CONDUCTING TECHNIQUE SEMINARS

        The National Orchestral Association is pleased to sponsor seminars for conducting students featuring the techniques of NOA founding conductor, Maestro Leon Barzin.  These seminars provide invaluable assistance to students interested in understanding and mastering the Barzin conducting technique, featuring conductors who studied under Maestro Barzin, as well as photographs and film clips of Maestro Barzin.  Maestro Barzin developed a unique style known as “Three-Dimensional Centerpoint Conducting” as described in various publications by Maestro Jacques Voois.  Seminars are supported by physical exercises and instructor demonstrations.

        The National Orchestral Association is currently planning a 2007 conducting seminar following on the success of previous seminars at various locations, including the highly successful Conductor Training Workshop with the Conductors Guild at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2004.  This advanced workshop featured Maestro Carl Topilow, Director of Orchestral Programs at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

        Mr. Topilow heads the Masters Program in orchestral conducting and conducts the Institute’s opera productions.  Mr. Topilow founded the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and has acted as guest conductor in appearances with orchestras throughout the United States and in several foreign countries.

        The seminars also featured instruction by Maestra Patricia Handy and Maestro Jacques Voois.  Maestra Patricia Handy, Associate Conductor of the Greenwich Symphony, and Conductor Laureate of the Goliard Chorale and Chamber Orchestra of New York.  She has served on the choral faculty of the Juilliard School, as Conductor of the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony, and as Chorus Master of the Juilliard Opera Center.  Her guest conducting appearances include the Syracuse Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Utah Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Colorado Springs Symphony, and the Kiel Philharmonic.  Maestro Jacques Voois, a founding member of the Conductors Guild, is a noted educator and author.  Early in his conducting career, Maestro Voois mentored with Leo Muller, Richard Lert and William Smith.  He later worked for six years in NYC and Paris with Maestro Leon Barzin.  As conductor, he led the Symphony Orchestra at West Chester University’s School of Music for 17 years, the Lansdowne Symphony in suburban Philadelphia for 10 years, and has guest conducted from NYC to North Carolina.

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