Jason Carson
Choir Conductor, Middle School

Mr. Carson is beginning his third year as Director of Choral Activities at Westside High School. Under his direction, the choir students have created a new standard of excellence at Westside High School. Most impressive was the successes of his choirs at the annual UIL Concert and Sight-Reading Competition where two of the three participating choirs earned “Sweepstakes” trophies.

Mr. Carson holds a Master’s Degree in Choral Conducting from Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, LA), and a Bachelor of Music Degree from Baylor University (Waco, TX). He is also certified in Kodaly (Level I).

Before accepting a position at Westside High School, Mr. Carson started the Vocal Music program at Pin Oak Middle School in 2003. A year prior to this, he had the great opportunity to teach at the Spence School, one of the premier girls’ schools of New York City. His teaching experience also includes a position at Pasadena High School, and opening a new high school, Sandra D. O’Connor High School, in Helotes, TX. He has studied conducting and score study with Dr. Kenneth Fulton, Dr. Robert Young, Dr. Stephen Hyde, and Michael Haithcock.

Mr. Carson is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Choral Directors Association, American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, Organization of American Kodaly Educators, and the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Society.

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David Landgrebe
Conductor, Choral & Vocal Studies

David Landgrebe is in his seventh year as the assistant choral director at Spring High School. He conducts the Concert Men, A Cappella Women, teaches AP Music Theory, and co-directs the annual all-school musical.. David also assists with the Concert Women, Chorale Men, Chorale Women, Chorale and Chamber Choir. Choirs under his direction and co-direction have consistently earned Sweepstakes at University Interscholastic League Concert and Sight-Reading Contest. In the summer of 2007 David was named an inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Young Director Award given by the membership of the Texas Choral Directors Association.

David is very active in his service to the music education field, having served as the Facilities Chair for the Vocal Division of the Texas Music Educators Association in 2008 and 2009 and as a section leader or organizer for multiple region choirs. He currently serves as computer tabulations coordinator for Region IX and helps coordinate technology annually during the Texas Choral Directors Association conference. David also is currently serving as the TMEA Area D Vocal Chair.

David is a Summa Cum Laude graduate from the University of Houston where he received the Bachelor of Music degree with elective studies in Music Education. While at U of H, he studied conducting and music education with Dr. Betsy Cook Weber and Dr. Charles Hausmann and voice with Katherine Ciesinski and Patryk Wroblewski.
A recipient of a Texas Music Educators Association educational scholarship, his professional affiliations include ACDA, TCDA, TMEA, Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda. In 2009 David joined the membership of the Texas Music Adjucators Association. David resides in Spring.

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Dr. Eduardo Garcia-Novelli
Featured Clinician, Choral & Vocal Studies

Eduardo Garcia-Novelli is a native of Argentina who earned two degrees from conservatories in Buenos Aires. He served as assistant director of the Argentinean National Young People Choir in Buenos Aires and served as director of the award-winning choral program at Belgrano Day School. He earned a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in choral conducting from the University of Houston.

Dr. Garcia-Novelli served as assistant director of the Houston Symphony Chorus from 1997 to 2002. He came to Carthage in 2008 from Lamar University, where he was Director of Choral Activities and Director of the Symphony of Southeast Texas Chorus from 2002 to 2008. In 2006 he was awarded Lamar University's Faculty Merit Award for excellence in teaching.

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Thomas Hong
Conductor, Conservatory Orchestra

Thomas Hong is presently the new assistant conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and associate conductor of the Seattle Symphony. Previously, he was assistant conductor of Orchestre National de France and also associate conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. As assistant conductor of Orchestre National de France, Mr. Hong has participated in various tours all over Europe, including most recently a momentous occasion where Maestro Kurt Masur performed the complete Beethoven symphonies in Frankfurt and Baden-baden. As associate conductor of Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Hong is in charge of programming and conducting all educational and outreach concerts, including four performances as part of Carnegie Hall’s LinkUp! music education program, serving all fourth grade students in the Fort Worth Independent School District. Other appointments in the past include assistant conductor of The Curtis Opera Theatre, visiting assistant professor at Haverford College and music director of Delaware County Youth Orchestra as well as First Korean Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, where he served as organist and choir director for many years.

