International Conductors Guild

Mr. Oliver Balaburski

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Member Bio Oliver Balaburski began his music education at the age of ten in Macedonia studying violin and piano. He attended the Music Ballet High School Centre to study music and became interested in composing and conducting. In 1995 Oliver graduated in orchestral and choral conducting at the University of "Sts Cyril and Methodius" in the class of Prof. Fimcho Muratovski and Prof. Dragan Shuplevski. Supported and mentored by maestro Vancho Chavdarski, he began his successful conducting career at the Macedonian Opera and Ballet. Oliver was awarded a scholarship from the Macedonian government to specialize in conducting and in 1999 was awarded the Norman Del Mar Junior Fellowship in Conducting at the Royal College of Music in London, UK, where he specialized in symphonic repertoire under the mentorship of Prof. John Carewe. His residence allowed him to actively participate in Master Classes with distinguished conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas and Sir Roger Norrington. Returning home, Oliver was appointed as Artistic Director of the Macedonian Opera and Ballet and until 2004 was Principal Conductor of the Opera Company. That year, in search of greater opportunities, he immigrated to Canada, where he completed his Master’s Degree in Conducting at the University of Toronto in 2008 mentored by Prof. Raffi Armenian. Oliver has held the position of Conductor of the Hart House Chamber Strings at the University of Toronto, Assistant Conductor with Royal Opera Canada, Conductor of the Orillia Youth Orchestra, and Artistic Director and Conductor of the City of Barrie Choralfest. In his conducting career, Oliver Balaburski had opportunities to become involved in music making in different genres equally, opera, symphonic, chamber and even in the characteristic Silent Movie performances. He always embraces the challenge of performing to the full artistic capacity of the ensemble he is leading. In the past few years, he emerged in the field of composing and as a result in 2014 he had a World Premiere of his first major piece, a Musical Narration in 5 parts " Sadie's Door" with the story written by Edward Moll and in 2017 he had a world premiere of his Rhapsody for Orchestra "Bagosenim" (There is Hope) piece inspired by Indigenous peoples folklore, history and struggles. He is the recipient of many awards and recognitions such as: • Newcomer Recognition Award- Immigrant Artist by County of Simcoe, Ontario, Canada • Recognition Of Outstanding Service by Hart House, University of Toronto • The Arthur Plettner Graduate Fellowship, University of Toronto • The University of Toronto Fellowship • The Norman Del Mar Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music, London, United Kingdom • A Scholarship from the Macedonian Government for Specialization in Conducting • A Macedonian National Scholarship for Talented Students Oliver is currently a freelance conductor with regular guest conducting engagements at the Macedonian Opera and Ballet as well as the Greater Toronto Philharmonic.

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Dr. Robert Baldwin

University of Utah/Salt Lake Symphony

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Member Bio Robert Baldwin is Director of Orchestras and Professor of Conducting at the University of Utah, and Music Director and Conductor for the Salt Lake Symphony. He is also the founding conductor for Sinfonia Salt Lake, a professional chamber orchestra that made its critically acclaimed debut in 2016. In 2019, he was appointed to an adjunct position at the Wuhan University Center for the Arts in Wuhan, China. Dr. Baldwin has appeared across the North America, Europe and Asia as a conductor and performer on viola and viola d’amore. International conducting appearances include the Hunan Symphony and Wuhan University Orchestras in China, Busan Maru International Music Festival in South Korea, Eutin Festspiele in Germany, Kuopio Academy of Music in Finland, and the Hermitage Camerata in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and tours with the University of Utah Chamber Orchestra to London, Vienna, Graz and Salzburg. In demand as a guest conductor and clinician, he also has conducted performances with the Utah Arts Festival, Great Falls Symphony, Lafayette Symphony, Lexington Philharmonic, Lexington Singers, Flagstaff Festival of the Arts, Abilene Tri-Collegiate Opera, and numerous All-State and regional festival orchestras across the U.S.A. His performances and ensembles have received international attention and have been featured on New York’s WQXR Classical Radio, and nationally broadcast radio programs, including Performance Today, Highway 89 and Weekend Edition. Dr. Baldwin’s preconcert talks and community music classes are popular mainstays of the Utah Arts scene. His award-winning blog on music and creativity, Before the Downbeat, can be viewed at: http://beforethedownbeat.wordpress.com/ Also an accomplished violist and viola d’amore player, he has had a variety of experiences, including guest appearances with the Amadeus Trio, and both the Saint Petersburg and Stanford String Quartets, as well as at the Sedona Chamber Music Festival, SMU Music Festival and Park City International Music Festival. He was violist of the Arizona-based Coconino Chamber Ensemble from 1989-1999, and was principal violist for the Flagstaff Symphony, Arkansas Symphony, and Arizona Opera. Solo and chamber appearances on viola and viola d’amore include recitals and concertos in the United States, Germany and Mexico. Previously, he has held faculty and conducting positions at the University of Kentucky, Lexington Philharmonic, New American Symphony, Flagstaff Symphony and Northern Arizona University. Dr. Baldwin studied conducting in the United States and in Saint Petersburg, Russia, holding degrees in viola performance from the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Iowa, and a DMA in orchestral conducting from the University of Arizona. He makes his home in Salt Lake City, Utah where, in his spare time, he enjoys reading, writing, hiking, and spending time with his family.

