Symphonic Band – Dr. Janet Kim

Director of Wind Bands, Coordinator of Woodwinds, Coordinator of Instrumental Ensembles, Assistant Professor of Music

Dr. Janet 성은(Song-eun, or Song, for short) Kim (any pronouns) is the Director of Wind Bands, Coordinator of Woodwinds and Instrumental Ensembles, and Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Connecticut. In this role, they conduct the UConn Wind Ensemble in addition to teaching basic conducting, advanced instrumental conducting, instrumental pedagogy and wind literature classes. They also oversee graduate wind conducting studies.

Before this appointment, Kim served as the Director of Instrumental Activities and Assistant Professor of Music at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Kim earned their doctor of musical arts degree in conducting from The Herb Alpert School of Music at the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to this, they earned a master of arts degree in instrumental conducting from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and their bachelor of music degree in music education and jazz studies, magna cum laude, from Montclair State University. During their time at Montclair State University, Kim also had the opportunity to study composition with jazz composer/trombonist Alan Ferber and learned orchestration from composer/arranger Patrick Burns. Their primary conducting teachers include Dr. Travis J. Cross, Dr. Timothy A. Paul, Dr. Jason Worzbyt, and Dr. Shelley Axelson.

Kim began their career as a band director and conductor at Northern Valley Demarest High School and went on to be a band director at several other public schools in the state of New Jersey. They led ensembles to perform at Region Band Festivals, District Band Festivals, and successfully brought home gold and silver ratings during their time as a public-school educator. While studying as a graduate student at UCLA, they took a deep interest in audio technology and electronic music. During that time in Los Angeles, they also served as the Associate Director of the Peninsula Symphonic Winds based in San Pedro, CA and led a fully virtual ensemble through the pandemic. As they finished their coursework, Kim was hired by UCLA to teach Audio Technology 101 because of their interests in Audio Technology.

Kim is an active guest conductor and clinician, and has worked with honor bands, clinics, workshops, and festivals across the United States, Canada, and South Korea. Additionally, as a proud member of the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ community, and ardent advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion, and access initiatives. Kim is the founder and director of the Early Career Program under the non-profit organization Girls Who Conduct and is a volunteer coordinator for And We Were Heard. They have presented at the 2022 Nebraska State Bandmasters Association conference about incorporating diversified programming practices, tokenism of BIPOC composers, and the impact of visibility. They have also been on panels regarding BIPOC and LGBT+ topics such as Diversifying Our Musical Consumption and Gender Presentation, as well as being accepted to present at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic.

Symphony Orchestra – Steven Huang

Maestro Steven Huang is thrilled to join as the conductor of the NYSSMA Zone 11 Area All-State Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted orchestras and operas across the country and throughout the world. At the age of twenty-one, he served as Music Director of the Bach Society Orchestra of Harvard University, where he received his undergraduate degree. While at Harvard, Mr. Huang also directed the Lowell House Opera (the oldest continuously running opera company in New England). Most recently, he successfully concluded a sixteen-year appointment as Associate Professor and Director of Orchestras at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he brought the program to new achievements, including earning competitive accolades and awards from Ohio Music Educators Association and Columbus Roundtable Awards, through over 200 performances, including symphonic concerts, opera, musical theater, and Halloween pops. Widely respected as a music educator and conducting pedagogue, Mr. Huang is the founder and director of International Conducting Masterclasses, Inc., which has trained scores of conductors over the last two decades. As a recipient of a Fulbright scholarship in 2003, Mr. Huang studied with Dumitru Goia in Bucharest, Romania, in the conducting tradition of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He is currently working on a book about the St. Petersburg Conservatory school and its notable pedagogue, Maestro Nicolai Malko.

Mr. Huang has collaborated with orchestras around the world, including California, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Ohio, Haiti, Moldova and Romania. He has held the position of Music Director of the University of Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Central Illinois Youth Symphony, the Gilbert and Sullivan Players of Chicago, and the Bradley University Orchestra. He has served as guest conductor with multiple appearances with Brasov Philharmonic (ROMANIA) and the National Philharmonic of Moldova. In America, he has guest conducted professional ensembles such as the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Shore Symphony (IL) and the Four Seasons Symphony (CA). He is featured as a recurring guest conductor of the Ohio Valley Symphony since 2018. Currently, Mr. Huang serves as the Music Director and Conductor of the New Westchester Symphony Orchestra, as well as concert orchestra conductor of the Norwalk Youth Symphony.

String Orchestra – Susan Davis

Susan A. Davis, PhD is Professor and Graduate Coordinator of Music Education in the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, where she supervises student teachers and teaches courses in instrumental methods, rehearsal techniques, music education research, and the psychology of music education. Dr. Davis has conducted festival orchestras for the Nassau, Suffolk, and Orange County Music Educators Associations (NMEA/SCMEA/OMEA), Long Island String Festival Association, and the Music Educators Association of NYC. She is also an active clinician who has adjudicated and coached students for NMEA, Long Island Music Festival, Fiestaval, White Plains Orchestra Festival, and NYSSMA solo festival.

Dr. Davis’ scholarship is focused on inclusive instrumental music practices and conducting with care. She has published articles in the String Research Journal, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Journal of Music Teacher Education, Visions of Research in Music Education, American String Teacher, American Music Review, School Music News, the Journal of General Music Education, and the International Journal of Music Education. Dr. Davis served as Orchestra Team Chair for the national NAfME Library of Congress Curriculum Design Project, and authored a unit on the music of Aaron Copland. She has presented numerous workshops about school strings and instrumental music for national and international music education organizations.

