Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestras - People

Staff List

• Jason Love, Artistic Director and GBYO Conductor
• MaryAnn Poling, GBYCS Conductor
• Louise Hildreth-Grasso, Sinfonia Conductor
• Peter B. Schafer, Executive Director
• Mollie McElwain, Operations Manager
• Frances Belcher, Program Coordinator for the Bridges Program
• Bill Scanlan Murphy, Historian

2007-2008 Board of Directors

• Tim Chase (President)
• Leonard Guberman (Vice-President)
• Monica Stefan (Secretary)
• Chris Swekel (Treasurer)

• Carl Boquist
• Gina Kotowski
• Karen Lane
• Peg Fong Lu
• Gary Maseda
• Peg Mitchell
• Janet Muller
• Nancy Patrick
• Barbara Rogers
• Michael Sutters
• Sandra Wagner

Conductors

Praised for his "intelligent and innovative programming," Jason Love has brought his inspiring demeanor and enormous energy to several of Maryland's great cultural institutions. Under his leadership, the Baltimore Sun has called The Columbia Orchestra "Howard County's premier ensemble for instrumental music," noting that "Love has the musicians playing not only with verve and passion, but with an awareness to enter into the emotional core of the works they perform."

Love's eleven-year tenure as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra Association has been marked by continuous growth in the success and prestige of this organization. He has commissioned new works, forged partnerships with other arts organizations, extended the orchestra's community outreach programs and conducted highly successful tours of Austria, Japan, and Russia.

As a conductor and cellist, Mr. Love served for five years as Music Director for the New Horizons Chamber Ensemble, a contemporary music group based in Baltimore, MD. Under his leadership, the NHCE gave dozens of local and world premieres and became a unique resource for contemporary music in the area. Mr. Love is also active as a cellist, performing frequently in Maryland and across the United States. He recently gave the NC premiere of Tan Dun's multi-media cello concerto, The Map.

A highly respected educator, Mr. Love also served as Conductor of the Chesapeake Youth Repertory Orchestra in Annapolis, MD for four years. In his eleven years on the faculty of the Governor's School of North Carolina, he taught Twentieth-Century music to academically gifted high school students and lectured extensively on music and culture in our time. Not content to limit his educational endeavors to young people, he has lectured at many institutions including the Johns Hopkins University, the Baltimore Symphony and the Peabody Elderhostel program. He is a frequent panelist on the popular radio program, "Face the Music," on WBJC-FM in Baltimore, MD.

Recent and upcoming guest appearances find him conducting a variety of ensembles such as the Baltimore Symphony, Washington Sinfonietta (DC), Bismarck Symphony, and RUCKUS, a contemporary music ensemble at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where he also teaches conducting. Aside from classical music he performs with singer-songwriter Angela Taylor and can be heard on singer-songwriter Sahffi's upcoming album Turning Tides.

Born in Burlington, North Carolina, Love studied violoncello with Ronald Thomas and conducting with Frederik Prausnitz at the Peabody Conservatory. He is Past President of the Peabody Alumni Association.

MaryAnn Poling first came into contact with the GBYCS through her orchestra students, many of whom are currently members of the GBCYS and GBYO. A eight-year veteran of the Harford County Public Schools, Mrs. Poling has led the orchestra program in her elementary and middle schools to four-fold growth during her tenure. She maintains an extensive private oboe studio, with students ranging in age from eleven to fifty-seven, and has served on the faculties of the Peabody Preparatory, Goucher College, Georgetown University and Essex Community College.

Mrs. Poling studied under the late Sara Watkins, receiving her M.M. in Oboe Performance from the Peabody Institute in 1993 (Phi Kappa Lambda). She did her undergraduate work at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, receiving B.S. degrees (summa cum laude) in both Music Education (1990) and Music Perfornance (1991). While in western Pennsylvania, she performed with the Johnstown and Altoona Symphony Orchestras, and was both a finalist (1990) and winner (1991) of the Frank Gorell competition. She continues to serve her alma mater as a member of the oft-recorded Keystone Winds, for which she is frequently called upon by the prolific contemporary composer and conductor Jack Stamp to perform as a soloist in debuting new works.

An active freelance musician in the Baltimore-Washington area, Mrs. Poling holds the Principal Oboe position in the Goucher Chamber Orchestra, and has played with such area ensembles as the Annapolis Symphony, the Annapolis Opera, the Hood College Orchestra, the Maryland Lyric Opera and the Melos Sinfonia. She has performed in 14 countries, most notably for Gian Carlo Menotti's Spoleto Festival, both in South Carolina and in Spoleto, Italy.

Mrs. Poling lives in Baltimore with her husband, Jason, and their daughters Cara and Alicia.

Louise Hildreth-Grasso grew up in England and began her musical studies at the age of ten when she won a lottery at school to receive free violin lessons. It was a fortunate turn of fate when Louise\u2019s family moved across the country and her new violin teacher, Gill Tolliday, inspired her to switch to viola and pursue her musical studies at the college level. She attended University of Surrey, Guildford for her undergraduate work, spending one year as an International Exchange Student at University of North Texas in Denton. Upon her return to England, Louise began a significant period of viola study with internationally renowned violist Rivka Golani in London.

