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.
 

Christopher Lerner
Conductor, Concert Orchestra
(Staff member since 2000)

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.

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.
 

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%.

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