Saturday
November 14 @ 7:30 pm
Wesley Schulz is Music Director and Conductor of the Auburn Symphony Orchestra (WA) and was formerly the Associate Conductor of the North Carolina Symphony. As a guest conductor, Schulz has appeared with the Seattle, Utah, Austin, Tallahassee, Canton, Williamsburg, Greenville, Richmond (IN), Waco, and Bozeman Symphony Orchestras among many others. Additionally, Schulz is Principal Guest Conductor at the Pacific Northwest Ballet having led productions such as Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet as well as annual performances of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Schulz has collaborated with some of the most dynamic musical artists of our time, including Tessa Lark, Leslie Odom Jr, John Williams, Philippe Quint, Bella Hristova, Rachel Lee Priday, Richard Lin, Pink Martini, Randall Goosby, Cirque de la Symphonie, Amos Lee and many more. When not on the podium, Schulz enjoys CrossFit, snowboarding, cooking and playing endless fetch with his two dogs, Chewbacca and Han Solo.
Timothy Verville’s path to the podium began not in a music room, but on a western Oklahoma farm. Growing up training horses, Verville’s first exposure to orchestral music came through public schools, a spark that ignited a lifelong musical journey. A conductor of wide-ranging musical interests, he is equally at home leading a chamber ensemble or a production involving over three hundred musicians. His curated concerts span the classical canon and include music for dance, and film with live orchestra. Today, he is an award-winning conductor and composer whose work is defined by innovation, audience engagement, and a commitment to expanding the reach of classical music. Since 2016, Verville has served as Music Director and Conductor of the Georgia Symphony Orchestra. Under his leadership, the organization has grown significantly in both artistic scope and community reach. He partnered with Girls Who Conduct to create a fellowship for women conductors, worked with the Make a Wish Foundation to fulfill a young person’s dream of conducting an orchestra, and continues to design sensory-friendly concerts that have been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. In recognition of this service, the Georgia Secretary of State proclaimed him an Outstanding Georgia Citizen in 2023. Verville’s international career includes conducting the inaugural Kyushu International Festival in Japan, and appearances with the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, the Far Eastern Symphony Orchestra in Russia, and Opera Panama with the National Symphony Orchestra of Panama. In the United States, he has appeared with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Savannah Philharmonic, Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra, Signature Symphony, Symphonicity: The Orchestra of Virginia Beach, and others. He has also served as Assistant Conductor for productions for the Atlanta Opera’s NOW Festival. Earlier in his career, he served as Music Director of the Scottsdale Baroque Orchestra and the North Valley Chamber Orchestra, and conducted in the pit at The Pollard Theatre in Oklahoma. Recognized by the American Prize in both orchestral performance and composition, Verville’s works reflect his broad musical perspective. Liminal: an Atlanta Concerto for Amplified Looping Cello and Orchestra, co-written with Okorie “OkCello” Johnson, blends orchestral writing with live looping and contemporary sound worlds, while his Requiem Americano weaves together multiple strands of American musical identity into a large-scale choral and orchestral work. His performances have been hailed as “awe-inspiring” and praised for “bringing down the house” (Atlanta Arts Scene), while The Tulsa World credits him with “finely focused conducting” in which “the energy and pace of the music never sagged.” Before his tenure in Georgia, Verville served as the founding Artistic Director and Conductor of Arizona Pro Arte, where he built the organization from the ground up, establishing a full classics season, summer series, educational performances, a chamber music program, and a dance ensemble. He was mentored by Bruce Hangen, Timothy Russell, and James DePreist, and studied in masterclasses with David Effron, Markand Thakar, and Neil Varon. At the renowned Monteux School and Music Festival, he was selected as an orchestral assistant while studying with Michael Jinbo. He holds degrees from the University of Oklahoma, the Boston Conservatory, and Arizona State University. Verville resides in Georgia with his wife and children.
German conductor DIRK MEYER is Music Director of the Augusta Symphony in Georgia and the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra (DSSO) in Minnesota. Having received much of his training in European opera houses, Meyer is also passionate about opera also holds the position of Music Director with the Lyric Opera of the North.
He has guest conducted many orchestras throughout the United States, including the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Symphoria in Syracuse, the Orlando Philharmonic, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in Massachusetts, the Naples Philharmonic and The Florida Orchestra. Other recent engagements have been with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in Canada, the New Bedford (MA) and East Texas Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Sarasota Orchestra in Florida. Meyer has also collaborated with some of today’s leading artists, including Jan Lisiecki, , Conrad Tao, Lynn Harrell, Peter Serkin, Lara St. John and Christine Brewer.
