Europe as the first woman conductor of the Army's premier touring ensembles from Washington, D.C., The U.S. Army Field Band and The Soldiers' Chorus. Her military career included an assignment as the Department of the Army Staff Bands Officer in Washington, D.C., where she managed over 100 Army bands and band activities worldwide.
Miss Allen frequently guest conducts, adjudicates and teaches master classes in the U.S. and internationally. She conducted Joseph Alessi, Principal Trombonist of the New York Philharmonic, and The Juilliard Trombone Choir on a compact disc recording released by the International Trombone Association in 1999 and now available as Beyond the End of the Century through Summit Records. Miss Allen collaborated with Mr. Alessi again another Summit recording, Trombonastics.
As a composer and arranger, her music has been premiered, performed and recorded by members of the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Washington Opera Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, The Juilliard Trombone Choir, The U.S. Army Band, The U.S. Army Field Band, and The U.S. Military Academy Band. Her music has been published by Southern Music, Ludwig Music and TRN Music. A member of ASCAP, she is a Board Member for the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) and a former Board Member for the Conductors Guild.
Miss Allen studied French horn and conducting and earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree and a Master of Music degree in Performance from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and a Diploma in Wind Conducting from the University of Calgary. She also completed an internship in Performance Activities at Juilliard.
 |
Matt Buchman
Mathew Buchman is an Associate professor and director of jazz studies at UW-Stevens Point. Buchman received his M.M. in Improvisation from the University of Michigan and his B.M. in composition and theory from Lawrence University. Additional studies have included composition with Lyle Mays and Ken Schaphorst, and jazz piano with John Harmon and Ellen Rowe. A native of Wisconsin, Buchman has toured the United States, Canada, and Germany and remains active as a jazz pianist in large and small jazz ensembles in the Midwest. As a composer and arranger, Buchman’s works include music for piano, large and small jazz ensembles, and orchestra.
 |
As the Artistic and Musical Director of the Millikin University Children & Youth Choir Program, Beth conducts its premiere ensemble, the Concert Youth Chorale, and oversees the program as a whole. An extension of Millikin’s Preparatory Department, this task includes a full year complement of programming, touring, multiple staff, and Millikin student internships for each of its 4 choirs.
A graduate of Kansas State University, Beth completed a Masters in Choral Conducting at Arizona State University. She directed university choirs for 10 years, first at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and then at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. When she took a leave from college teaching to home educate her three children in 1995, Beth advocated excellence in music education among Illinois home educators. She and her husband Brad wrote curriculum and were invited to teach and perform with their children at both of Illinois’ state home educator conventions.
Beth is an active guest conductor, directing festival choirs on district and All-State levels as well as church music clinics throughout the Midwest. She has led workshops on rehearsal and vocal techniques for choral directors at several state music conventions, and is frequently called on to adjudicate in both solo and ensemble settings. Beth has had an influential role in the area of Repertoire and Standards for Women’s Choir, serving on state boards in both Iowa and Illinois for the
American Choral Director’s Association. She also maintains a private voice studio.
 |
As director of choral studies at the University of Delaware, Paul D. Head directs the University Chorale in addition to teaching choral methods, literature, and conducting. He is also currently serving as the Interim Chair of the Department of Music. Dr. Head is a native Californian where he taught in the public schools for eight years prior to pursuing graduate study at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. His choirs have toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe and have received high acclaim for their musical artistry. He has studied conducting with Charlene Archibeque, Allen Crowell, Joseph Flummerfelt and Dennis Shrock. While a member of the Westminster Choir, extensive touring included performances with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Prior to coming to Delaware, Dr. Head served on the faculty at Westminster Choir College where clinical research led to the co-authoring of the book Case Studies in Music Education published by G.I.A. Publications, currently in its second edition. He has presented at workshops and conventions at regional, state, and national levels and is in frequent demand as a clinician/adjudicator for choral festivals and honor choirs throughout the United States. This year, Dr. Head will serve as a guest conductor and/or adjudicator in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. Under Dr. Head’s direction, the UD Chorale has received considerable acclaim, respected amongst the nation’s finest college choirs. Recent tours have taken them throughout the Mid-Atlantic region as well as to Scotland, France, Germany, Austria, and to the Baltic States where they were awarded the First Place Grand Prix Award in the 2007 Estonian International Choral Competition. In addition to performances on ACDA Eastern Division Conventions in 2002 (Pittsburgh) and 2008 (Hartford), they received enthusiastic acclaim at the ACDA National Convention in Los Angeles in 2005. They also appear regularly with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, most recently in performances of the Verdi Requiem, the Mozart Requiem, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
Dr. Head has served as President for the Delaware American Choral Directors Association and currently serves on the national ACDA advisory board. He holds membership in Pi Kappa Lambda, (the National Music Honor Society) and the music fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He resides in southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and three children.