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Jason Seber
Music Director and
Conductor, Symphony Orchestra
(Staff member since 2005) |
Jason Seber
is celebrating his sixth season as Music Director of the Louisville
Youth Orchestra. Under his leadership, the LYO has collaborated with
many fine conductors and artists, including Jorge Mester, Jason
Weinberger, Robert Franz, Caroline Goulding, Christopher O’Riley,
Kit Armstrong, and Zade. He has also led the LYO in regional and
state premieres of new works by acclaimed composers Joan Tower,
Joseph Schwantner, and Jay Greenberg. LYO members have also had the
opportunity to collaborate with the Louisville Orchestra, Walden
Theatre, and Music Theatre Louisville during his tenure. This season
the LYO Symphony Orchestra plays a concert with the rock band My
Morning Jacket in the new KFC Yum Center.
In addition to his position with the Louisville Youth Orchestra, Mr.
Seber is also the Director of Orchestras at the Youth Performing
Arts School (YPAS) and duPont Manual High School in Louisville. He
has led the YPAS Philharmonia in performances at the 2009 Orchestra
America National Festival and with the Louisville Chorus. This year
Mr. Seber serves as guest conductor of the JCPS All-County Middle
School Sinfonia Orchestra. During the summer, he enjoys guest
conducting the most advanced orchestra at the Baldwin-Wallace
Conservatory Summer String Camp.
Mr. Seber has served as Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Pops
Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Cleveland
Institute of Music Orchestras, leading many classical, pops, opera,
and educational programs. Mr. Seber regularly guest conducts the
Louisville Orchestra in their Making Music, OrKIDStra, Pops,
Holiday, and Side-by-Side series, and this season he returns to
conduct a Holiday program. He has also guest conducted the
Charleston Symphony Orchestra (SC), Cleveland Pops Orchestra,
Mansfield Symphony (OH), and Ashland Regional Ballet (OH). Mr. Seber
has had the privilege of working with Shoshana Bean, Michael
Cavanaugh, Caroline Goulding, Joyce Yang, Christopher O’Riley, My
Morning Jacket, and figure skaters Sasha Cohen, Brian Boitano, and
Todd Eldredge.
Mr. Seber earned his MM in orchestral conducting from the Cleveland
Institute of Music and a BM in violin and BME from Baldwin-Wallace
College Conservatory of Music. He studied conducting with Carl
Topilow, Dwight Oltman, and Michael Jinbo and has conducted in
masterclasses with Kenneth Kiesler, Louis Lane, Gustav Meier, Larry
Rachleff, David Roberston, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Thomas
Wilkins.
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Frederick C. Speck
Conductor, Repertory Orchestra
(Staff member since 2011) |
Frederick C. Speck
is a graduate of the University of Louisville
where he received a Bachelors degree in Music Education. While there
he studied cello with Paul York and conducting with Dr. Frederick
Speck. Other former teachers include Julia Preston and Susie Onwood.
He is currently the Orchestra Director at Eastern High School in
Louisville and has taught at the middle school and high school
levels in Kentucky and Indiana. Prior to his appointment at Eastern
he was on the faculty of Lafayette High School/SCAPA in Lexington
where he taught orchestra and chamber music and was the orchestra
director at West Noble High School in Ligonier Indiana. In addition
to his work at Eastern he is pursuing a Masters in Music Education
at UofL and is a staff member with the Kentucky Ambassadors of
Music. In 2010 Mr. Speck and the Eastern High School Chamber
Orchestra performed at the Kentucky Music Educators Association
In-Service Conference. He remains an active performer and private
teacher.
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Christopher
Lerner
Conductor, Concert Orchestra
(Staff member since 2000)
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Chris Lerner
received his bachelor
of music degree in violin performance from the University of
Louisville. He has been a registered Suzuki violin teacher since
2001 and is proud to have studied under Peter McHugh at the
University of Louisville. Chris has benefited from working with
fellow conductors Jason Seber and Robert Franz at the Louisville
Youth Orchestra.