Orchestras that Mr. Hong has conducted in the past include Spokane, Richmond, Winnepeg Symphony Orchestras as well as the Seoul, Buffalo and Lutoslawski Philharmonic Orchestras. Among his operatic and vocal performances are Copland’s The Tenderland, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. His most recent operatic production was Donizetti’s L’exisir d’Amore at the Wortham Opera Theatre in Houston. Awards that he has received in the past include the Leopold Stokowski Fellowship and the Whitaker Fund for Opera. Most recently, he was awarded the fellowship by the Brahms society of Baden-Baden offering residency for several weeks in the studio of Brahms' only remaining summer home in Germany.

As an educator, Mr. Hong was on the faculty of The Shepherd School Pre-College at Rice University, teaching piano to young students. He was also a part of the Just for U Music Program (JUMP!) at the university, dialoging and interacting with children as well as performing for them. In 2006, he was an integral part of forming a new musical organization, working closely with the executive and artistic directors as the founding conductor. Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, Youth Symphony for United Nations or YSUN’s guiding principle continues to be ‘a gathering of sound for world peace.’

Thomas was born in Incheon, Korea and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1978. He began his musical training at the age of 15 on the piano and continued his studies with Dr. Samuel Hsu at Philadelphia Biblical University. Later, he went on to earn a master degree in choral conducting at Temple University and an artist diploma in orchestral conducting from The Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Maestro Otto Werner Mueller. He concluded his artistic training with Maestro Larry Rachleff at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.

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Penelope Meitz
Middle School String Orchestra

Penelope (Penny) Meitz received the Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and the Master of Music degree in Viola Performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. She has had extensive performing experience, playing with the Houston Ballet Orchestra for 10 years, as well as Houston Grand Opera and numerous freelance ensembles.

As a teacher, Ms. Meitz taught in the public schools for 31 years. Her teaching assignments have included schools in Michigan and Texas. In May, 2006, Ms. Meitz retired from public schools after seven years as Orchestra Director at W. P. Clements High School in Fort Bend I.S.D. In August, 2006, she began a new phase in her professional life as Orchestra Director and String Teacher at St. John’s School, Houston. Ms. Meitz conducted the Greater Houston Youth
Orchestra String Ensemble from 1995 - 1997 and the GHYO Philharmonic from 2001-2003. In January, 2007, she will begin conducting the Bay Area Youth Symphony. Ms. Meitz is a frequent clinician for All-Region Orchestras throughout Texas. Her conducting teachers include Elizabeth Green and Samuel Jones.

Over her long career as a public school Orchestra Director, Ms. Meitz’s orchestras have consistently won Sweepstakes awards in Texas’ University Interscholastic League competitions. The Clements Symphony Orchestra was a featured orchestra at the Midwest Clinic, an International Band and Orchestra Conference, in 2000, and was selected TMEA High School Symphony Honor Orchestra in 2001-2002. Ms. Meitz served on the board of the Texas Orchestra Directors
Association from 1997 - 2002. Ms. Meitz was raised in Royal Oak, Michigan. In her spare time she enjoys bicycling, reading and cooking. She lives in Houston with her husband, Mike Mason.

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Amy Moore
Featured Clinician, Middle School Choir

Amy Moore is currently in her 13th year of teaching and her ninth year as head choral director at Labay Middle School. During her tenure at Labay, the choirs have received consistent awards including numerous UIL Sweepstakes and Best in Class recognitions at area festivals. Students under her direction consistently place in the all-region choir and receive superior ratings at solo and ensemble competition. Mrs. Moore is very proud to be a main feeder to Cypress-Falls High School where many of her former students continue their musical pursuits and compete successfully at the All-State level. She is committed to her students’ success not only as young singers and musicians, but as outstanding and successful individuals.

A native West Texan, Mrs. Moore is a graduate of Levelland High School. While in high school, she was a member of the Texas All-State Choir in 1990 and 1991. In 1996, she graduated magna cum laude from Baylor University with a bachelors degree in Music Education. While at Baylor, Mrs. Moore received numerous honors including Outstanding Music Educator, Outstanding Choral Musician, Outstanding Senior Woman in the School of Music and Who’s Who Among American College Students.

Mrs. Moore was selected as the Labay Middle School “Spotlight Teacher” for the 2008-2009 school year and currently serves as lead mentor on her campus. Mrs. Moore is an active adjudicator and clinician throughout the state. Her professional affiliations include TSTA, TMEA, TCDA and TMAA. She lives in Houston with her husband of twelve years, Greg, who is a high school choir director, and their three sons, ages eight, four and three.

