All orchestras and ensembles in performance / Iroquois Amphitheater / April 30, 2023
Our 65tH
Season
MEET THE ARTISTIC STAFF
Doug Elmore
Music Director and Conductor, Symphony Orchestra
(Staff member since 2014)
Doug Elmore brings to the podium over thirty-five years of outstanding musical leadership in the Midwest. He has conducted Youth Orchestra and school orchestra performances across North America and Europe, including performances in New York’s Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. As a conductor, Mr. Elmore’s
performances have been described as “Vibrant, stunning, and brilliant," "outstanding and amazing,” and "fiery, clean, and still elegant.” Mr. Elmore is in his 36th year as Orchestra Director of the Floyd Central High School Orchestra and the Highland Hills Middle School Orchestras, instructing 5 orchestras and over 350 students daily. In addition to his duties with the Floyd County schools, Mr. Elmore recently served as Music Director of the Floyd County Youth Symphony (IN) for 24 years. He has been with the LYO for the past 9 years, 3 with the Repertory Orchestra. He has led his school orchestras to more than 100 Superior (Gold) ratings over the past 36 years. During this same time, the FCHS Orchestra has performed at the last thirty ISSMA State Finals Contests (an Indiana State record), earning State Champion honors in 1995 and 2017, and Runner-up honors in 1996, 1998, and 2016. Elmore has conducted orchestras at 10 Indiana Music Educators Association Conventions over the past 30 years.
An active clinician and guest conductor, Mr. Elmore has served on the staff at the Great Lakes Music Camp, the Kentuckiana Music Festival at University of Louisville, and the “Music for All” camp at Ball State University. He has conducted All-County and All-Region Orchestras and clinics throughout Indiana, Kentucky, and Salem, OR. In 2017, he conducted the Commonwealth Strings All-State Orchestra for Kentucky, and the Jefferson County (KY) All-County Middle School Orchestra. He served on the faculty of the internationally known Aebersold Jazz Workshops. He has served on the faculty of both Bellarmine University and the University of Louisville. He has recently been published (“Making Tone a Priority”) in the IMEA journal. In 2019, he was a quarterfinalist for the Grammy Awards “Music Educator of the Year”.
A graduate of DePauw University (IN), Mr. Elmore completed his graduate work at the University of Louisville in 2001. As a performer on the double bass, Mr. Elmore has worked with the Louisville Orchestra, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Derby Dinner Playhouse, the Jerry Tolson Quartet, the Ron Jones Quartet, the Mike Tracy Trio, the Platters, and the Sarah Stivers Quartet. Mr. Elmore has been featured on jazz recordings by University of Louisville faculty members Jerry Tolson and Mike Tracy.
In December 2022, Mr. Elmore was recognized by "School Band and Orchestra" magazine as one of 50 Directors Who Made a Difference in America. In 2020, he was selected as Indiana’s “Music Educator of the Year” by the Indiana State School Music Association. In 2011, he was selected as Floyd Central High School’s “Teacher of the Year.” He was recognized by the ASTA as Indiana’s High School Orchestra "Teacher of the Year.” He has been awarded an Eli Lilly Endowment "Teacher Creativity Fellowship." He has been recognized with a WHAS TV ExCel Award for “Excellence in the Classroom and Educational Leadership.”
Mr. Elmore currently resides in New Albany, IN with his wife of thirty-two years, April.
Ian Elmore
Conductor, Repertory Orchestra
(Staff member since 2020)
Ian Elmore is a conductor of LYO’s Renaissance Orchestra and an instructor in LYO's Online Learning programs. Elmore has conducted the University of Louisville, Ball State Symphony Orchestra, Pierre
Monteux Festival Orchestra, and the Muncie Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared as a guest clinician with multiple young orchestras as well, including but not limited limited to Floyd Central High School Orchestra and the Youth Symphony Orchestra of East Central Indiana.. Additionally, Elmore founded his own orchestra, the Alunos Chamber Orchestra, at the age of twenty and conducted the music of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Haydn, among other composers.
As a bassist he has performed with multiple orchestras including the Paducah Symphony Orchestra,
the Muncie Symphony Orchestra, the Villages Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Ian has served as principal bassist of the Hot Springs Music Festival, Pierre Monteux Music Festival, and the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. A champion of new music, he has also performed in multiple new music ensembles, both with universities and professionally. He has given multiple world premiers of solo bass works. As a bass teacher, he has experience teaching privately, as well as in the masterclass or sectional setting.
