Area All-State

Concert Band

Jamal Duncan joined Arizona State University in Fall 2020 as associate director of bands and assistant professor of instrumental conducting. He conducts the Wind Symphony, teaches conducting, and serves as assistant director of undergraduate music studies. Previously, he was assistant director of bands at the University of Arkansas.

His research focuses on conducting pedagogy, wind literature, and reimagining the concert experience. He has presented at the Midwest Clinic, the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, and the College Band Directors National Association. A champion of new and diverse repertoire, Duncan commissions and programs works reflecting a wide range of cultural voices.

In 2024, the ASU Wind Symphony performed at the CBDNA Western/Northwestern conference. He has collaborated with composers including Steven Bryant, Viet Cuong, and Kevin Day. A winner of the American Prize in Band/Wind Ensemble conducting and a Reynolds Conducting Institute fellow, Duncan has conducted and adjudicated ensembles nationwide and abroad.

He previously taught in Lansing, Michigan schools and directed the Flint Youth Wind Ensemble for eleven seasons. A Flint native, Duncan earned degrees from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

Choral Conductors

Shoshana Hershkowitz holds degrees in music education and vocal performance from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. She has been a choral music educator for over 25 years, beginning her career at Commack High School on Long Island, where she taught from 1999-2009. Hershkowitz has been the choral director at Stony Brook University since 2009, where she conducts the Stony Brook Chorale and Camerata Singers. Mrs. Hershkowitz served as the founding conductor of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York’s Suffolk Symphonic Choir, a countywide high school choral ensemble from 2013-2022. She also served as a supervisor for student teachers on Long Island for the Crane School of Music from 2019-2021.
Hershkowitz is an active guest conductor, with previous engagements for NYSSMA, Suffolk County Music Educators Association, Nassau Music Educators Association, Vermont Music Educators Association, and Hamptons Music Educators Association. As a clinician, Mrs. Hershkowitz has presented workshops for The Balanced Mind Conference, New York State Council of Administrators of Music Education, the New York State chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, the Choral Society of the Hamptons, as well as for school districts. She is a proud member of the Evoco Voice Collective, a semi-professional Long Island choral ensemble.

Eric Williamson (he/him) is a Grammy-nominated music educator, conductor, and advocate for equity in the arts. He serves as Artistic Director of Lavender Light: The Black and People of All Colors Lesbian & Gay Gospel Choir, which celebrates its 40th anniversary as a pioneering community dedicated to singing Black Gospel music while uplifting Black and Brown queer voices.
Mr. Williamson holds a B.A. in Music from Pennsylvania State University and an M.A. in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. A passionate and magnetic conductor, he has led honor and festival choirs across the East Coast and is a frequent clinician with Carnegie Hall’s Music Educator Workshop, where he champions works by Black women composers.
Previously, he conducted with the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus, preparing ensembles for major performances at Lincoln Center, New York City Opera, and various recording projects. His work spans gospel, opera, hip-hop, and musical theatre. In 2025, he served as Music Director for NYU Steinhardt’s scholar-in-residence Eve, directing a multi-genre concert celebrating her 25-year career.
Beyond the podium, Mr. Williamson is a National Facilitator for the Human Rights Campaign’s Welcoming Schools program, leading nationwide training on LGBTQ+ inclusion. He has been featured on NY1, Good Morning America, and Pix11 News, and published in the Music Educators Journal. He has also led national workshops on anti-racism and culturally responsive teaching with organizations includingTATI, Guitars Over Guns, and Music Will.
Currently, he teaches PreK–5 general music at PS 32 in Brooklyn and is an adjunct professor at NYU Steinhardt, where he founded and directs the Black Music Ensemble. This ensemble highlights music of African and African-American traditions, exclusively featuring works by Black and Brown composers and centering LGBTQIA+ affirmation.

String Orchestra

Rick Webb holds degrees in music performance from Bowling Green State University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. After 14 years of school orchestra teaching in the Midwest, he earned the Ph.D. in Music Education from Northwestern University in 2012. Dr. Webb currently serves as Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia, having previously served on the faculties of DePaul University, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and the University of Florida. He is a published educational scholar, composer and arranger, and active string clinician and conductor, working with school and festival orchestras around the United States. Dr. Webb’s arrangements of music by American composers of the early 20th c. “pre-jazz” era are published by Keiser-Southern Music.

Symphony Orchestra

James Millar recently retired after 20 years as Director of Choirs and Orchestras at Tenafly High School in Tenafly, NJ. He remains active in the musical life of Tenafly and beyond as a conductor, chamber musician and accompanist. He serves as Music Director at the Presbyterian Church at Tenafly, and is the founder of Summer Music in Tuscany, an annual two-week festival for singers and instrumentalists in Sarteano, Italy. Mr Millar conducted the North Jersey Intermediate Region Orchestra in 2025 and 2016, the 2022 New Jersey All State Orchestra, the 2017 New Jersey Honors Chamber Orchestra, the 2015 Central Jersey Region Orchestra and the 2013 North Jersey Intermediate Region Treble Chorus, in addition to conducting rehearsals for the NJ All State Orchestra since 2016. He holds Bachelor of Music (piano) and Master of Music (orchestral conducting) degrees from Northwestern University. Further studies include the Aspen Summer Music School, the Goldovsky Opera Institute, the Mannes Opera Workshop, and privately with Carl Bamberger, retired, of the Mannes Conservatory of Music. Further information can be found at www.SummerMusicinTuscany.org.