Over the past nine
years, Mr. Lerner has filled many roles for the Louisville Youth
Orchestra: Director of the Presto! Strings Program, Director of
Sonatina Strings Program, Conductor of the Serenade Orchestra, and
the Conductor of Concert Orchestra. Mr. Lerner was
excited to be a part of the fiftieth anniversary of the Louisville
Youth Orchestra. Currently, Mr. Lerner is enjoying his seventh year
as the Director of Strings for the middle and upper school string
programs at Louisville Collegiate School. In addition to teaching
daily string classes, Mr. Lerner guest-lectures for the ninth and
tenth grade History and the Arts course and enjoys being a leader of
his middle school rock band. Last November Mr. Lerner was also the
conductor for one of the Jefferson All County Orchestras. In his
spare time Mr. Lerner also enjoys teaching a studio of fifteen
violin students aged from five through seventeen years old. |

Elise Kotheimer Gambrell
Conductor, Serenade Orchestra
Instructor, LEPAS/LYO Presto! Strings
(Staff Member since 2007) |
Elise Kotheimer Gambrell started her musical training
on the violin when she was three years old and began training on the
piano at the age of seven. She participated as a member of the
Louisville Youth Orchestra for five years, where she served as
concert mistress of the Repertory Orchestra and assistant concert
mistress of the Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Kotheimer won the McDowell
Music Teacher’s Competition in 2001, and the McCauley Chamber Music
Competition in 1999. She has studied under the guidance of
accomplished teachers including Peter McHugh, Patrick Rafferty,
Cheri Kelley and Hiroko Driver.
Ms. Kotheimer received her Bachelor of Music degree in violin and
her Masters of Arts in Teaching Music from the University of
Louisville. She taught at the Boaz Performance Studio from 2002 –
2006, where she taught students between the ages of five and
sixteen. In the spring of 2007, she completed her student teaching
with Eva Rouse at Ballard High School. Ms. Kotheimer became a
certified Suzuki teacher in 2001 and has taught privately for six
years. |

Matthew Lane
Instructor, LEPAS/LYO Presto!
Strings
(Staff Member since 2011) |
Matthew Lane
is a violinist, teacher, performer, music minister, and apprentice
violin maker. A Louisville native and 2002 graduate of Manual High
School/Y.P. A.S., Mr. Lane earned a B.A. from Centre College in 2006
where he twice won the Concerto Competition and participated in a
diverse spectrum of musical groups; everything from Chamber
Ensembles and Orchestras to the Centre Klezmer Band. He is currently
pursuing an M.A. from the University of Louisville. He otherwise
might be found restoring violins with Mark Edwards, directing the
Oldham County Strings Project, teaching private lessons, leading
choir rehearsals at Audubon Baptist Church, or rehearsing with his
friends in the Concentus String Quartet. Mr. Lane serves as violin
instructor at La Grange Elementary, Buckner Elementary, Harmony
Elementary, and the St. Patrick School. As a student, he benefited
from the loving and patient instruction of many wonderful musicians
and is an enthusiastic alumnus of the LYO repertory and symphony
orchestras. It is with great excitement that he begins his first
season with the LYO Presto Strings at Lincoln Elementary. Mr. Lane
lives in Germantown with his wife Elizabeth, two dogs, two cats, and
three goldfish. |

Mark Tate
Coach, Percussion Ensemble
(Staff Member since 2004) |
Mark L. Tate received a Bachelor of Music
degree in percussion performance from the University of Kentucky as
a student of David Davenport. He was the first percussionist to
receive a performance degree from this university.
Mark received a Master of Music in Performance and Pedagogy from
Washington University in St. Louis, MO. His major teacher was
Richard O’Donnell, Principal Percussionist of the St. Louis Symphony
Orchestra. While in St. Louis, he also studied with John Kasica and
Tom Stubbs of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He performed
frequently with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, joining them in 2
east coast tours that included performances in Carnegie Hall. He was
also a percussionist with the Might Mississippi Concert Band,
Gateway Festival Orchestra, Springfield (IL) Symphony, and staff
percussionist at the Westport Playhouse. While in St. Louis he
taught drums and percussion at Clayton Academy of Music, Drum
Headquarters and was a teaching assistant at Washington University.
Mark began performing as a percussionist with the Louisville
Orchestra in 1983. He has also performed as percussionist with the
Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also a percussionist with
Louisville Chorus, the Louisville Choral Arts Society and the Derby
City Brass Band. Mark also serves as percussionist with Musical
Theatre of Louisville and the Broadway Series at the Kentucky Center
for the Arts. Mark is a frequent free-lancer with various churches
and chamber groups in the Louisville area and is also the drummer
for the Dixie Jazz Cats and the Memphis Red Hots, a western swing
band.
Mark is the percussion instructor at Indiana University Southeast in
New Albany, IN, and Georgetown College in Georgetown. He serves as
percussion coordinator for the marching bands at both New Washington
High School in New Washington, IN and du Pont Manual in Louisville.