Elmore has studied conducting with Kimcherie Lloyd, Douglas Droste, and Michael Jinbo. He has studied double bass with Karl Olsen, Sid King, Joel Braun, and Ju-Fang Liu. In addition to conducting and double bass, Elmore has also experienced success as an operatic tenor. In his spare time, he enjoys lifting weights, playing basketball, and listening to podcasts.
Chris Lerner
Conductor, Concert Orchestra
(Staff member since 2000)
clerner@loucol.com
Chris Lerner received his bachelor of music degree in violin performance from the University of Louisville, where he was proud to have studied under Peter McHugh. He has been a registered Suzuki violin teacher
since 2001. Chris has benefited from working with fellow conductors Deanna Tham, Jason Seber, Robert Franz, and Doug Elmore at the Louisville Youth Orchestra.
Over the past eighteen 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, Conductor of the Concert Orchestra and Conductor of the Camerata Orchestra.. Mr. Lerner was also excited to be a part of the fiftieth and the recent sixtieth anniversary of the Louisville Youth Orchestra. Currently, Mr. Lerner is in his fifteenth 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 enjoys arranging classic rock and roll tunes for his middle and upper school classes. He also leads the middle and upper school rock bands. In 2013, Mr. Lerner received Louisville Collegiate School's Katherine McCracken Davis Distinguished Teaching Chair. Mr. Lerner has judged large ensemble contests for Jefferson County, Ky and has been invited to judge small and large ensemble contests for Owensboro, Ky . For the second time, Mr. Lerner will be conducting one of the All-County high school orchestras this winter, and he has accepted a position to conduct an event next fall for the East Tennessee Orchestra festival in Tennessee. In his spare time, Mr. Lerner enjoys teaching a studio of twenty violin and viola students aged five through eighteen years old.
Mr. Lerner currently lives in Louisville with his wife Erin Fry Lerner, his two sons Bobby(8), Stash(6), and daughter Hazel (3 years).
Robert Dixon
Conductor, Serenade Orchestra
(Staff member since 2014)
Robert.Dixon2@jefferson.kyschools.us
Robert Dixon earned his bachelor of music education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and his masters in music with an emphasis in education from Morehead State University.
While in North Carolina, Mr. Dixon worked extensively on elementary string education with Dr. Rebecca Macleod and Mrs. Marta Richardson. His student teaching was comprised of teaching classes ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade Violin at Peeler Open Elementary in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Mr. Dixon was a member of the Louisville Youth Orchestra for nine years. He began his teaching career directing the orchestras at Western Middle, The School for the Arts, where the program grew from nine students to fifty in the first three years. Since 2016, Mr. Dixon has directed the orchestras at Louisville Male High School and has continued to foster the school's tradition of excellence.
An avid supporter of elementary string education, Mr. Dixon helped to create the Presto! Beginning Strings program and has been primarily responsible for fostering its continuing development. Serving now as conductor of LYO's Serenade Orchestra, he will undoubtedly bring his enthusiasm and creativity to that ensemble.
Mr. Dixon currently resides in Louisville with his wife, Angela Dixon, as well as their two amazing kids, Kelsey (3) and Andrew (2).
Mark Tate
Conductor, Percussion Ensemble
(Staff member since 2004)
tatemn@bellsouth.net
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, studying with 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 and the Broadway Series at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. He currently serves as percussionist with the Louisville Chorus, the Louisville Concert Band and the Louisville Civic Orchestra. He frequently free- lances as a percussionist with various churches, ensembles and chamber groups in the Louisville area.
Mark is the percussion instructor at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany IN. He also services as the percussion coordinator and percussion ensemble director for the Louisville Youth Orchestra. He maintains a full service studio in his home, specializing in concert percussion instruction for students in area band programs. He also coaches and coordinates percussion sectionals at many of the areas high schools and middle schools,
Mark has an avid interest in the history of southern Americana music and its influences on culture. Favorite styles include blues, rock, country, and jazz.
