Orchestral Conducting Workshop

Kenneth Kiesler is a GRAMMY nominee and recipient of the 2024 American Prize National Arts Award “honoring a very few artists whose philosophy and exceptional professional accomplishments are evidence of sustained artistic excellence.” He has led over 100 orchestras across six continents, including the National Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Utah Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Queensland Symphony (Australia), Chamber Orchestra of Chile, Chamber Orchestra of Paris, New York Philharmonic principals at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, and the orchestras of Jerusalem, Haifa, Osaka, Puerto Rico, Daejeon and Pusan (Korea), Sofia (Bulgaria), Hang Zhou (China), OSUSP (São Paulo), Mexico City, Florida, Fresno, Indianapolis, Memphis, San Diego, and the Atlantic, Music in the Alps, Meadowbrook, Skaneateles, Sewanee, Breckenridge, and Aspen music festivals. After serving as the award-winning music director of the Illinois Symphony from 1980 to 2000 and leading its debuts at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, he was honored with the lifelong title of Conductor Laureate. He returned as the orchestra’s music advisor from 2010 to 2012. Earlier, he was Assistant Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony, Principal Conductor of the Saint Cecilia Orchestra, and Music Director of the South Bend Symphony and the New Hampshire Symphony.

One of the world’s most highly regarded conducting mentors and pedagogues, Kiesler leads the renowned graduate orchestral conducting programs here at the University of Michigan, as Professor of Conducting and Director of Orchestras. During his time at U-M, he served for 8 years as Director of the Academy for Young Conductors of the Chamber Orchestra of Paris, and – at the invitation of music director Pinchas Zuckerman – was Director of the conducting program of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, in Ottawa. He was the orchestral conducting teacher at the Manhattan School of Music where he directed the orchestras and led a major performance of Mahler’s 2nd Symphony at New Yorks City’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine. He has led week-long masterclasses in Moscow, Rome, Aldeburgh, São Paulo, Berlin, Los Angeles, and London, where he has been a frequent visiting artist at the Royal Academy of Music. He is the founder and director of Conductors Retreat at Medomak, an intensive summer conducting program now in its 31st year. Kiesler’s students have won many of the major international conducting competitions and hold many prestigious positions as music directors and associate conductors of major orchestras and opera companies, and as directors of orchestras at many major universities and conservatories worldwide.

Kiesler has conducted dozens of premieres and founded MORE (Michigan Orchestra Repertoire for Equity). He has led MORE premieres by James Lee III, Carlos Simon, Vincent Gardner, Nkeiru Okoye, Adolphus Hailstork, Ozie Cargile, and Quinn Mason. His opera conducting includes Britten’s Peter Grimes and Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Bright Sheng’s The Silver River in Singapore, and many other productions. His dance performances include Appalachian Spring with the Martha Graham Dance Company and Prokofiev’s Cinderella with the Indianapolis Ballet.

His recordings with the BBC in London, University of Michigan Opera Theatre, the new music ensemble Third Angle, and the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra include Milhaud’s L’Orestie d’Eschyle (2014 GRAMMY nominee for Best Opera Recording), music by Czech composer Vítězslava Kaprálová, Ginastera’s three piano concertos, works by U-M composers Bolcom, Chambers, Kuster, and Rush, Nkeiru Okoye’s When the Caged Bird Sings, and James P. Johnson’s De Organizer and The Dreamy Kid which earned a coveted spot among the “NY Times Best Classical Albums of 2023.” The NY Times said, “The interpretive insights on both new recordings are so strong, they stand alongside other recent triumphs in the American repertoire.”

Kiesler’s recent performances include a 6-concert tour of South Africa with the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra (the subject of an NPR documentary) followed by its second appearance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. Kiesler’s other recent performances, on the University’s UMS series, include the first-ever full and uncut performance of Porgy and Bess, a concert with Audra McDonald, the first performance of Milhaud’s Orestes Trilogy outside of France, and performances with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in both 2022 and 2026.

Kiesler’s teachers included Carlo Maria Giulini, Pierre Boulez, Erich Leinsdorf, John Nelson, Fiora Contino, Julius Herford, and James Wimer.

Jayce Ogren has established himself as one of the most innovative and versatile conductors of his generation. From symphonic concerts to community service programs to operatic premieres, he is a leader in breaking down barriers between audiences and great music.

Mr. Ogren is Music Director of the Monterey Symphony in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, and Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Michigan, where he conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra, Contemporary Directions Ensemble and the Michigan Youth Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he serves as Principal Guest Conductor of Philadelphia’s new music ensemble Orchestra 2001.

Mr. Ogren began his career as Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra, an appointment he held from 2006-2009. In the years since, he has conducted many of the world’s most prominent orchestras, including the BBC Symphony, Boston Symphony, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Among the major projects Mr. Ogren has led are the world premieres of David Lang’s symphony for a broken orchestra at Philadelphia’s 23rd Street Armory and Jack Perla’s Shalimar the Clown at Opera Theatre of St. Louis; the New York premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s A Quiet Place at Lincoln Center; and the U.S. and Scandinavian premieres of Rufus Wainwright’s Prima Donna.

Jayce Ogren holds degrees from St. Olaf College, New England Conservatory and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar with Alan Gilbert and Jorma Panula. His wife, Carly Berger Ogren, is an architect, and together they have an adventurous son, Alistair. An avid athlete, he has competed in the Big Sur, Boston and NYC marathons, the JFK 50 Miler trail run, the Ironman Lake Placid triathlon and Hyrox Vancouver.