Mark also teaches concert percussion at Eastern High School in
Louisville and both marching and concert percussion at Oldham County
High School, in Buckner, KY, Henry County High School in New Castle,
KY and Atherton High School in Louisville. In addition he coaches
percussion ensemble at Crosby Middle School and the “Junkyard Hawks”
at Hite Elementary, both in Louisville. He maintains a full service
studio in his home, specializing in concert percussion instruction
for students in the area band programs. He services, as the
percussion coach/percussion ensemble director for the Louisville
Youth Orchestra. And is also the founder of the Louisville Institute
of Drumming and creator of the percussion group Stick-Click. |

James Recktenwald
Coach, Horizons Brass
(Staff member since 2011) |
James
Recktenwald,
a native of Louisville, Kentucky, graduated from The Youth
Performing Arts School and The University of Louisville where he
holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in performance. He studied trumpet
with Leon Rapier and Jerome Amend. Mr. Recktenwald completed a
Master of Music Degree and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in
trumpet performance at The University of Texas at Austin, studying
with Raymond Crisara.
James Recktenwald worked as Instructor of Trumpet at Memphis State
University and then as a freelance trumpeter and teacher in
Philadelphia. While in Philly, he also studied with several
prominent trumpeters including Phil Smith, David Bilger, Frank
Kaderabek and Seymour Rosenfeld.
Currently, James holds the Assistant Principal Trumpet position with
the Louisville Orchestra and performs in the Louisville Orchestra
Brass Quintet. He is Instructor of Trumpet at Bellarmine University
and manages Symphonic Arts Entertainment, a professional
contracting/booking agency that provides a variety of professional
ensembles for the Louisville area. |

Dennis Robinson
Coach, Horizons Winds
(Staff member since 2011) |
Dennis Robinson
currently holds the position of Secondary Guidance Counselor for all
the students attending the Youth Performing Arts School. Prior to
his position as counselor, Mr. Robinson served as Director of Bands
at the Youth Performing Arts School in Louisville, Kentucky for
fifteen years where his duties include directing the YPAS Symphonic
Band, Wind Ensemble, Wind and Percussion Skills Development Classes,
and a Chamber Ensemble Class. Mr. Robinson has been involved in
music education since 1977 and has been Director of Bands for the
North Central Community School System in Ramsey, Indiana, and at
Suda East Butler High School, Southern High School, and, duPont
Manual High School in Jefferson County, Kentucky. Over his 30 years
in music education, Mr. Robinson’s bands have consistently earned
distinguished ratings in concert, marching, and solo/ensemble
performances.
Mr. Robinson was selected as the Twelfth District High School Music
Teacher of the Year in 1989 and 1998. He was the Kentucky Music
Educator’s Association State High School Teacher of the Year in 1990
and was awarded the KMEA State Citation for Service Award in 2005.
Since then he has been awarded the National Band Association
Citation of Excellence and was in line to receive the WHAS ExCel
Award. His Wind Ensemble at the Youth Performing Arts School
performed at the Kentucky Music Educators Association In-Service
Conference on five occasions and was also one of the featured band
programs in the 2008 Bands of America National Concert Band Festival
that showcases the top music programs in the nation. During the
2009-2010 school year, Mr. Robinson was awarded the Phi Beta Mu
Professional Bandmasters Fraternity’s Most Outstanding Kentucky
Bandmaster Award.
Mr. Robinson has been a member of the Music Educators National
Conference, Kentucky Music Educators Association, Twelfth District
Music Educators Association, the National Band Association, Phi Beta
Mu International Bandmaster’s Fraternity, Phi Kappa Phi, and Kappa
Delta Phi. He has also served as the Twelfth District KMEA Festival
Manager for Concert Bands and served as the KMEA Twelfth District
President for Three Terms. His former students have gone on to
attend the finest Conservatories and University Music Programs
throughout the nation and serve as professional musicians across the
world in both orchestral and armed services musical organizations.
Mr. Robinson received his B.M.Ed. and M.M.Ed. from the University of
Louisville School of Music in 1977 and 1980 and was a flute student
of Francis Fuge. He has since earned his Rank I in Educational
Counseling and Psychology from UofL.
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Melody Welsh-Buchholz
Executive Director
(Staff member since 1985) |
Melody Welsh-Buchholz
brings a rare combination of talents to the position of Executive Director
of the Louisville Youth Orchestra. She is both a professional musician and an accomplished
arts administrator. Ms. Welsh-Buchholz holds a Bachelor of Music Education (1977) and a Master of
Music (1981 - emphasis in multiple woodwinds). She has had a successful teaching career at
St. Francis School and Anchorage School in Louisville and at Clarksville Middle and High
School in Clarksville, IN. From 1978 to 1980 Ms. Welsh-Buchholz served as the local KMEA (Kentucky
Music Educator's Association) chairperson for the annual Solo/Ensemble and Band/Orchestra
Festival. Ms. Welsh-Buchholz currently teaches privately and performs professionally with the
Broadway Series, Derby Dinner Playhouse and the Louisville Orchestra along with her duties
at the Louisville Youth Orchestra. Ms.