Mark is the LYO representative for the Fund for the Arts 5x5 and TAG Visiting Artist in Residence program. Using his “Percussion Around the World” presentation, he demonstrates percussion instruments and techniques from around the globe to explore different cultures through the use of music, movement, visual arts, geography, math and history.
Brandon Bell
Conductor, Horizons Winds
(Staff member since 2019)
Brandon Bell is a Louisville based saxophonist and music educator, holding a Bachelor’s of Music in Music Education from Kennesaw State University. Brandon is an active educator in the metro Louisville area, maintaining a private studio of students ranging in age from 5 to adulthood. He is also
the saxophoneinstructor at a number of high schools in the Louisville area. Brandon has also performed in a variety of musical settings. He has played saxophone, clarinet, and flute in orchestras, wind ensembles, chamber groups, musical theatre, big bands, jazz combos, gospel groups, and rock bands with artists/ensembles including Little Anthony and the Imperials, Michael Bolton, the Louisville Orchestra, Derby Dinner Playhouse, and the Georgia Symphony Orchestra. Brandon is currently an active freelance musician and can regularly be heard playing with Diamond Empire Band and Zach Longoria Project.
Chris Schmidt
Conductor, Horizons Brass
(Staff member since 2022, earlier positions held beginning in 2011)
Chris Schmidt is currently the conductor for the Louisville Youth Orchestra Horizons Brass Choir and he also is the instructor of low brass at Indiana University Southeast. He has been a low brass instructor in the Louisville KY Metro Area since 2008. There have been several of his ensembles that have performed at major conferences including the IUS Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble at the 2023 International Euphonium-Tuba
Festival, the Youth Performing Arts School Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble at the ITEA Midwest Regional Tuba-Euphonium Conference in 2022, and the Oldham County High School Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble was selected to perform at the 2013 and 2021 KMEA Conference. Several of his private students from various local high schools have earned placements in the Kentucky and Indiana All State Bands as well as National Honor Bands including the John Philip Sousa National High School Honor Band.
Mr. Schmidt attended the University of Louisville and earned a degree of Master of Music Performance with an emphasis in Wind Ensemble Conducting in May of 2010. While at U of L 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 when he performed The Fantasia for Tuba and Band by James Curnow under the direction of Dr. Greg Byrne. Prior to his time at Louisville Mr. Schmidt attended Morehead State University where he held the position of Principal Tuba in the MSU Symphony Band and earned two degrees, a Bachelor of Music Education and a Master of Arts in Secondary Education. Mr. Schmidt was the chapter president of the International Tuba Euphonium Association. He was also awarded placements on the MSU Dean’s List, the KY Intercollegiate Band, the CBDNA Southern Division Intercollegiate Band, and the Lexington Brass Band. His primary teachers at MSU included euphonium virtuoso Dr. Earle Louder and tuba professor Dr. Stacy Baker as well as wind band conducting lessons with Dr. Richard Miles. After graduating from MSU, Mr. Schmidt taught instrumental music for eight years before beginning a freelance music career which has included solo recitals at the International Euphonium Tuba Festival in 2023 and several appearances as a guest soloist with wind ensembles and brass bands around the Louisville, KY Metro Area.Mr. Schmidt’s business CP Schmidt Music, LLC operates out of Louisville, KY where he operates a studio with sixty private students and creates 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. Mr. Schmidt also performs with Chamber Winds Louisville, the Derby City Brass Band and the Indiana University Southeast Band and Orchestra.
Dr. Sila Darville
Instructor, Presto Strings
(Staff member since 2022)
Turkish violinist Dr. Sila Darville is the Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola at Eastern Kentucky University. She holds degrees from Istanbul Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory, University of Minnesota and Texas Tech University. She received many international awards and honors including Rotary Club International Competition for Young Musicians, Turkish Educational Foundation Outstanding Achievement Award, Berneking Fellowship, Thursday Musical Young Artist Scholarship Competition and Schubert Club Scholarship Competition.
