Dr. Deanna Joseph is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the Georgia State University School of Music where she conducts the University Singers and leads the master’s program in choral conducting. In 2015, she was the recipient of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Outstanding Teacher Award at Georgia State, where she was selected out of a pool of over 800 faculty. A recent review of her work states, “[t]he choir sings with great musicality, excellent intonation, clear diction, and a healthy and beautiful pallet of tone colors…” (The Choral Scholar).

In May of 2017, the University Singers under Dr. Joseph’s leadership won first place in the renowned Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition while on a concert tour of Austria and Bavaria. In May of 2013, the University Singers competed in La Florilège Vocal de Tours where the choir placed second overall in the mixed choir category and Dr. Joseph was honored with the Prix du chef de choer (conducting prize). The Georgia State University Singers have been invited to perform at two Southern Division conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and at two conventions of the Georgia Music Educator’s Association during Dr. Joseph’s tenure at GSU, and the Georgia State University Choirs have been hired to sing two productions of David Bintley’s Carmina Burana with the Atlanta Ballet: in 2013 (North American premiere performances) and 2017. The choir’s professional recording, Evening Hymn (Gothic Records), is distributed internationally by Naxos and is available for purchase or streaming on all the major music distribution outlets including Amazon, Spotify, iTunes, etc. The American Record Guide review states “There are no runts in the repertory litter…[and] [t]he Georgia State choir of 40 is very good at all of it: radiant as dusk approaches, but hushed and sensitive to the coming darkness as shadows deepen and fall.” The disk has been featured several times on National Public Radio’s program, With Heart and Voice.

Dr. Joseph is an active guest conductor and headline clinician and has conducted all-state and honor choirs in more than twelve states. She is a frequent conductor of choral-orchestral repertoire, and has led performances of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven Mass in C, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation and Lord Nelson Mass, Schubert’s Mass in A-flatand Bruckner’s Mass in D Minor. She has prepared choirs to sing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Opera, and Andrea Bocelli. One of her small ensembles was featured on a 2016 episode of “The Walking Dead”.

Dr. Joseph’s research in the area of 19th century choral-orchestral performance-practice has led to invited presentations on the topic at several division conferences of the American Choral Director’s Association and at the national convention for the National Collegiate Choral Organization. In October of 2012 she was selected as one of 25 presenters from ten countries to speak at the Lund Choral Festival in Sweden.

Prior to her appointment at Georgia State University, Dr. Joseph served on the faculties at Smith College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

Dr. Joseph holds conducting degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded the Walter Hagen Conducting Prize. She is the founder and artistic director of the Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute (ASCI), a weeklong, summer conducting master class that draws conductors from across the country.

Conductor Robert J. Ambrose enjoys a highly successful and diverse career as a dynamic and engaging musician. His musical interests cross many genres and can be seen in the wide range of professional activities he pursues. Dr. Ambrose studied formally at Boston College, Boston University and Northwestern University, where he received the Doctor of Music degree in conducting. Dr. Ambrose currently serves as Director of Bands and Professor of Music at Georgia State University a research institution of over 53,000 students located in Atlanta.​

Dr. Ambrose is in constant demand as a guest conductor and has performed on four continents.  Recent engagements include performances in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan as well as across the United States.  In 2016, Dr. Ambrose was invited to spend ten days on tour as a guest conductor with the United States Army Field Band.  Ambrose is the only civilian in history to be invited to guest conduct a premiere American military band on tour.  This engagement led to the formation of the National Chamber Winds, a professional wind dectet based in Washington, D.C. for which he is Founder and Music Director.  Ambrose is also the Founder and Music Director of the Atlanta Chamber Winds and Ensemble ATL, ensembles comprising musicians from the Atlanta Symphony, Atlanta Opera, and Atlanta Ballet Orchestras.

Dr. Ambrose is Founder and Principal Guest Conductor of the Metropolitan Atlanta Youth Wind Ensemble (MAYWE), a highly-select high school honor ensemble consisting of musicians from throughout the Atlanta area.  During his nine-year tenure as Music Director, nearly 1000 high school students participated in the MAYWE program and the ensemble was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall on two occasions.

Dr. Ambrose has strong ties to the Finnish music community.  He is frequently engaged in that country as a guest conductor, teacher, master clinician, and lecturer.  Recent guest conducting appearances include the Finnish Navy Band, the Helsinki Police Band, the STM Summer Music Festival Wind Orchestra, the Rauma Wind Band, and the youth wind bands of Kokkola, Kotka, and Rauma.  He has taught conducting workshops in Tampere, Rauma, Kuopio, and Kokkola, and has served as a guest lecturer at the Central Ostrobothnian Conservatory and the Sibelius Academy.

Ambrose is a prolific arranger with nearly two dozen publications to his credit.  His transcriptions and editions are published by Presser Music, Murphy Music Press, C. Alan Publications, Fennica Gehrman (Finland), and Edition Tilli (Finland).  His transcriptions appear on several state lists and have been performed around the world.

Gary D. Green is Emeritus Professor of Music and Director of Bands at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. While teaching at the University of Miami Frost School of Music in addition to supervising all band activities, he was the conductor of the Frost Wind Ensemble, supervised all graduate conducting students in the wind and percussion area and served as the Chairman of Instrumental Performance for eighteen years.

Prior to coming to Miami, Professor Green served for ten years as Director of Bands the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut. While at the University of Connecticut, Professor Green was influential in commissioning and recording new works for winds and percussion including Symphony No. 3 by David Maslanka and A Cornfield in July and the River by William Penn. Mr. Green was a public school teacher in the Pacific Northwest for 20 years prior to moving to the University of Connecticut.

During his tenure at the University of Miami, Professor Green continued the commissioning and performance of important new repertoire for winds and percussion. Under his direction, the Frost Wind Ensemble has performed on two separate occasions for the convention of the American Bandmasters Association as well as twice for the national convention of the College Band Directors National Association.

Commissions and consortia from composers include William Penn, Joel Puckett, Mason Bates, Michael Daugherty, David Maslanka, Paul Dooley, Steve Danyew, Steven Bryant, David Gillingham, James Stephenson, Christopher Theofanidis, John Harbison, James Syler, Eric Whitacre, Frank Ticheli, Thomas Sleeper, Kenneth Fuchs and others. Urban Requiem by Michael Colgrass was commissioned by the Abraham Frost Commission Series and has become a standard in the repertoire for wind ensemble. Among other new compositions written for winds and percussion was the commission for the Frost Wind Ensemble of Christopher Rouse’s Wolf Rounds.

He is a member of the Florida Bandmasters Association and has served for numerous years on the Clinics Committee and the Music Committee. He is a member of the College Band Directors Association and has been elected into the American Bandmasters Association.