Band
Peter Haberman
Peter Haberman serves as the director of bands and associate professor of music at Concordia College where he conducts The Concordia Band. He also leads the Echo Band, works with student conductors, teaches music education courses and coordinates the comprehensive band program. Prior to his appointment at Concordia, Haberman held similar positions as director of bands at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Bucknell University.
Haberman maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor and clinician across North America. His ensembles have performed at conferences and music festivals across the nation and internationally. He also has served as music director for many community ensembles including the Chippewa Valley Youth Symphony.
Prior to his college career, Haberman spent several years teaching at the Mercer Island School District in Washington and the Maple Lake School District in Minnesota. He was honored to be the recipient of the Educator of the Year Award and the Principal’s Award for Outstanding Teaching at Mercer Island, and the Maple Lake Employee of the Year Award.
Haberman is an active board member for the Minnesota Band Directors Association. He is also a member of the College Band Directors National Association, Minnesota Music Educators Association, National Association for Music Education, and World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles. His honorary memberships include Phi Beta Mu, Phi Mu Alpha, and Pi Kappa Lambda.
A native of Minnesota, he has earned degrees from Concordia College, the University of Montana, and the University of Minnesota where he completed a Doctor of Music Arts in conducting. Peter lives in Moorhead, Minnesota with his wife Erika Tomten and their daughter Claire.
Choir
John Trotter
Canadian-born conductor John William Trotter interacts with musicians and audiences to celebrate the gift of music and its powerful place in human identity. He has conducted more than a dozen professional choirs and orchestras on three continents, and studies and teaches widely in the areas of music, leadership, and the role of the arts in society. He is widely active as a guest conductor, composer/arranger, educator, and speaker. Based in Chicago, he serves as Associate Professor of Music at the Wheaton College Conservatory and Principal Music Director of the professional ensemble Chicago a cappella.
Trotter’s performances of concert music have attracted special attention for their freshness, and authenticity. Performances with Chicago a cappella and the Vancouver Chamber Choir have been broadcast throughout North America on NPR and CBC. His various ensembles have been honored with invitations to perform live at national, regional, and state conventions of the American Choral Directors’ Association, Chorus America, and the National Association for Music Education. He recently led the Wheaton College Concert Choir on tour throughout South Korea, conducting twenty performances including several broadcasts.
Following undergraduate training at the University of British Columbia, Trotter earned the Doctorate in Conducting from the University of Michigan (the top-ranked conducting program in North America) and undertook further advanced studies with Eric Ericson, Helmuth Rilling, Andrew Parrott, and Jon Washburn. He now trains young conductors and serves as a resource to mid-careers professionals through conference presentations and intensive workshops.
Trotter is well known for his ability to connect with audiences and for his interest in building bridges between the professional music world, music training institutions, and the wider community. An experienced improviser, he is an advocate for the recovery of this musical skill among amateurs and professionals alike. His performances have featured interdisciplinary collaborations with actors, dancers, painters, and even audiences themselves. (www.johnwilliamtrotter.com)
Orchestra
Aviva Segall
The 2017-2018 season marks Aviva Segall’s nineteenth season as Music Director and Principal Conductor for the Omaha Area Youth Orchestras. Ms. Segall is active as a guest conductor, adjudicator and clinician, recently working with the Omaha Symphony, Wichita Symphony- Naftzger Competition, J. Laiten Weed Honors Orchestra, NE ASTA Strictly Strings Orchestra Festival, Indiana State School Music Association, New Generation Performance Events, Honor orchestras and bands for the Omaha, Millard, Blair, Lincoln, Council Bluffs, Yankton and Rapid City, South Dakota Public Schools. Ms. Segall’s summer guest conducting includes the Cumberland Orchestra at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Tennessee and the High Plains Music Camp in Kansas. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the American Symphony Orchestra League- Youth Orchestra Division and the Nebraska Music Education Association. Ms. Segall frequently serves on panels for the National Endowment for the Arts.
Ms. Segall served as Conducting Apprentice with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra and was concurrently on the conducting staff of the Portland Youth Philharmonic, Music Director of the Pasadena Orchestra da Camera and Music Director of the Wellesley College Chamber Orchestra.
Ms. Segall earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College and subsequently attended the University of Southern California School of Music. She received her Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from Northwestern University, where she studied with Victor Yampolsky, Music Director Emeritus of the Omaha Symphony, and Director of Orchestras at Northwestern University. She was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study rehearsal techniques with European orchestras and conductors, and was a conductor at the Aspen Music Festival. Ms Segall’s principal conducting mentors include Victor Yampolsky, Daniel Lewis, Murry Sidlin, and James De Priest.
Ms. Segall lives in Omaha with her husband, Patrick McNamara, who is in the Political Science and International Studies departments at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. They have two daughters, Ilana and Leora.
