American Festival for the Arts
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The American Festival for the Arts (AFA) is a summer conservatory and music festival, providing Houston-area young musicians and composers with high-quality music education, performance, and concert opportunities. AFA boasts a faculty drawn from internationally-recognized performers, composers, conductors, and educators from around the nation (more than 90% of whom hold advanced degrees) and over 400 graduates who have gone on to prestigious schools, including the Eastman School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the University of Texas at Austin, Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, the University of Houston's Moores School of Music, the University of Southern California, the University of North Texas, and Duke University. Programs include all orchestral instruments, piano, voice, chorus, jazz, and composition. Electives are also offered in music theory and history.
[edit] History
The program was established in 1993 by J. Todd Frazier, the Founding Director. As of 2007, Michael Remson is the Executive Director. In the summer of 1996, AFA reached its goal of establishing an annual Summer Music Conservatory and concert series in Houston Texas and, in 2005, opened a second campus in Beaumont, serving the five county Southeast Texas region that includes Chambers, Hardin, Jefferson, Liberty, and Orange counties. AFA's Houston campus, currently located at Episcopal High School, caters to musicians and composers ranging in age from those about to enter high school to those about to enter college. AFA's Beaumont campus, currently located at Austin Middle School, is open to middle school age musicians.
The program has grown significantly over the years. The high school program, for instance, grew from 43 students representing 27 different Houston-area schools in 1996 to 258 students, representing 101 are schools. The 2006 summer concert series included 17 concerts, presented to thousands of area music lovers and including more American works and world premieres than any other Houston presenter.
Starting in 1997, the AFA composition program began a collaboration with the noted Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy, wherein AFA student composers compose short ballets that are choreographed and premiered by members of the Ben Stevenson Academy.
American Festival for the Arts (AFA) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) music education and concert presenting organization based in Houston, Texas.
[edit] 2007 Houston Faculty
J. Todd Frazier, Founding Director
Michael Remson, Executive Director
Conductors:
Clifton Evans (Conductor, Houston Youth Symphony)
James Tapia (Director of Orchestral Activities and Chair of the String Department, Syracuse University)
Christopher Zimmerman (Director, Symphony of Southeast Texas)
Rebecca Miller (Recent Asst. Conductor, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra; Conducting Fellow, Houston Symphony Orchestra)
| Winds | Brass | Strings | Piano/Perc. | Composition/Theory/History | Voice | Jazz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney Carlson (Fl.)
University of Houston, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra |
Paul Bellino (Tbn.)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra |
Eva Cappelletti-Chao (Vln.)
National Symphony, Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra |
Rodolfo Morales
Piano Department Director, High School for the Performing and Visual Arts |
Aaron Alon | Christopher Michel
Sam Houston State University |
David Craig (Bass) |
| Cheryl Huddleston (Bsn.) | George Chase (Tr.)
University of Houston |
Philippe Chao (Vla.)
Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra |
Sergio Ruiz
Sam Houston State University |
Reynaldo Ochoa (Theory) | Carole Nelson
Director of Voice Studies, High School for the Performing And Visual Arts |
Dennis Dotson (Tr.)
Houston Community College |
| Jeffrey Stephenson (Ob.)
Houston Ballet Orchestra University of Houston |
Phillip Freeman (B. Tbn.)
Sarasota Opera Orchestra |
Julia Cleworth (Vc.)
River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, TUTS |
Julie Sacks
Col Canto |
Joel Stein | Daniel Poncé (Choir) | Thomas Hulten (Tbn.) |
| Jennifer Stevenson (Cl.)
Thornton School of Music, UCLA |
Nancy Goodearl (Hn.)
Houston Symphony |
Nathan Cook (Vc.)
Mercer University |
Alec Warren (Perc.)
University of Houston |
Jude Vaclavik (Theory) | Rebecca Pyper-Busselberg
San Jacinto College |
Warren Sneed (Sax)
Director of Jazz Studies, High School for the Performing and Visual Arts |
| Theresa Hanebury (Tr.)
Houston Ballet Orchestra |
Erik Gronfor (DB)
Houston Grand Opera Orchestra |
Julie Sacks (& Accomp.) | Mike Wheeler (Guitar)
University of St. Thomas, San Jacinto College, & University of Houston. |
|||
| David Kirk (Tuba)
Houston Symphony |
John Chung-Hang Law (Vln.)
Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra |
Yanira Soria (& Accomp.) | Sebastian Whitaker (Drums) | |||
| Kevin McIntyre (Hn.)
Paragon Brass, TUTS |
Erika Lawson (Vla.)
Houston Grand Opera Orchestra |
Holly Wilson (& Accomp.) | Woody Witt (Sax)
Houston Community College, University of Houston's Moores School of Music |
|||
| Mollie Marcuson (Harp)
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra |
Pamela York (Pno.) | |||||
| John Randolph (Vla.)
TUTS |
||||||
| Stephanie Schweigart (Vln.)
UT El Paso, El Paso Symphony |
||||||
| Abjihit Sengupta (Vla.)
Bergen Norway Philharmonic |
||||||
| Trung Le Trinh (Vln.)
Houston Ballet Orchestra |
