International Masterclass for Conductors
Tuesday, 21.02.2023
In addition to numerous concerts, Mid EUROPE also offers advanced musical training in the form of workshops. At the International Masterclass for Conductors, a limited number of active participants will be able to interpret works from a prescribed list of musical literature, then put what they have learned into practice with the help of musicians from Militärmusik Oberösterreich.
The 2023 masterclass will be held from 10 to 14 July as part of the Mid EUROPE festival.
Aside from the active participants in the masterclass, passive listeners are also encouraged to attend the entire workshop and will also be involved in the discussions as well as the instructional process. To conclude the masterclass, active participants will give a concert on Friday 14 July 2023, during which they will demonstrate everything they have learned.
This masterclass will be led by a first-rate group of conductors who, in addition to this workshop, will also contribute their talents to the WYWOP and WAWOP orchestral projects:
Damon Talley, USA - Primary Clinician and Coordinator
Damon Talley also made a guest appearance at the Mid EUROPE masterclass in 2022. In 2023, he will coordinate the course and be actively involved as the “Primary Clinician”. Damon Talley is Band Director and Professor of Conducting at the Louisiana State University School of Music (USA) where, in addition to teaching, he also conducts the wind orchestra and is head of the Orchestra Division. Prior to Louisiana State University, Dr. Talley held the position of Band Director at the Shenandoah Conservatory, where he led the wind-orchestra program, the EDGE New Music Ensemble, and was in charge of training conductors. He has also taught at the University of Texas in Austin and the University of Michigan. As an enthusiastic promoter of new music for wind orchestra, Dr. Talley has conducted numerous first performances. His most important conducting instructors include Jerry Junkin, Michael Haithcock and H. Robert Reynolds.
Isabelle Ruf-Weber, SUI - Guest Clinician
Isabelle Ruf-Weber travels throughout Europe as a conductor, music educator and judge. She shares her diverse musical and pedagogical knowledge, acquired over the course of many years of conducting activities, with renowned orchestras at interesting engagements, with talented young musicians within the context of masterclasses, and, as a guest lecturer at the Bundesakademie in Trossingen, Germany, with aspiring judges of music competitions. Her artistic activities are characterized by considerable diversity and openness, reflected, not least, in the wide selection of orchestras she has led. At the end of 2017, she concluded her 10-year appointment as Musical Director of the renowned Landwehr Fribourg Wind Orchestra. Her successful work as a conductor and production director at Stadttheater Sursee came to an end in March 2022 after 20 years of intensive commitment.
Jerry Junkin, USA - Guest Clinician
Jerry Junkin has been employed at the University of Texas in Austin as a "University Distinguished Teaching Professor" since 1988, where he holds the Vincent R. and Jane D. DiNino Chair for the Director of Bands. He is one of the most acclaimed conductors of wind music worldwide. In addition to his duties as a professor of music, Jerry Junkin is also head of the conducting division, where he offers classes in conducting and the musical literature for wind orchestras. He is also Director of the Texas Wind Ensemble. Jerry is an avid advocate for music education in public schools and has conducted all-state bands and festivals in 48 U.S. states and on 5 continents. He makes regular guest appearance with ensembles such as the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, in Japan, China, Europe and the United States. Professor Junkin is a Yamaha Master Educator.