Band
Shanti Simon
Shanti Simon is the Director of Bands at the University of Oklahoma where she conducts the Wind Symphony and leads the graduate wind conducting program. Prior to joining the faculty at OU, Dr. Simon was the Flight Commander and Associate Conductor with The United States Air Force Academy Band in Colorado Springs. Before moving to Colorado, Simon served as Flight Commander and Associate Conductor with The United States Air Force Band in Washington, D.C., where she conducted performances in the national capital region and around the country including the 2011 National Tree Lighting Ceremony with the Airmen of Note hosted by President Obama and the First Family. Simon was on the faculty of Shenandoah Conservatory as the Associate Director of Bands for the 2013-2014 academic year. In 2016, Simon deployed to the Middle East with the United States Air Force Central Command bands as the Officer-In-Charge, overseeing musical troop-support, community-outreach and partnership-building missions in seven countries.
Before joining the Air Force, Simon earned her MM and DMA degrees in conducting from the University of Minnesota where she studied with Craig Kirchhoff. She received her BME and BM degrees from Stetson University with Bobby Adams. Hailing from Florida, Simon served as the Associate Director of Bands at Vero Beach High School for four years, where her ensembles consistently earned top ratings in all areas of district and state assessment. Simon is active nationally and internationally as a guest conductor and clinician.
Orchestra
Daniel Sommerville
Daniel Sommerville is Professor of Music Emeritus at Wheaton College’s Conservatory of Music, where he conducted the Wheaton College Symphony Orchestra for 32 years and taught conducting and orchestration. Under his direction, the orchestra won the American Prize (third place), has appeared at state and national music conferences and has led the orchestra on many concert tours throughout the United States. He is currently in his sixth year as Music Director and Conductor of the Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra, celebrating its 75 th season this year. The IVSO annually presents a five-concert series plus two special concerts in area schools. He is originally from Wisconsin and has a Bachelors Degree in Music Education from University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. After teaching music and directing the bands at Kimberly High School for three years, he went on to get his Masters and Doctorate degrees from Northwestern University in conducting and composition respectively. He has been music director of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra of Chicago, the Northwind Ensemble of Chicago, the Westminster Chamber Orchestra, and the Elkhart County (Indiana) Symphony Orchestra. Sommerville has been guest conductor of the Sarajevo Philharmonic (Bosnia), Camerata Chicago as well as many regional orchestras including DuPage Symphony Orchestra, Fox Valley Orchestra (IL), and Marquette (MI) Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has been active as conductor and clinician for Illinois high school orchestras and festivals, has presented at the Midwest Clinic, and has presented and coached conductors at national conferences of the Conductors Guild and the College Orchestra Directors Association. Dr. Sommerville has studied with eminent conductors Sir Georg Solti, Herbert Blomstedt, John Paynter, Franz Allers and Jon Robertson. As a conductor, he has collaborated with such notable artists as Rachel Barton Pine, Sylvia McNair, Lawrence Brownlee, Will Liverman, Marvin Hamlisch, Broadway star Joel Grey, and the Hubbard Street Dance Company (Chicago).
Jazz Ensemble
Michael Dease
Michael Dease is one of the world’s eminent trombonists, lending his versatile sound and signature improvisations to over 200 recordings and groups as diverse as Grammy-winning artists David Sanborn, Christian McBride, Kanye West, Michel Camilo, and Alicia Keys. Born in Augusta, Georgia, he played the saxophone and trumpet before choosing the trombone at age 17. In 2001, Dease moved to New York City to become part of the historic first class of jazz students at The Juilliard School, earning both Bachelors and Masters degrees, and quickly established a reputation as a brilliant soloist, side-person, and bandleader.
Give It All You Got (Posi-Tone, 2021), Dease’s newest release, has received positive acclaim from JazzTimes Magazine and a coveted 4-star review from Downbeat Magazine. The music centers on themes of devotion to the past and future of the jazz lineage, realized at the Jazz Institute at Brevard where he serves as director. As a bandleader, this is Dease’s eighth album for Posi-Tone, fourteenth of his career, and features Gregory Tardy, Ulysses Owens, as well as his wife Gwen Dease and eldest daughter Brooklyn Dease on percussion.
Dease is the winner of Downbeat Magazine’s Critics Poll for 2021 Trombonist of the Year, the 2016 Rising Star Jazz Trombonist, and is a three-time Grammy award winner with Christian McBride and Alicia Keys. He is also a sought-after lead, section and bass trombonist with today’s leading jazz orchestras. His experiences include bands led by Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Charles Tolliver, Rufus Reid, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band. However, it is on the frontline of small groups led by master musicians like The Heath Brothers, Winard Harper, Renee Rosnes, Bill Charlap, Claudio Roditi, and Lewis Nash, where Dease has revitalized the trombone’s image. Not content to simply improvise, Dease arranges and composes for many different bands, constantly adjusting his tone and timbre to add just the right flavor to the music.
