Kenneth Kiesler is one of the prominent conductors of his generation, and one of the world’s most sought-after mentors to conductors. He has been Professor of Conducting and Director of Orchestras at the University of Michigan since 1995. For four years, he has been Director of the Conductors Programme of Canada's National Arts Centre, and for the third year, holds the position of Director of the Vendome Academy of Orchestral Conducting, in France.  Mr. Kiesler also serves as Visiting Artist and Advisor of the orchestras at the Manhattan School of Music, where he oversees orchestral programming and conducts one concert with each of the school's orchestras annually.  Kiesler also leads masterclasses and courses for the Philharmonisches Kammer Orchester Berlin and Deutsches Musikrat in Germany. He has led many master classes for the League of American Orchestras and Conductors’ Guild, at Oxford University and the Royal Academy of Music in London, among many others.  His students have won major international competitions such as the Maazel/Vilar, Eduardo Mata, and Nicolai Malko Competitions, and hold positions with major orchestras, opera companies, and music schools. 

 

In the summer of 2008, Kiesler made his debut with L'Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the renowned chamber orchestra of Paris, in a concert of Handel, Saint-Saëns, Vaughan-Williams and Beethoven at the iconic Chateau at Chambord.  He was immediately re-engaged for concerts in the Teatre Champs Élysées in Paris.  Critic Roger Bouchard wrote, "Yes indeed, great American conductors do exist, and Kenneth Kiesler is one of them!  Standing behind the music he serves, without searching for personal effects, he conducts from memory with unaffected gestures that are both precise and passionate.  Nothing is unnecessary in his conducting, yet everything is there.  Very beautiful work!"

Jerald Schwiebert has been a principal faculty member at the Conductors Retreat at Medomak since the summer of 2002.  He is currently on the faculty of the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre & Dance where he teaches Movement and Acting (Improvisation). Before joining the Michigan faculty, he was Master Movement Teacher for the Graduate Acting Program at Southern Methodist University’s distinguished Meadows School of the Arts.  

Composer and author David Schiff studied composition with John Corigliano and Ursula Mamlok at the Manhattan School of Music, and with Elliott Carter at the Juilliard School. His opera Gimpel the Fool, with libretto by Isaac Bashevis Singer, can be heard on two different Naxos recordings, both conducted by Kenneth Kiesler. The Milken Archive recording, titled Jewish Operas Volume 2, includes most of Act II performed by the University of Michigan Opera; the complete opera appears on a two disc set with Portland-based Third Angle New Music Ensemble and a cast that includes Richard Zeller, D'Anna Fortunato, Thomas Glenn, and Alissa Rowe (who has performed Knoxville: Summer 1915 at the Conductors Retreat).

 

Other major works include: the Sacred Service, written for the 125th anniversary of Congregation Beth Israel of Portland; Slow Dance, commissioned by the Oregon Symphony; Stomp, commissioned by Marin Alsop for Concordia, and recorded by the Baltimore Symphony conducted by David Zinman; SolusRex, for bass trombone and chamber ensemble commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; and premiered by David Taylor; Speaking in Drums, a concerto for timpani and string orchestra commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra for its timpanist, Peter Kogan; Vashti, a retelling of the Book of Esther for mezzo-soprano, clarinet and piano, commissioned by the Gold Coast Chamber Music Festival; and 4 Sisters, a concerto for jazz violin and orchestra, which premiered in Cambridge England in 1997.  

Andrew George first came to the Conductors Retreat at Medomak as a participant for two summers.  He has served as conducting coach at the Retreat for 4 summers.  In September of 2008, he was appointed Director of Orchestral Studies at Texas Tech University. Prior to this, he was the Associate Director of Orchestras, Music Director of the Contemporary Directions Ensemble, and Assistant Professor of Conducting at the University of Michigan.  His responsibilities included conducting the University Philharmonia Orchestra, the Contemporary Directions Ensemble, University Opera productions, and teaching courses in conducting.  He previously served as Music Director for the University of Michigan Campus Symphony Orchestras, and Assistant Conductor for the University Opera.