Wes Kenney is director of Orchestras at CSU where he conducts the University Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Opera productions, and teaches graduate conducting. Mr. Kenney is also music director of the Fort Collins Symphony, Opera Fort Collins, and Denver Young Artists Orchestra.  A graduate of the University of Southern California, Mr. Kenney earned his Master of Music degree in Conducting from San Francisco State University. Previous academic posts include director of Orchestras at SFSU and the College of William and Mary in Virginia. He has also served as a guest lecturer at the Conductors Institute at Bard College. Awards include the Carmen Dragon Conducting Prize in 1992, the Grand Prize in the 2007 Varna (Bulgaria) International Conducting Competition and the Outstanding Teacher by the Colorado American String Teachers Association in 2009.

Mr. Kenney served for six seasons as associate conductor of the Virginia Symphony and four seasons as music director of the Virginia Ballet Theater. He also served for four seasons as co-principal conductor of the Oakland Lyric Opera and five seasons as music director of the Oakland Youth Orchestra in California. Guest conducting has included the Virginia Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, New Mexico Symphony, Williamsburg Symphonia (in Va.), Vallejo Symphony and Long Beach Symphony (both in Calif.), Acadiana Symphony (in La.) and the Symphony of Southeast Texas. Internationally, he has conducted orchestras and opera companies throughout Europe and China. He has also conducted All-State Orchestras in Va. and N.M., and served as president of the Conductors Guild.

Dr. James Kim is currently the director of Choral Activities at Colorado State University. He directs the CSU Chamber Choir and also teaches undergraduate/graduate conducting, choral literature, and choral techniques.

After earning two degrees from University of Southern California, James Kim was invited by the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart to study with Helmuth Rilling for three years. In Europe, he participated in numerous workshops and festivals as an active conductor, notably such as Europisches Musikfest Stuttgart 99, Bachwochenende, and Sommerakademie. He was also selected as one of five conductors from around the world to study with Frieder Bernius in a masterclass sponsored by the International Federation of Choral Music in Namur, Belgium.

During the summers of 2000 and 2002, he was selected as an assistant conductor for the Opera Theater of Lucca held in Lucca, Italy. During the past 2001-02 season, he had served as the Interim Artistic Director for the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir. Previously, Dr. Kim taught conducting at University of Cincinnati and at Simpson College. In 2002, he was selected and invited as a Conducting Fellow for the Chicago Conducting Workshop and Masterclass presented by the Chorus America and the Chicago Symphony Association.

In November 2011, Dr. Kim and CSU Music hosted the biennial national conference of the NCCO in Fort Collins where the CSU Chamber Choir was featured as the main choir for the three-day conference. Kim is also the founding artistic director of the Colorado Bach Ensemble, which received acclaimed reviews of their inaugural season concerts with Bach's B Minor Mass and Handel's Messiah. Choirs under his direction have sung at international and national stages including National Collegiate Choral Organization, ACDA, Chang-won Grand-Prix Choral Festival/Competition, and Aspen Music Festival.

James Kim received B.M. and M.M. from University of Southern California and the D.M.A. from CCM. His major teachers include William Dehning, and Earl Rivers.

Dr. Rebecca Phillips is director of Bands at CSU where she conducts the Wind Symphony, and guides all aspects of the band and graduate wind conducting program. Prior to this appointment, she served as the associate director of bands, director of Athletic Bands, and associate professor at the University of South Carolina.
Dr. Phillips has served as a guest-conductor, clinician, and performer throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. She regularly conducts collegiate honor bands and all-state bands across the United States and she has been a rehearsal clinician at the Midwest Clinic. Ensembles under her direction have been featured at the 2012 College Band Director's National Association Southern Division Conference (CBDNA), the 2010 Society of Composers International Conference, and the 2008 North American Saxophone Alliance International Convention.

Dr. Phillips earned her Bachelors degree in Music Education from Florida State University, Master of Music degrees in Conducting and Trombone Performance from the University of South Florida, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Conducting at Louisiana State University. She served as a secondary school band director for seven years in Fla., including director of Bands at Howard W. Blake Performing Arts High School in Tampa, Fla., where she developed an award-winning concert band program. Dr. Phillips holds memberships in the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, the College Band Directors National Association, the National Band Association, and in 2015 she was inducted into the American Bandmasters Association.

Seth Pendergrast

Seth Pendergast recently completed his Ph.D. in Music Education at the University of Utah, where he taught and assisted with music education courses, choral ensembles, student teacher supervision, and held the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program Assistantship. He earned a Masters in Music Education from the Florida State University and a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Southeastern University.

Throughout his doctoral program, Seth developed scholarship concerning adolescent involvement in current and emerging school-based music courses. For his dissertation study, he explored the relationship between secondary school music participation and students’ music activities in both formal and informal contexts. His most recent publications include two book chapters on technology-based music courses, which appear in the textbook General Music: A K–12 Experience (Kendall Hunt Publishers). Seth has presented his research at national and state music education conferences, including the Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference, the Symposium on Music Teacher Education, Texas Music Educators Clinic/Conference, Florida Music Educators Professional Development Conference, and Utah Music Educators Conference. Seth is also an active clinician, conductor, and adjudicator. He frequently leads professional development sessions, clinics, festivals, and honor choirs at various schools, districts, conferences, and universities, both locally and nationally. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Education, Society for Music Teacher Education, Society for Research in Music Education, and Technology Institute for Music Educators. Beyond the academic arena, Seth has held music staff positions with church congregations in both Florida and Utah.

Brian Luedloff

Brian Clay Luedloff serves as artistic director for Opera Fort Collins where he has directed Tosca, Carmen, Amahl and the Night Visitors, il Barbiere di Siviglia, The Daughter of the Regiment, The Gift of the Magi, Faust,The Ballad of Baby Doe, Turandot, Sondheim’sFollies, Lucia di Lammermoor, Cosi fan tutte, Otello (Verdi), La Cenerentola, and Madama Butterfly. He is also director of Opera Theatre at University of Northern Colorado, where he has directed more than 30 operas since 2005. Professionally, Professor Luedloff has staged more than fifty productions for professional opera companies and theatres across North America. He has served on the staging staff of Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, the Dallas Opera, and Houston Grand Opera, assisting many internationally-renowned directors. Luedloff holds the Master of Fine Arts degree from Boston University, where he served as a directing fellow from 1997 to 2000. Last season, he directed Brigadoon for Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, The Proposal for Opera Steamboat, Barber of Seville for Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and Salieri’s Prima la musicae poi le parole a tUniversidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia. He will return to Steamboat next summer for Hänsel und Gretel and to Colombia next fall for Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario). Fall 2019 will also feature the world premiere of his opera with composer Paul Elwood, The Taming, based on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, at UNC’s new Campus Commons performance hall.