An international conductor, author and lecturer, Dr. John D. Pasquale is the Donald R. Shepherd Professor of Conducting at the University of Michigan where he serves as Director of the Michigan Marching and Athletic Bands. In this position he directs and oversees the athletic band program, is the conductor of the University Band, guest conductor with the Symphony Band, Concert Band, and teaches classes in rehearsal and ensemble pedagogy. In addition, Dr. Pasquale is a faculty associate within the African Studies Center in the International Institute of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts and is the Chief Marshal to the university. Outside of the university, he is a Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician.

Prof. Pasquale’s research interests span the intersection of the conductor as an artistic leader and ensemble pedagogue, the codification of instrument and ensemble pedagogy, and the teaching of aural analysis skills to conductors. His scholarship, culminating in the publication of “Probenmethodik Blasorchester: Geführtes Hören in der Ensemblearbeit,” is published by Helbling Verlag in Esslingen, Germany, and has been further disseminated globally through its English edition, “The Directed Listening Model: A Rehearsal Guide for Ensemble Musicianship.”

Currently, Prof. Pasquale is a primary lecturer in a multi-year wind band pedagogy residency in Africa in conjunction with the University of Cape Coast in Cape Coast, Ghana. This project involves working with over 700 university, amateur and professional conductors and musicians from universities, national defense ensembles, government ensembles, primary schools, church and community ensembles in thirteen African, Middle Eastern and European countries.

An ardent advocate for international education, Dr. Pasquale previously held an affiliate lectureship within the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. In this capacity, he taught study abroad classes in Austria titled “Art and Music in Vienna.” In 2012, Dr. Pasquale led a cross-cultural performance and pedagogy project in China titled “Instrumental Music Education in China: Cross-Cultural Performance and Pedagogy,” leading a team of American conductors and researchers in fostering international musical collaboration and understanding.

Receiving the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting from the University of Oklahoma in 2008, Dr. Pasquale served as a conducting associate to the Wind Symphony, Opera Orchestra, “The Pride of Oklahoma” Marching Band, New Century Ensemble, Faculty Composer Concert Series, Symphony Band, Concert Band, and the Weitzenhoffer Family Department of Musical Theatre. In addition, he was an adjunct instructor and graduate teaching assistant within the Music Education Department. He holds a Master of Music degree in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Oklahoma and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Texas Christian University.

In the genre of marching and pageantry arts, Dr. Pasquale served as an ensemble music consultant with the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps from Boston, Massachusetts, the Associate Brass Caption Manager of the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps from Santa Clara, California, and taught ensemble music with the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps from Rosemont, Illinois. Through his teaching at the Cavaliers, Pasquale was a contributor to the instructional DVD entitled, The Cavaliers Brass: From the Concert Hall to the Football Field, which has been met with international acclaim. During his tenure from 2002-2009, the Cavaliers were named Drum Corps International World Champions three times and were the recipient of two Jim Ott Awards for “Excellence in Brass Performance.”

Dr. Pasquale is in demand as a conductor, clinician, lecturer, pedagogue, and adjudicator in band and orchestra programs throughout North America, Africa, Europe and Asia.

Dr. Richard Frey is a member of the conducting faculty at the University of Michigan, and the associate director of bands. He is the associate director of the Michigan Marching and Athletic Bands, director of the Men’s Basketball Band, conductor of the Campus Bands, and guest conductor of the Symphony Band Chamber Winds. He teaches conducting and coordinates the non-major chamber music program.

Frey was previously the associate director of Bands at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. While he was there the CSU Marching Band expanded its national and international reputation, performing at the St. Patrick’s Festival Parade in Dublin, for Denver Broncos halftimes, and at bowl games around the country. In 2015, CSU hosted the College Band Directors National Association’s Athletic Band Symposium, the first non-Power Five conference school to do so.

Frey’s research has centered on opera transcriptions for winds in the eighteenth-century, specifically Johann Went’s transcription of Le nozze di Figaro. He has given presentations on this work at universities around the country and at the 2016 CBDNA Southwest Division conference. In July 2014, Frey led the Colorado State Faculty Chamber Winds on a performance tour of Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary that included his performance edition of Figaro and a new edition of the introduction to Rossini’s Zelmira. His modern harmonie performance edition (Sedlak) of the overture to Semiramide was premiered by the Gateway Chamber Orchestra at the 2015 CBDNA National Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

As a conductor, Frey has led world and consortium premieres by composers Steven Bryant, Eric Nathan, David Maslanka, James David, and Matthew Peterson, and his concerts often feature multimedia and interdepartmental collaborations. He has presented on expressive conducting and Laban terminology, wind band repertoire, and modern performance practice at state and national conferences, and as a guest lecturer for undergraduate and graduate classes at universities nationwide.

He has performed as a freelance percussionist with the Oregon Symphony, Oregon Ballet Theater, Tacoma Symphony, and Bellevue Philharmonic, and in recitals as a collaborative pianist and accompanist. As a music arranger and drill designer for marching and athletic bands, Frey has been regularly commissioned by university and high school ensembles, resulting in performances of nearly 100 of his musical arrangements.

In 2011 Dr. Frey received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting at Michigan State University. In 2008 he received a Master of Music degree in Wind Conducting from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. From 2002-06 he taught instrumental music in the public schools of Salem, Oregon. Frey received a Bachelor of Music degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Puget Sound in 2002.