Dease’s unique blend of curiosity, hard work and optimism has helped him earn worldwide recognition, including awards from ASCAP, The International Trombone Association, Yamaha, Eastern Trombone Workshop, New York Youth Symphony, Hot House Magazine, and Michigan State University, among others. Dease is profiled in Cicily Janus’ book, The New Face of Jazz: An Intimate Look at Today’s Living Legends (Random House). His experience in the studio has led him to produce several recording sessions for emerging artists, often composing and writing liner notes for the releases.
Dease’s singular talent has made him an effective and prolific teacher, resulting in invitations, master classes and residencies at University of North Texas, Scranton University, University of Iowa, Florida State College, Broward College, and many institutions abroad. He serves as tenured full professor of jazz trombone at the renowned Michigan State University jazz program, where he received the 2019 Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year Award and the 2018 MSU Teacher/Scholar Award. Prior to MSU, he was on faculty at Queens College – CUNY, The New School and Northeastern University. In 2015, Dease founded the Jazz Institute at Brevard at the Brevard Music Center, and he continues to direct the Institute along with the Seiko Summer Jazz Camp (Japan) while also serving as the trombone faculty at the Skidmore Summer Jazz Institute (New York). Many of Dease’s current and former students are enjoying successful careers in the music world.
Treble Choir
Kari Adams
Kari Adams is Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education and conductor of Concert Chorale at the University of Missouri. She holds a PhD in music education from the University of North Texas as well as degrees from the University of Central Missouri and Freed-Hardeman University. Prior to her appointment at Mizzou, Adams served as Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education and director of Levana at Florida State University. In 2023, she received the Outstanding Teaching in the Major (Undergraduate) award from FSU. Before working in higher education, she taught middle school choral and general music in Knob Noster, Missouri, where she was named Teacher of the Year in 2015. She is a passionate educator, conductor, and researcher.
Adams engages in guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator opportunities regularly. She has conducted All State and regional honor choirs in Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia. She has also presented at state practitioner conferences in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Florida, Missouri, and Texas as well as at national ACDA and NAfME conventions. Her articles focused on research-based strategies for practitioners have been published in Music Educators Journal, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Florida Music Director, and Choral Journal.
Adams’s research has been published in leading journals in the field including Journal of Research in Music Education, Journal of Music Teacher Education, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, and International Journal of Research in Choral Singing. Her research interests include music teacher education, teacher identity construction, aesthetic response to music performance, and implicit theories of musical ability. In addition to her publications, she has presented on these topics at regional, national, and international conferences.
Mixed Choir
Mariana Farah
Mariana Farah is the Director of Choral Studies at the Mead Witter School of Music where she conducts the UW-Madison Concert Choir, teaches courses in graduate choral conducting and oversees all aspects of a comprehensive choral program. Prior to her appointment at UW-Madison, Dr. Farah served as the Associate Director of Choral Activities at the University of Kansas.
Born in Brazil, Dr. Farah received her Bachelor of Music from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Master’s degree from the University of Iowa, and her DMA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her choirs have successfully performed at the Missouri, Kansas, and Wisconsin Music Educators Association conventions and at the 2008 and 2018 Southwestern ACDA conferences. Under her leadership the UW-Madison Concert Choir has proudly been selected to perform at the 2025 ACDA National Conference in Dallas, TX. In addition to appearances at music conferences, Concert Choir and the UW-Madison Treble Choir are both finalists for the 2024 American Prize for Best Choral Performance in the large collegiate choir category.
Farah’s research focuses on Brazilian choral music, particularly the a cappella choral works of Ernani Aguiar (b. 1950). Her edition of Aguiar’s Três Motetinos No.2 has been published by Earthsongs, and she expects to introduce more of his music to the United States through performances, recordings, editions, and future publications of his unknown choral literature. In addition to her work at UW-Madison, Dr. Farah maintains an active schedule as a clinician for festivals in Brazil and in the U.S., where she is often sought out for her expertise in Brazilian choral music. She has presented at several conferences for the National Association for Music Education, the American Choral Directors Association, and the National Collegiate Choral Organization. Recent engagements include appearances as a conductor at the 2025 WSMA High School State Honors Choir, 2024 Badger Honor Choir Conference, 2023 European Tour with the Wisconsin All Stars of Music, 2022 Colorado University Madrigal Festival, 2022 UW-Madison Summer Music Clinic, 2019 Northwest Kansas Music Educators Association High School Honor Choir, the 2018 Southwestern ACDA conference, 2016 & 2014 Kansas Music Educators Association Convention, and the 2014 Idaho All State Treble Choir.
Dr. Farah is currently a board member of the National Collegiate Choral Organization, and the R&R Chair for College and University for the ACDA Midwestern Division. She proudly served as the President Elect (2018-2020) and R&R Chair for Ethnic and Multicultural Perspectives (2014-2018) for the ACDA Southwestern Division.