Conductors
Scott O'Neil
Music Director
Scott O’Neil becomes the newest Music Director of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra this season, as well as serving in his third season as associate conductor of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (CSO.) He most recently served as associate conductor for the Utah Symphony, which he joined in August 2000. He has guest conducted the Houston Symphony, Houston Youth Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Annapolis Symphony, Florida Philharmonic, Tulsa Philharmonic, Portland Symphony(Maine,) the Lubbock Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic, the Columbus (OH) Symphony and the Salt Lake Symphony.
In addition to his artistic endeavors, O’Neil has inherited a love for teaching from his parents, who were both public school teachers in his home town of Marion, Ohio. In 1999 he served as director of orchestras at the high school for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas. In the spring of 2006, he served as the inaugural conductor for the Honor Orchestra of America in Indianapolis, Indiana, and he continues to work with the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy, training high-school-age conductors, as his summer conducting schedule allows.
O’Neil studied piano performance at the Oberlin College Conservatory, served as the assistant conductor of the Eastman School Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestras at the Eastman School of Music, and earned a master’s degree of music in orchestral conducting at Rice University, where he was the director of the Campanile Orchestra, a community/university orchestra.
In the spring of 2003, O’Neil was selected by the American Symphony Orchestra League (ASOL) to conduct an orchestra comprised of members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and advanced students from the University of Southern California in Synergy, a program created to promote young, contemporary composers. Also in the spring of 2003, O’Neil was selected by ASOL to appear on the Conductor Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony.
O’Neil leads the Colorado Symphony on each of the CSO series and frequently does pre-concert lectures and school visits.
Javan Carson
Conservatory Orchestra &
String Ensemble Conductor
Javan Carson has been playing the violin for 36 years, having started as a Suzuki student at the age of 2 ½. She earned her degree in violin performance from the University of Denver on a full scholarship and began playing professionally with the Denver Chamber Orchestra while still in college. She has played in a string quartet for 14 years and has performed with countless orchestras, including the Colorado Ballet Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony. Javan has played with such performers as Doc Severinsen, Mel Torme, Kathy Lee Gifford, Mannheim Steamroller, Stevie Wonder and Brian Wilson (Beach Boys). She has been teaching private lessons for more than 19 years, has instructed Suzuki group classes for 13 years and has taught string classes in 4 metro area school districts. Javan was the conductor of the Sinfonia at Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestras for 5 years. She also was the Music Director and Conductor of Eklectika Youth Ensembles, a youth orchestra that she founded. She is in demand as an adjudicator, clinician and chamber coach throughout the Front Range region.
Devin Hughes
Assistant Conductor
Now in his second season as Music Director of the Niwot Timberline Symphony Orchestra, Devin Patrick Hughes continues to serve as Music Director of the Denver Contemporary Chamber Players and Assistant Conductor for the Denver Young Artists Orchestra. He has most recently held posts as Resident Conductor of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra and Assistant Conductor of the Lamont Symphony Orchestra. An avid performer and promoter of the music of our time, Mr. Hughes has initiated a composer-in-residence program with the Niwot Timberline Symphony Orchestra. During the 2009-2010 season the orchestra is commissioning and premiering four new works, culminating in performances of award winning composer and violinist Gregory T.S. Walker’s uneasy sits the king for chorus and orchestra, to be premiered alongside Carmina Burana. In collaboration with Longmont’s Alternatives for Youth and the Longmont Youth Symphony, he also began an annual Latin American Festival, celebrating the shared cultural traditions of North, Central and Latin America through music and dance.
As founder and Music Director of the Denver Contemporary Chamber Players, a group dedicated to highlighting local composers and exploring the interplay of music with theatre, art and dance, Mr. Hughes commissioned and performed multiple musical responses to exhibitions in the Museum of Contemporary Art during Denver Arts Week. He also staged a very rare performance and Colorado premiere of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale with the controversial libretto by Kurt Vonnegut. With Kulmusik and the Ithaca Contemporary Chamber Ensemble in New York, he premiered many works, such as Jesse Clark’s Cello Concerto and Free Weight Fantastique written for ensemble and weightlifter and In the Garden of Eden, a ballet by Naomi Williams. He also performed many works by composers such as Jennifer Higdon, John Harbison, Christopher Theofanidis, Witold Lutoslawski, Arvo Pärt, Keiko Abe, Arturo Marquez and Thomas Osborne.
Equally at home in all musical styles and periods, his infectious enthusiasm for all music has earned rave reviews. Robin McNeil, former classical music critic for the Denver Post hailed him as “know[ing] what Brahms and Dvorak are made of, and he draws a wonderful vigorousness and excitement from everyone in front of him. It is contagious.” As to the music of Strauss, “Maestro Hughes demonstrated his mastery over the waltz… [as] it is sometimes tricky for American conductors to imbue a Viennese waltz with the proper nuance… [he] had no problems whatsoever giving it a first-class lilt.” During Mozart’s Symphony no. 36 “it was clear from the orchestra’s reaction to, and partnership with [Hughes] that they were having a very good time wallowing in the music. It was full of life.” For the rhythmically complex Raga by Christopher Theofanidis, “it gave Mr. Hughes a genuine workout… but he makes his job look easy. He has a certain thrift of movement that could fool some people.” Throughout Vivaldi’s Four Seasons “something needs to be said about the Lamont Symphony Orchestra. I have never heard them play so well.”
Equally active in the choral and operatic repertoire, he presented Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Golden Concert Choir and acclaimed baritone Robert Gardner in celebration of the composer’s 200th birthday. This season he leads the Colorado Choral Arts Society in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and music of Bach and Handel and was the conductor of Ball State Opera for Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge, and has served as assistant conductor for productions of Carmen, The Merry Widow and Cosi fan tutte.
As an advocate of music serving a greater societal purpose and proponent of music education, Mr. Hughes has held benefit concerts for organizations such as Oxfam International, Cultures in Harmony and has served as an AmeriCorps tutor, mentor and coach for Nothing but Achievers and the Sangamon Valley Youth Symphony, where he arranged African-American spirituals for the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. March. He has also served as clinician for the Saint Vrain Valley All-District Orchestra Festival, adjudicator for the Colorado State Music Teachers Association’s annual Concerto Competition, and has taught courses at the Denver Academy for Lifelong Learning and the Music Schools of the University of Denver and Ithaca College.
Mr. Hughes has conducted many orchestras across the United States, Canada and Europe including the Colorado Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Green Bay Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Oradea Philharmonic (Romania) and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic (Czech Republic). He has been featured during Colorado Spotlight with Charley Samson on Colorado Public Radio and at the Lamont School of Music he was the recipient of the Leon Guide Conducting Award, the Harry Albertson Scholarship and was granted the Jeff Bradley Musical Development Award numerous times. He is originally from Springfield, Illinois and currently resides in Denver and Chicago.
For more information, visit: www.devinpatrickhughes.com