In 2012 Meyer was named the winner of The American Prize in orchestral conducting.
Over the course of his career Meyer has earned an outstanding reputation with musicians, audiences and critics, alike. His performances have been described as “most intimate and emotional”, “mesmerizing” and “out of this world” and his personable and entertaining style has made him an audience favorite.
As a champion of orchestral music Meyer creates concert experiences that bring classical music to new audiences. These endeavors range from conversational concerts to multimedia performances, and include collaborations of all kinds. One of the most adventurous collaborations he created was Runway Duluth, a fashion and music collaboration that received national recognition and redefined what the concert experience can be.
Most recently Meyer created The Beethoven Project, a collaboration between the DSSO and Minnesota Public Radio: During the five years of this project the DSSO will perform and record all of Beethoven’s nine symphonies and, at the same time, create concerts and events that shed a light on the master’s works and bring his music to new demographics.
Maestro Meyer is the author of “Chamber Orchestra and Ensemble Repertoire. A Catalog of Modern Music”. Published by Scarecrow Press with a foreword by David Daniels, this book is a resource for conductors, librarians and administrators, providing them with performance information to about 4000 compositions.
Meyer’s special interest in contemporary music has led to him leading world premiers by composers such as Miguel del Aguila and Eve Baglarian, as well as the American or regional premiers of works by Arvo Pärt, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Joby Talbot, Elliott Sharp, Jonathan Leshnoff, and Hugo Alfven.
Outside of North America Meyer has conducted many orchestras in Europe and abroad, including appearances in South Africa, the Czech Republic and Germany. In the operatic world he has led performances of Carmen and Don Giovanni with the Plovdiv Opera in Bulgaria and served as Assistant Conductor to the Michigan State University Opera Theatre, which he conducted in Puccini’s La Bohème and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress.
From 2007 to 2011 Meyer served as Music Director to the Sarasota Youth Orchestras, giving his Carnegie Hall debut in New York City with the Sarasota Youth Philharmonic in 2008.
Prior to his current appointments Meyer served as Associate Conductor, and later Principal Guest Conductor, of the Sarasota Orchestra in Florida. Further appointments have included Assistant positions with the Traverse Symphony (MI) and Missouri Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Music Director position with the Mason Symphony Orchestra in Michigan.
Meyer has studied with teachers like Neeme Järvi and Jorma Panula and, in addition, he assisted with numerous productions at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Germany), as well as at the Vienna State Opera (Austria) and the Teatro Real in Madrid (Spain).
He holds Doctor of Musical Arts and Masters degrees in orchestral conducting from Michigan State University, where he worked with Leon Gregorian and Raphael Jimenez. Here he also worked as Graduate Teaching Assistant. His Bachelor’s Degrees are from the Folkwang Conservatory in Germany (music) as well as the University Duisburg-Essen (philosophy).
Labeled a “rising star” within the conducting world (Associated Press), conductor Chelsea Gallo has been praised for her ability to “lead the orchestra with grace and fiery command” (Michigan Daily.) Her conducting style has been described as “fully in control… stylish, skillful and attentive” (Dallas News.) For the 2025 – 2026 season, Gallo begins her third season as Resident Conductor of The Florida Orchestra (conducting over 50 performances), Principal Guest Conductor of the Orlando Philharmonic and returns to the New York Philharmonic to serve as an Assistant Conductor. She is the recipient of a 2025 OPERA America Marineau Opera Grant, a winner of the Sir Georg Solti Career Assistance Grant and was an awardee of the Hart Conducting Fellowship with the Dallas Opera. Most recently, Gallo recorded the premiere album of the music from Johanna Senfter with the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinlandpfalz in Germany under the Capriccio label. Upcoming debuts include engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dayton Opera (production of Carmen) Noord Nederlands Orkest (The Netherlands), the Knoxville Symphony, Opera Tampa (production of Macbeth), Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco (Mexico), and the New Mexico Philharmonic. Gallo has conducted leading orchestras and opera companies including the Utah Symphony, Dallas Opera, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Virginia Symphony, Opera Orlando, Toledo Symphony, Hartford Opera, Missouri Symphony, Marigny Opera, Slovak Sinfonietta, Bozeman Symphony, the Sewanee Music Festival, Jackson Symphony, the Lancaster Symphony, and the Youngstown Symphony amongst others. A passionate advocate for expanding classical music’s reach, Gallo has collaborated with a wide range of organizations and companies, including The