In 1992, Louise moved to Baltimore to get married. After a few years of freelance playing with numerous orchestras in the Baltimore-Washington area, she attended Peabody Conservatory where she studied viola with Victoria Chiang and pedagogy with Rebecca Henry.

Louise has been committed to music education since she began teaching in 1987. Upon graduating from the Conservatory, Louise was hired as viola and violin faculty for Peabody Preparatory. She is heavily involved with the Young Persons String Program (YPSP) which provides a comprehensive musical education for children through the early teen years. Louise is working to develop and enlarge the viola department and this year has begun a class for advanced violists called the "Viola Power Performance Class", and started Suzuki group classes for the younger violists. She is often invited to adjudicate Festivals and competitions throughout Maryland and her students are frequent participants in the All-State orchestras. Her work as an educator has been recognized by Peabody Preparatory with the presentation of the 2006 "Teacher of Excellence" award.

Louise is fulfilling one of her musical aspirations in her position with the Sinfonia. She has been fortunate enough to study with very enthusiastic and inspirational teachers and it is this that makes her so excited to be participating in furthering the musical skills of the youngest string players in the area in her role as conductor of the Sinfonia.

Louise lives in Hampden with her husband Skip, a jazz guitarist, her dogs Elgar and Guinness, and her cat Serenity. She can usually be found knitting whenever she is not doing something musical.

Staff Biographies

Peter Schafer joins the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra Association with fourteen years experience in non-profit management, most recently as Executive Director of Baltimore City Healthy Start, Inc., and nearly as many years experience as a father of an orchestral musician. He brings to the GBYOA expertise in grant writing, program design and development, community outreach and engagement, and multi-agency collaborations. After devoting his entire professional career to developing and managing direct service programs aimed at improving the health and well-being of disadvantaged children and families, Mr. Schafer made a decision to apply his skills toward supporting the growth and development of music in the life of the greater Baltimore community.

After leaving Baltimore City Healthy Start, Mr. Schafer worked in the Public Relations Department of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. There, he had the opportunity to explore ideas developed over many years as an enthusiast of classical music while learning important lessons in meeting the challenges faced by all orchestras today.

Mr. Schafer believes that young people, and young musicians in particular, have much to teach the larger world of orchestral music. They are the vanguard of future audiences for orchestral and other forms of classical music -- not to mention those who continue on as performers and creators of that music. As they earn an education through their participation in the ensembles of the GBYOA, their insights and enthusiasm can serve as a guide to be heeded by all people who care about classical music and wish to see it shared and appreciated further.

Mr. Schafer is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Baltimore with his daughter, Aisha, and their dog, Sara.

Mollie McElwain is currently a music teacher for the Anne Arundel County Public School System, where she has just taken a new position teaching beginning string students at the elementary school level. In her previous position as a middle school band and orchestra director, she led three ensembles that participated in several festivals and performances each year. She has also served in Anne Arundel County as an adjudicator for Solo and Ensemble Festival, judge for All-County Orchestra Auditions, and violin sectional coach for All-County Orchestra rehearsals.

Mollie was a member of the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra Association as a violist for seven seasons, from 1994-2001. She is excited to be rejoining the organization, and feels that the GBYOA gave her the experience and inspired the dedication necessary for her continued career as a music educator. Mollie earned her degree in Music Education from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she studied with Katherine Murdock.

Frances Belcher, Program Coordinator for Bridges, has been with the GBYOA since 1994. She has spent the past year refining elements of the program, having researched various other organizations' models of providing music instruction to underserved children. She initially served as Manager then Executive Director of the GBYOA from September 1997 through June 2001. From June 2001 through June 2002 she was a Fellow in the American Symphony Orchestra Leagues Orchestra Management Fellowship Program, a unique and highly-selective year-long opportunity to work in some of the nations top orchestras alongside experienced Executive Directors.

Ms. Belcher worked in Aspen at the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Winston-Salem Symphony (North Carolina), and at the Chicago Symphony. After completing the program she served as Executive Director of the Western Piedmont Symphony in Hickory, North Carolina for two years and returned to Baltimore as Executive Director of the GBYOA from June 2004 through August 2005, stepping down to take on the role of Program Coordinator for Bridges.

She has a degree in Music Education from the University of Tennessee and completed some graduate study at the Memphis State University (Tennessee - now University of Memphis ) and the Peabody Conservatory in Piano Performance and Pedagogy. Ms. Belcher had a studio of private and group piano students for over thirty years before beginning a career in Arts Administration.

Bill Scanlan Murphy was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1954 and holds an MA degree from the University of Oxford. A professionally complex life has included hosting radio shows (rock, classical, and documentary) for the BBC, writing music for television dramas and working with diverse performers ranging from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra to the Beach Boys and Charles Manson. .Cease To Exist,. a radio documentary on the musical life of Manson, remains the most-listened-to documentary in the history of the BBC Radio One network.

A parallel career as a naval historian has resulted in a book on early submariners and numerous articles and radio features, including one on how many composers have been naval officers. Bill Scanlan Murphy currently teaches at Howard Community College and is Director of Music at Lovely Lane United Methodist Church in Baltimore.