Throughout her career Dr. Darville has performed with many Symphonic Orchestras including the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Lubbock, Lubbock Moonlight Musicals and Kentucky Bach Choir as the principal second, the Amarillo Symphony, Midland Symphony, the La Crosse Symphony, Paducah Symphony Orchestra and Louisville Orchestra as section violinist, and Amadeus Chamber Orchestra as principal viola. Her recent recordings include chamber music recording of Kentucky composer Joe Levin published under Centaur Records. Dr. Darville has given guest lectures and clinics at Kentucky Music Educators Association, University of Tennessee, Middle Tennessee State University, University of Texas at Arlington, Campbell University, Youngstown State University, Bahcesehir University and Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Darville teaches at Arkhé String Camp in Izmir, Turkey—a non-profit international summer music camp for string students. Her recent performances include Prokofiev Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No.1 with Eastern Kentucky University Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Ho-Yin Kwok. Dr. Darville is a founding member of the early music group Oracle Ensemble and performs regularly with Lexington based chamber music ensemble Amadeux Lex. She performs on a 2021 Ben Mason violin.
Leila Trindade
Instructor, Presto Strings
(Staff member since 2023)
Leila Trindade holds a Bachelor degree in Music Education from the University of Louisville and a Bachelor and Masters degree in violin performance from the University of Rio de Janeiro and Florida International University. Her prominent violin teachers include Paulo Bosisio, Ivan Chan, and J. Patrick Rafferty. Leila holds all levels of Violin Suzuki certification from the Suzuki Association of the Americas and Orff Schulwerk levels 1 and 2 from the University of Kentucky. She is an elementary orchestra teacher at Jefferson County Public Schools and teaches at Byck, Chancey, Chenoweth, Dunn, Jacob, Portland, Rangeland, and Stopher Elementary. Leila and her husband Eduardo are the parents of two violinists and a cellist: Gabriela, Luisa, and Julia.
Misaki Hall
Assistant Conductor - University of Louisville Graduate Student
(since 2021)
Misaki Hall is a second-year graduate conducting student at the University of Louisville studying under Professor Kimcherie Lloyd. Hall serves as assistant conductor and graduate teaching assistant for the University Symphony Orchestra, the University Opera Theatre program, and the Louisville Youth Orchestra. She earned her Bachelor of Music also from the University of Louisville, where she studied violin performance
under Professor Brittany MacWilliams. Hall has conducted the University Symphony Orchestra at the College Orchestra Directors Association Conference and was chosen to participate in the 2022 CODA Masterclass taught by Music Director and Conductor of the Louisville Orchestra, Teddy Abrams. She also attended the 2022 Pierre Monteux School and Music Festival as a conductor, violinist, and oboist.
Hall remains an active instrumentalist in the Louisville community: she continues her violin studies with Dr. Geoffrey Herd at the University of Louisville, performs as a violinist in the Louisville-based quartet, Quartet Dioica, and plays in the Louisville psych-rock band, Doom Gong.
Misaki is a proud alumna of the Louisville Youth Orchestra having played the violin in the Concert, Repertory, and Symphony Orchestras from 2009 to 2017. She is grateful to have studied under Chris Lerner, Deanna Tham, and Jason Seber during her developmental years of elementary, middle, and high school. Her decision to pursue conducting is largely motivated by the positive influences and lifelong lessons she received from these directors.
Outside of school and other serious business, Misaki loves to eat ice cream, thrift shop, and take walks with her Shih-Tzu Poodle puppy, Kaiju.
Christopher Wolfzorr
Assistant Conductor - University of Louisville Graduate Student
(since 2022)
Christopher “Topher” Wolfzorn is a second-year graduate conducting student at the University of Louisville in which they study with Professor Kimcherie Lloyd. Topher serves as an assistant conductor for the University
Symphony Orchestra, University Opera Theatre program, Louisville Youth Orchestra, and the Derby City Chamber Orchestra under the direction of David Borman. They have also earned their Bachelor’s in Music Education and Masters in the Art of Teaching at the University of Louisville.
Topher was a conducting fellow for The Conductors Institute of South Carolina in which they worked with Dr. Donald Portnoy, Victoria Bond, and Peter Jaffe. They have also worked with Carl Topliow and participated in the inaugural Interlochen Orchestral Conducting masterclass with Dr. Carylon Watson.
Outside of conducting, Topher is an active musician playing oboe in local bands and orchestras. They have international experience performing in both Costa Rica and in the Sydney Opera House. They are also a music educator with experience in elementary and high school settings, and they now actively teach oboe in both sectional and private settings.