CONDUCTING FACULTY AND ENSEMBLE DIRECTORS

Tom Bennett, Director, Moores School Wind Ensemble
M.M., Southern Methodist University; B.M., Texas Tech University; former instructor with Spring, Lubbock, Round Rock, Richardson, Plano, Spring Branch, and La Marque school districts; member, Texas Music Educators Association, College Band Directors National Association, National Band Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, Phi Beta Mu honorary band director fraternity; active adjudicator and clinician on regional and national level. Congratulations to Mr. Bennett on recently being named Texas Bandmaster of the Year for 2005: read the story here.

David Bertman, Director of Bands, "Spirit of Houston Marching Band" and Cougar Brass
M.M., University of Houston; B.M.E., University of Oklahoma; former Associate Director of Bands, Haltom High School, Haltom City, TX; active as an adjudicator and clinician throughout the region; numerous awards and honors for bands under his leadership; member, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma, Phil Mu Alpha.

Matthew Dirst, musicology; Director, Collegium Musicum
First American to win major international prizes in both organ and harpsichord; first prize, American Guild of Organists National Young Artist Competition; second prize, Warsaw International Harpsichord Competition; publications include a number of articles on the music of J. S. Bach; author of a forthcoming book, Bach and the Public Sphere, for Cambridge University Press.

Charles Hausmann, Director of Choral Studies
Director, Houston Symphony Chorus; many appearances as choral clinician and guest conductor; chorus preparation for Robert Shaw, Christoph Eschenbach, Helmuth Rilling, Roger Wagner, Neville Marriner, Edo De Waart and many others; choirs have received acclaim at major American music conventions and at festivals in the United States, Mexico and Europe; co-author of a textbook on choral music and has written articles for several music journals.

Peter F. Jacoby, Music Director, Edythe Bates Old Moores Opera Center
Conductor and coach for numerous performances including those at the Moores School, Staatsoper Studio and the Zurich Opera; B.A, in music, University of Wyoming with additional study at Cleveland Institute of Music; graduate diploma, Akademie in Vienna.

Franz Anton Krager, Director of Orchestras
Artistic Co-Director, Virtuosi of Houston; former Music Director, Brazos Valley Symphony & Sinfonietta; Guest Conductor, Houston Symphony, Romanian & Kazan State Philharmonics, Chetham's Symphony Orchestra & Musicfest International Orchestra (UK), Symphony Orchestra of Berlin, Akademisches Orchester Leipzig, Honolulu & Florida West Coast Symphonies, Riverside Philharmonic (CA); chamber orchestras of Stratford
(Principal Guest Conductor) & Leamington England, Grosseto Italy, Columbia Missouri, Round Top Texas; ballet & modern dance companies of Houston and Oakland (CA); Lichfield & Aberystwyth International Arts Festivals (UK), Lunatica, Festival Sinfonico & Scarlino Castello Music Festivals (ITALY), Interlochen, Texas Music Festival, Shostakovich 2000 Festival General & Artistic Director; recordings, Albany Records.

Noe Marmolejo, Director of Jazz Ensembles
Active jazz and classical trumpet performer; active adjudicator and clinician in Houston area; former conductor, Houston Youth Symphony and Ballet Orchestra; director, Jazz Institute of the Texas Music Festival, as well as festival brass ensemble coach.

Robert Mayes, Director of the Moores School Symphonic Band (email)
Former director of bands at University of Wyoming; taught public school at Lee High School in Midland, Texas; assistant director of bands at Texas Tech; UH bands under his direction have performed in France, Ireland, and Japan, as well as numerous sporting events throughout the U.S.

Buck Ross, Producer/Director, Edythe Bates Old Moores Opera Center
Has staged productions for the Houston Grand Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, the Houston Symphony, San Antonio Opera, Kentucky Opera, El Paso Opera, Utah Opera. For many years he was Director of Dramatic Studies for the Houston Opera Studio and co-director of the apprentice program of the Des Moines Metro Opera. Librettist for opera adaptation of E.M. Forster's A Room With a View with music by Robert Nelson. Author of English singing versions of several operas including Don Pasquale, La Finta Giardiniera, and Orpheus in the Underworld. He holds degrees in music and theatre from Bucknell University, and an MFA in stage direction from the University of Minnesota where he was assistant to H. Wesley Balk.

Rob Smith, composition and theory; Director, AURA Contemporary Ensemble
D.M.A. in composition, University of Texas at Austin. Fulbright Grant recipient to Sydney, Australia, where he studied with Peter Sculthorpe. Taught at Australia's University of Wollongong. Awards: National Band Association, Luigi Russolo International Electronic Music Competition, Society of Composers Inc., National Association of Composers in the USA, ASCAP; Selected commissions: American Composers Forum (Continental Harmony), New York Youth Chamber Music Program; works performed thoughout the US and abroad. Smith is director of AURA, the Moores School of Music's contemporary music ensemble.

Betsy Cook Weber, Director of Undergraduate Choral Studies
Director of Moores School Concert Chorale and the Concert Women's Chorus; served for seven years as Assistant/Associate Director of the Houston Symphony Chorus; successful music teacher in the public schools at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels, during which time choirs there won numerous competitions and awards; active at local and national levels as a conductor, presenter, and clinician; several of her editions of choral works are in current publication; degrees from North Texas State University, Westminster Choir College (Princeton, NJ), and University of Houston.