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Ana Payne
Middle School String Orchestra

Mrs. Payne graduated from the University of Houston, where she studied cello with Anthony Elliott and Laszlo Varga. Prior to attending UH she studied with Harry Lantz and graduated from HSPVA. Mrs. Payne has taught in the Houston area for 15 years. She has been with Pasadena ISD for 12 years and just completed her fourth year at Beverly Hills Intermediate in Pasadena Independent School District. She has had successful programs from elementary to high school level and has had award winning groups, including superior ratings, sweepstakes, and best in class, at UIL and competitions around the state. Mrs. Payne has judged and is an active clinician throughout the state of Texas and is an active member of Texas Music Adjudicators Association, Texas Music Educators Associate, and Texas Orchestra Directors Association. Mrs. Payne is an active performer with the Halcyon String Quartet. She is married to her best friend, Stephen Payne, who is also an Orchestra Director. When they are not teaching, Mr. and Mrs. Payne enjoying spending as much time as they can raising their new beautiful daughter Avery.

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Barbara Scowcroft
Conservatory Orchestra

Barbara Scowcroft is currently in her 24th season in the Utah Symphony as a first violinist, where she also served as acting Assistant Concertmaster in the 1998-1999 season.

In 1986, Ms. Scowcroft became Music Director and Conductor of the Utah Youth Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra was invited to participate in the Cultural Olympiad for the 2002 Winter Olympic games in Salt lake City, for which she expanded the orchestra of 135 Utahns into an International orchestra of 170 musicians representing twelve countries and five continents.

Ms. Scowcroft was Music Director and General Manager of the Nova Chamber Music Series from 1986-2004, receiving the Governor's Award in the Arts for that organization in 1999. She was also Music Director and Conductor for the Vivaldi Candlelight Concerts from 1997 to 2004. She performs annually in the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, and recently conducted works for large ensembles on their chamber music series. Ms. Scowcroft has been a guest conductor at the American Festival for the Arts in Houston, Texas since 2000, for which she was recently appointed Resident Conductor. In April of 2006, Ms. Scowcroft made her debut as the first woman conductor of the Salt Lake Symphony, receiving positive reviews for her musical interpretation. Ms. Scowcroft is an Adjunct Professor of Violin at the University of Utah.

During her high school years, Ms. Scowcroft was a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. She studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Ms. Scowcroft received both her Bachelor of Arts in Violin Performance and her Masters of Music degree in Conducting from the University of Utah.

In 1992, Ms. Scowcroft received Salt Lake City's first Mayor's Award for the Arts. In 2003, she received O.C. Tanner's "Everyday Hero" award for her contributions to Utah non-profit organizations, and in 2004, was selected by the National Association of Women Business Owners, Utah Business Magazine, and the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce as one of "Thirty Visionary Women" of Utah.

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Warren Sneed
Jazz Big Band

Warren Sneed is the Director of Jazz Studies at Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Sneed has a Master’s degree in Applied Music from the University of Houston, and a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Education from the University of North Texas. He is also an HSPVA graduate.

Prior to teaching at HSPVA, Sneed directed various jazz bands and taught improvisation and jazz history at the University of Houston and at Houston Community College’s Westchester Campus.

Sneed is very active in the Houston jazz scene and has performed at most of the top jazz venues in Texas.

Some of the artists he has performed with include: Louis Hayes, Freddie Hubbard, Doc Cheatum, Kenny Wheeler, Carl Fontana, Jimmy Haslip, Helen Sung, Kent Jordan, Rosemary Clooney, Hal Crook, and Joe LoCascio.

Recording credits include: The Late Show, Warren Sneed/Joe LoCascio, Pathway Music, 2004; In the Mood, Champion Sisters, Capstone, 2004; Window of Light, Dave Catney, Urbana Records, 2000; Brothers, Warren Sneed, Pathway Music, 1999; Fly By Night, John Adams, Congruent Music, 1999; Tomato Kiss, Kellye Gray, Proteus Records, 1996; Gliders, Joe LoCascio, CMG Records, 1987; Texas State of Mind, Pete Peterson and the Collection, Pausa Records, 1980.

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Kimberly Tobola
Choir Conductor & Voice, Middle School

Kimberly Tobola is in her 8th year as Director of Choirs at Lanier Middle School in HISD. Under her direction, Lanier Choirs have consistently received Sweepstakes awards at UIL Contest and Sight Reading and Splashtown Choral Festival. In addition to her teaching, Ms., Tobola also sings with the professional vocal ensemble, VOX.

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