Welsh-Buchholz has served four terms as a board member for the Youth
Orchestra Division of the League of American Orchestras and is
currently Chair of the Youth Orchestra Division and ex-officio
member of the League of American Orchestras Board. Ms. Welsh-Buchholz has been on the
staff of the LYO since 1985. From 1985-1987 she served as the Wind/Brass Coach and
Librarian. From 1987-1990 she served as the Operations Manager. From 1990 to the present
she has held the position of Executive Director. During her tenure as Executive Director
the Louisville Youth Orchestra's budget has doubled, patron donations have risen by 80%
and the orchestra's membership has increased by 40%. |

Amy Noon
Co-Production Manager/Librarian
St. Matthews location
(Staff member since 2011) |
Amy A.E.
Noon holds
a Bachelor’s Degree in Instrumental Music Education from The
University of the Cumberlands and a Master’s in Secondary Education
from The University of Southern Indiana. While at Cumberland, she
studied flute with David Threlkeld and served as principle flutist
for the wind ensemble, and various chamber ensembles. Mrs. Noon was
named Cumberland College instrumentalist of the year in 1995. Upon
graduation she traveled to Honduras, Central America and taught at
El Buen Pastor (The Good Shepherd) Bilingual Episcopal School. While
in Central America, she studied Spanish as a second language in
Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras, which led her to
teach at Escuela Internacional Sampedrana, the American Bilingual
School in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. During her four year stint in
Honduras, she began an Orff instrumental program for the 600 student
primary school, directed many all school performances utilizing Orff
Instruments, formed and directed a primary school choir and mastered
Spanish as a second language.
After returning to the
United States in 2001, Mrs. Noon has been actively teaching in
public schools in Florida and Kentucky, instructing instrumental
music including band and full orchestra as well as many smaller
ensembles. Currently, Mrs. Noon is the director of orchestras at
Conway Middle School in Louisville, KY. She is an active member of
both the Jefferson County Teachers Association and Kentucky Music
Educators Association. She maintains a private flute studio and
teaches Zumba dance classes to keep fit. Mrs. Noon enjoys working
with young people and thrives on the success of her students. As one
great philosopher believed “Music gives a soul to the universe,
wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to
everything.”
---Plato
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Chris Schmidt
Co-Production Manager/Librarian
YPAS location
(Staff member since 2011) |
Chris
Schmidt is currently a freelance musician and low
brass clinician in the Kentuckiana area. He recently graduated from
the University of Louisville earning a Master of Music Performance
in Wind Conducting and Tuba in May of 2010. He studied conducting
with Dr. Fred Speck and tuba with Mr. John Jones. Mr. Schmidt was
also a guest tuba soloist with the University Concert Band and he
performed The Fantasia for Tuba and Band”by James Curnow
under the direction of Dr. Greg Byrne.
Prior to his arrival
at U of L Mr. Schmidt attended Morehead State University in
Morehead, KY where he held the position of Principal Tuba in the MSU
Symphony Band for four years and earned two degrees, a Bachelor of
Music Education and a Master of Arts in Secondary Education. During
his time at MSU Mr. Schmidt was a Chapter President of the
International Tuba Euphonium Association and a Section Leader in the
MSU Marching Band. He was also a seven time member of the MSU Dean’s
List and a member of the KY Intercollegiate Marching and Concert
Bands as well as the CBDNA Southern Division Intercollegiate Band.
He studied tuba with euphonium virtuoso Dr. Earle Louder and tuba
professor Dr. Stacy Baker.
After graduating
from MSU, Mr. Schmidt taught instrumental music for eight years in
three public school systems. He earned several awards throughout
those years including three national concert band festivals and
regional marching band contests. In each of those eight years his
concert bands received Distinguished Ratings at the KMEA Concert
Band Festival and his Marching Bands advanced to the KMEA Marching
Band Semifinals in classes AAA, AAAA, and AAAAA.
Currently Mr.
Schmidt teaches as a low brass paraprofessional at several public
schools in Jefferson, Oldham, Bullitt, Hardin, and Barren, and
Daviess counties. He is also the brass teaching specialist for Miles
Ahead Music and Notable Beginnings Music Studio in Louisville, KY.
His private students have achieved position in the KMEA All State
Band and Orchestra.
In the marching
band world he operates his own company Custom Drill Designs out of
Louisville, KY where he has created marching band drill designs and
music arrangements for several high school and college band
programs. He also serves as an adjudicator for marching band
contests, concert band, and solo and ensemble festivals in KY, TN,
and IN. As a performer Mr. Schmidt is principal tuba with the
Heartland Winds in Elizabethtown, KY and the Chamber Winds
Louisville. |
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