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Yuval Barak

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Carolyn Barber

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Member Bio Carolyn A. Barber is the Ron and Carol Cope Professor of Music and Director of Bands in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Glenn Korff School of Music. She earned a B.M. in horn performance at Northwestern University, an M.M. in horn performance from Yale University, and returned to Northwestern to earn her D.M. in conducting as a student of John P. Paynter and Victor Yampolsky. Dr. Barber began her career as a lecturer and assistant to the dean of the Northwestern University School of Music. Her duties included teaching advanced conducting and directing the university’s 118-piece Concert Band. Prior to her appointment at UNL, Dr. Barber also served as the director of bands at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Apart from her conducting and teaching at UW-L, Dr. Barber also served for five years as the principal horn of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra. As director of bands at UNL, her teaching assignment is now a hybrid of traditional academic classes and performance-based courses. This combination provides a rich atmosphere for the cross-pollination of ideas, techniques, and creative problem solving. Dr. Barber’s chief area of research is conducting practice and pedagogy, with emphasis on group dynamics (flocking and influence), and the development of ensembleship through improvisation, artistic thinking, and a broad, multidisciplinary array of rehearsal techniques. She has demonstrated and elaborated upon her work at venues including the Midwest Clinic, conferences of the College Band Directors National Association, American String Teachers Association, and the National Association for Music Education, state music educators conventions, district training workshops, and masterclass/rehearsal clinics nationwide. Dr. Barber has received numerous awards for musical and academic achievement, including the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Distinguished Teaching Award, a Hixson-Lied Professorship, multiple National Band Association Citations of Excellence, and a United States Navy Good Conduct Medal – an unusual distinction for someone who has never had the honor to serve in the military. Most recently she was named the 2019 Martha Daniel Newell Scholar at Georgia College where she spent a semester developing a course and engaging in research focusing on the creative process. Her writing has been published in the Journal of Band Research, and she is a regular contributor to the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band reference series. In addition to her scholarly activities, Dr. Barber maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor throughout the United States and Canada. She is a member of Phi Beta Mu Honorary Bandmasters Fraternity, state chair and a member of the College Band Directors

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Diego Barbosa-Vasquez

Performing Arts Laboratory

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Member Bio General Director of the Performing Arts Laboratory (Bloomington IN, USA) and Music Director of The Americas Chamber Orchestra (Bloomington IN, USA). The International Press references him as a “Musical Genius” and “synonymous of energy, knowledge, and confidence of high artistic quality”. Due to his outstanding international career, Maestro Barbosa-Vásquez was named by ProColombia as Ambassador of Colombia Country Brand in 2017 and his major scholarly/practical contributions to the international performing arts field are starting to be recognized globally. Maestro Diego was Music & Artistic Director of the Collaborative Arts Opera Summer Camp (Los Angeles, CA), Music Director of the World Music Symphony Orchestra in California-USA, Music and Artistic Director of Huila Philharmonic, Chief Conductor of E&P® Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Huila Conservatory and Rock Symphony Orchestra. Also, Diego was chief Conductor of E&P Choirs of Cajicá, Colina, and Aparecida; Choral Conductor at “Tocar y Luchar Cafam-Colombia” and Head of the Virrey Solís-E&P Conservatory. Also, the Colombian maestro has been Assistant, Cover & Fellow Conductor of Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as IU Conducting Fellow (2022-2023), Cincinnati Symphony and May Festival (Cincinnati, OH) as Juanjo Mena Apprentice (2021, 2023), Nashville Symphony Orchestra as Giancarlo Guerrero Apprentice (2022), Indiana Opera and Ballet Theater (Bloomington, IN, USA) (2020 - 2022), APU Symphony Orchestra (CA, USA) (2017-2018), and APU Opera Theater (CA, USA) (2017-2018). Guest conductor for the 70 anniversary of UNICEF concert, the Colombian Maestro has been winning international recognition since conducting in El Salvador (2014), his 1st. International Opera Conductors Competition in Belgium (Opera Royal de Wallonie) (2017) and the III Nino Rota International Conducting Competition in Italy (2018), in last both cases representing Latinamerica. Diego has been Principal Guest Conductor of the National Youth Symphony Orchestra of El Salvador (El Salvador) (2014 - 2020), Guest Conductor of the Wabash Valley Youth Symphony (IN, USA), OCSA Symphony Orchestra (CA, USA), Caldas Symphony Orchestra (Caldas, Colombia), and Choir and Founding Orchestra of Esperanza Azteca Program (Puebla, México). As a performer, Maestro Barbosa-Vásquez was Principal Viola at Caldas Symphony Orchestra, Juan N. Corpas Symphony Orchestra, Colombia Joven Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Acordanza, Orchestra of the “Art and Opera for All Foundation,” Unimúsica Symphony Orchestra, Bogotá Symphony Orchestra FOSBO, and Scholarship holder and Co-Founder Member of the Filarmónica Joven de Colombia (FJC). Also, with only 17 years, was invited to play with the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia as Viola Youth outstanding talent. Furthermore Maestro Barbosa-Vasquez is a outstanding scholar recognized for his major contributions to the Orchestra, Opera, and Performance Arts field.

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