This fall, 670 students from across the United States will rehearse and perform in the 2015 All-National Honor Ensembles. The program will be held in coordination with the 2015 NAfME National In-Service Conference in Nashville, TN, October 25-28. The students will perform a gala concert at the Grand Ole Opry House on Wednesday, October 28, at 10:00 a.m. Ensemble members will perform under the baton of four of the most prominent conductors in the United States.
Jung-Ho Pak will lead the Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Pak is presently the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Cape Symphony (second largest in Massachusetts to the Boston Symphony Orchestra). From 2003-2013, he was the Director of Orchestras and Music Director of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra and at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.
Eugene Corporon will lead the Concert Band. Mr. Corporon is the conductor of the Wind Symphony and Regents Professor of Music at the University of North Texas. Mr. Corporon has held positions at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Michigan State University, the University of Northern Colorado, the University of Wisconsin, and California State University, Fullerton.
The Mixed Choir will be led by Ann Howard-Jones. Dr. Jones is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Boston University. She conducts the Symphonic and Chamber Choruses, supervises conducting students in the Concert Chorus and the Women’s Chorale, teaches graduate choral conducting, and administers the MM and DMA programs in Choral Conducting. Dr. Jones is also the conductor of the BU Tanglewood Institute Young Artists’ Vocal Program Chorus.
The Jazz Band will be led by Jazz at Lincoln Center’s (JALC) Sherman Irby and Todd Stoll. Mr. Irby is a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Sherman, along with most members of the orchestra, has arranged much of the vast library of music that they have performed over the last eight years. He has also been commissioned to compose new works, including Twilight Sounds, and his Dante-inspired balled, Inferno. He has served as Artist-in-Residence for Jazz Camp West, and instructor for the Monterey Jazz Festival Band Camp. He is also a former board member for CubaNOLA Collective. Mr. Stoll has more than 25 years of experience as an advocate, performer, educator, and promoter of great jazz music. His performance experiences are wide-ranging from clubs to international concert venues, big bands to symphony orchestras. He serves as Vice President of Education for JALC, overseeing programs that touch millions of people from infants to the elderly. Jazz at Lincoln Center is the sponsor of the 2015 All-National Honor Jazz Band.
The deadline for applications is May 8, 2015. Learn more about this year’s All-National Honor Ensembles.
“NAfME All-National Honor Ensembles Are ‘Life-Changing’,” Orchestrating Success Newsletter, 26 February 2015.