Prior to teaching at Queens College, Dr. Davis taught in the Smithtown Central School District for 14 years where she led multiple string, symphonic, and chamber orchestras. She also founded and arranged music for her alternative styles ensemble, the West Side Fiddlers. As a violinist, Professor Davis has made numerous appearances throughout New York and the surrounding area. In a duo with guitarist, Eric B. Davis, Eric and Susan released a CD entitled Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep: An Album of Classical Lullabies, which received a National Parenting Publications Award and an iParenting Award of Excellence. Davis holds a B.F.A. from Stony Brook University, an M.S.Ed. from Queens College, and a Ph.D. from New York University.

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Choirs

Amanda Hanzlik

Amanda Sprague Hanzlik is Director of Choral Activities at Edwin O. Smith High School in Storrs, Connecticut, Director of Music at Immanuel Congregational Church UCC in Hartford, Connecticut and currently serves as President of the ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) Eastern Region. Twice a semifinalist for the GRAMMY Music Educator Award (2024 & 2022) she is also a recipient of the 2023 Connecticut State Department Hero of the Arts Award.

Hanzlik made her Carnegie Hall conducting debut in 2023 and frequently serves as a guest conductor for all-state and regional honor choirs. Under her direction, the E.O. Smith Chamber Singers are regularly featured at ACDA and NAfME festivals and conferences as a selected/performing ensemble.

2024-25 marks her 26th year as a music educator and artist in K-12, faith-based, community and collegiate music education and choral spaces.

Deeply passionate about creating new choral music with living composers, she also strives to uplift and elevate the art and artists of the choral art medium into all spaces of culture and society.

Amanda Hanzlik holds a BA in Music/Vocal Performance and K-12 Education from the University of Iowa and an MA in Music and Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She resides in Storrs, CT with her husband, Louis and children, Ethan and Grace.

Sophia Miller

Sophia Miller is a conductor, clinician, singer, and music educator based in New York City. An expert in children’s voices, she seeks to empower the voices of young artists in her work, offering leadership with a combination of artistic skill, and a fully present heart.
Currently the Artistic Director for the Fieldston Choral Society in New York City, Sophia finds great joy in working with young people and adults alike. From 2007-2023, she served as the Senior Associate Conductor for the award-winning Young People’s Chorus of New York City, where she conducted young people ages 8-18 in YPC’s Performance Choruses and Schools Choruses Programs. Last season, she conducted YPC in Brundibár, a powerful and historical children’s opera written by Hans Krása and Adolf Hoffmeister before the start of World War II.
Sophia has furthered her impact as a widely sought-after guest conductor and choral clinician, bringing her expertise to choristers and choral conductors around the US and the world. Internationally, she most recently spent her time making music with children at La Escuela Municipal de Música y Danza de Cabanillas del Campo in Guadalajara, Spain, and young people from over 50 countries around the world at the Ingenium Music Academy in Winchester, England.
Sophia studied music education, voice, and conducting at the Ithaca College School of Music, where she studied conducting with Dr. Janet Galván and was recognized as an esteemed alumna for her work conducting young people and celebrating the voices of children. A performer as well, Sophia continues to sing regularly throughout New York City.

All rehearsals and performances will take place at New Rochelle HS

OCTOBER 16
Rehearsal #1
4:00 pm-9:00 pm

OCTOBER 30
Rehearsal #2
4:00 pm-9:00 pm

NOVEMBER 2
Instrumental Concerts
10:00 BAND REHEARSAL
1:00 BAND CONCERT
&
2:30 ORCHESTRA REHEARSAL
5:00 ORCHESTRA CONCERT

NOVEMBER 3
Choral Concert
10:00 CHORUS REHEARSAL
1:00 CHORUS CONCERT

Bus Drop Off for Rehearsal 2 only

Directions to the LEK Theatre
at
New Rochelle High School

The Linda E. Kelly (aka LEK) is located in House 4 of New Rochelle High School.
Its mailing address is 265 Clove Road in New Rochelle but it is ONLY for mailing. You will be on the complete
opposite side of the very large high school if you follow directions to it.

Enter in on your maps to go to Braemar Ave & North Ave. You will want to go into the parking lot that is located
next to and behind the tennis courts.

The One-way drive around the building is for drop-off only. The entrance is located on the side nearest the pond.

We are pleased to announce that tickets are currently available for our concert festival weekend via SimpleTix.com. Please read the below information thoroughly and follow the link to purchase tickets at your leisure.

• All Tickets must be purchased in advance. Tickets will not be sold at the door.

• All Tickets must be physically PRINTED or DOWNLOADED to your phone before arrival. Do not expect to have internet access at the venue to retrieve your tickets from the cloud/email/website.

• Provisions for ticketing will be made for families who have participants in multiple ensembles. Please email WcsmaAAS@gmail.com with your name, the participants’ names, and their corresponding ensembles before 10/31/2024.

• Purchase tickets here – https://westchestercountyschoolmu.simpletix.com/

We are all looking forward to seeing you at these performances!

Sincerely,

Patrick Murphy

WCSMA Area All-State Coordinator

Tickets available here:

https://westchestercountyschoolmu.simpletix.com/

CD and Recording Information

Order Video/Audio Recordings here