Walt Disney Company, New York Yankees, NASA, and the Lincoln Motor Company. She describes her artistic mission as “a devotion to sharing the relevancy and humanity within classical music.” With a unique affinity for science and music, Gallo has spearheaded interdisciplinary projects uniting both worlds. She has partnered with NASA, Lockheed Martin, the National Institute of Aerospace, and the European Space Agency, and led recording projects for NASA’s Orion EFT-1 launch mission. Her ensemble became the official artistic partner for the Hubble Space Telescope’s 25th Anniversary Celebrations. She was recently invited by the University of Michigan’s Department of Nuclear Engineering to collaborate on a project exploring creativity in the hard sciences by drawing parallels between conducting an orchestra and managing a nuclear reactor. A champion of living composers, Gallo conducted the Michigan premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Helix, the American premiere of Michael Gordon’s Bassoon Concerto, and the world premiere of the ballet A Streetcar Named Desire by Tucker Fuller. During the 2025 – 26 season, she will give the U.S. premiere of Thierry Caens’s Triple Trombone Concerto. Her opera credits include productions of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, and Don Giovanni, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Verdi’s La Traviata, Macbeth, and Falstaff, Bizet’s Carmen, Bernstein’s Candide, and Shuying Li’s Who Married Star Husbands. Gallo studied conducting in Vienna, Prague, and Banská Štiavnica with Leoš Svárovský and the late Maksimilijan Cenčić. In Vienna, she also studied piano with Giorgi Latsabidze and violin with Barbara Gorzynska. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Michigan, where she studied under Kenneth Kiesler. Gallo has attended festivals and masterclasses with renowned conductors including Sir Simon Rattle and Daniel Barenboim.
Matthew Wardell is in his 18th season as Music Director of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra, which composer Michael Daugherty has called the “hardest working orchestra in Florida.” An active guest conductor, he serves as a regular cover conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Jacksonville Symphony and makes his Brevard Symphony debut this season; recent appearances include the Jacksonville Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Pittsburgh, and the New England Philharmonic. Winner of The American Prize’s 2024 Vytautas Marijosius Award in Orchestral Programming, he has presented more than 520 works across 310 live performances, including more than a dozen live-to-film productions nationwide, 19 staged opera and musical theatre works, and world and U.S. premieres by Daugherty, Stella Sung, and Jenni Brandon. Based in St. Louis, he lives with his wife, Pamela Calero Wardell, Chief Philanthropy Officer of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and their dog, Buckley.
Abigail Singer is a passionate conductor, music educator, and advocate for the transformative power of music. She began her musical career as a music educator in Florida’s public schools, where she discovered her passion for inspiring young musicians and helping students find their own voices through music. Before transitioning into professional orchestral conducting, she served as Associate Director of Bands at Freedom High School in Orlando, developing engaging music programs, mentoring students, coordinating performances, and creating opportunities for the next generation of musicians to grow as artists and leaders. Today, she serves as Assistant Conductor of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra, bringing that same commitment to education, mentorship, and community engagement to her work with professional musicians and audiences throughout Florida. As a conductor, Mrs. Singer has experience across a diverse range of orchestral and educational settings, including serving as an active cover conductor for the Jacksonville Symphony, assisting with live film in concert series such as Star Wars: A New Hope and Aladdin, collaborating with Dance Alive National Ballet in their annual performances of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. She has conducted educational performances for thousands of students, introducing young audiences to the sounds and possibilities of the orchestra while fostering curiosity and excitement about classical music. Her conducting training has included fellowships with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Northwest Conducting Institute, and European American Musical Alliance in Paris where she studied the music pedagogy style of renowned composer and conductor, Nadia Boulanger. A graduate of the University of Florida with a Master of Music in Instrumental Conducting and a Bachelor of Music Education, Mrs. Singer is dedicated to building bridges between the concert hall and the classroom and, above all, inspiring the next generation of musicians. She is especially excited to collaborate with the Brevard Symphony Orchestra as a guest conductor for its elementary school concerts, continuing her passion for bringing the joy and magic of live orchestral music to young audiences