Scott O’Neil becomes the newest Music Director of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra this season, as well as serving in his third season as associate conductor of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (CSO.)  He most recently served as associate conductor for the Utah Symphony, which he joined in August 2000.  He has guest conducted the Houston Symphony, Houston Youth Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Annapolis Symphony, Florida Philharmonic, Tulsa Philharmonic, Portland Symphony(Maine,) the Lubbock Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic, the Columbus (OH) Symphony and the Salt Lake Symphony. 

In addition to his artistic endeavors, O’Neil has inherited a love for teaching from his parents, who were both public school teachers in his home town of Marion, Ohio.  In 1999 he served as director of orchestras at the high school for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas.  In the spring of 2006, he served as the inaugural conductor for the Honor Orchestra of America in Indianapolis, Indiana, and he continues to work with the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy, training high-school-age conductors, as his summer conducting schedule allows.

O’Neil studied piano performance at the Oberlin College Conservatory, served as the assistant conductor of the Eastman School Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestras at the Eastman School of Music, and earned a master’s degree of music in orchestral conducting at Rice University, where he was the director of the Campanile Orchestra, a community/university orchestra. 

In the spring of 2003, O’Neil was selected by the American Symphony Orchestra League (ASOL) to conduct an orchestra comprised of members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and advanced students from the University of Southern California in Synergy, a program created to promote young, contemporary composers.  Also in the spring of 2003, O’Neil was selected by ASOL to appear on the Conductor Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony. 

O’Neil leads the Colorado Symphony on each of the CSO series and frequently does pre-concert lectures and school visits.

 

Javan Carson has been playing the violin for 36 years, having started as a Suzuki student at the age of 2 ½. She earned her degree in violin performance from the University of Denver on a full scholarship and began playing professionally with the Denver Chamber Orchestra while still in college. She has played in a string quartet for 14 years and has performed with countless orchestras, including the Colorado Ballet Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony. Javan has played with such performers as Doc Severinsen, Mel Torme, Kathy Lee Gifford, Mannheim Steamroller, Stevie Wonder and Brian Wilson (Beach Boys). She has been teaching private lessons for more than 19 years, has instructed Suzuki group classes for 13 years and has taught string classes in 4 metro area school districts. Javan was the conductor of the Sinfonia at Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestras for 5 years. She also was the Music Director and Conductor of Eklectika Youth Ensembles, a youth orchestra that she founded. She is in demand as an adjudicator, clinician and chamber coach throughout the Front Range region.

 

 

 

Devin Patrick Hughes was recently appointed Music Director of the Niwot Timberline Symphony Orchestra and is currently pursuing an Artist’s Diploma at the Lamont School of Music in Denver, where he is the Assistant Conductor of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra, the Denver Young Artist’s Orchestra and the Lamont Symphony Orchestra at the University of Denver.  He also leads the Denver Contemporary Chamber Players, with whom he recently performed a fully staged version of Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale with a libretto by Kurt Vonnegut.  He will also be collaborating with the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver for a Music/Arts alive project in the fall.  In Ithaca, New York he founded the Ithaca Chamber Players, was Music Director of the Ithaca Sinfonietta, and conducted Kulmusik, a contemporary chamber ensemble performing works of many living composers including Christopher Theofanidis, Jennifer Higdon, and John Harbison. While pursuing his Masters degree in orchestral conducting at Ithaca College he also conducted in the annual Cornell University production of the Messiah, and premiered In the Garden of Eden, a ballet by Naomi Williams, along with two new works by Jesse Clark: his Cello Concerto and his controversial work entitled Free Weight Fantastique.

Devin was also Assistant Conductor of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra in Indiana, as well as Music Director of the Ball State University Summer Symphony, Conductor of the annual opera production and Associate Conductor of the East Central Indiana Youth Orchestra.  He is originally from Springfield, Illinois and currently resides in Denver.