Michael Webster is Professor of Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and Artistic Director of the award-winning Houston Youth Symphony. Formerly principal clarinetist with the Rochester Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony, he has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street Y, the Tokyo, Cleveland, Muir, Ying, Enso, and Chester String Quartets, and at many of North America’s most prominent chamber music festivals. Webster has performed and taught on five continents and recorded for Arabesque, Albany, Beauport, Bridge, Camerata, Centaur, C.R.I., Crystal, and Nami labels. His compositions and transcriptions are published by International, G. Schirmer, and Schott. He writes a regular column for The Clarinet magazine entitled “Teaching Clarinet” and has been a YOA faculty member since 2005.

Pedro R. Díaz joined The Metropolitan Opera in 2005 and has performed as Solo English Horn in hundreds of productions. As a sought after teacher, Díaz has lectured extensively at the top music conservatories including The Juilliard School, The Manhattan  School of Music, The Eastman School of Music,The Hartt Music School, and Duquesne University. His international appearances include masterclasses in Panama, Italy, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Leipzig, Berlin, and Italy.   A native of Puerto Rico, he received his early musical training in the Escuela Libre de Musica, an esteemed public school for the performing arts. He has performed as a guest artist with The Chicago Symphony and The New York Philharmonic, among others. On a recent research trip to Italy, Díaz was able to track down the original solo and orchestral parts for the Donizetti Concertino for English horn (1816), at the Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna. For the first time in two hundred years, these materials have been published in a critical edition by Theodor Presser, along with a new album release performance by Díaz, featuring Riccardo Frizza and musicians of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. His playing has been hailed by critics as evocative, eloquent and expressive and is considered one of the pre-eminent players of his generation. 

Leone Buyse is the Mullen Professor of Flute at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Previously the principal flutist of the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops and a member of the San Francisco Symphony and the Rochester Philharmonic, she has appeared as soloist with these orchestras and at some of North America’s finest music festivals. She has performed with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players throughout Europe and Japan, with the Tokyo, Juilliard, Brentano, and Muir String Quartets, and in recital with Jessye Norman and Yo-Yo Ma. Renowned as a recording artist and educator, Ms. Buyse has taught at the New England Conservatory, Boston University, and the University of Michigan, and has presented master classes and recitals across North and South America, Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Her former students hold positions in many major orchestras worldwide and at major North American universities. Honored in 2010 with the National Flute Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to the global flute community, she has served as a YOA faculty member since 2005.

Since October 2008, Dominic Seldis has been the First Solo Double Bass with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Seldis was previously the Principal Double Bass with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. In great demand as a chamber musician, Seldis performs regularly with his long-time musical partner pianist James Pearson, and has additionally performed numerous recitals in notable music festivals and concert halls. He has also performed as a concerto soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra, The Philharmonia Orchestra, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, among others. In addition to performing, Seldis teaches both privately and as a Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He occasionally teaches at the Trinity College of Music London and at the Amsterdam Conservatoire. He has given master classes in cities such as New York, Helsinki, Beijing, Dusseldorf, and Zurich. Born in the UK, Seldis studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Robin McGee and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Klaus Stoll.

Nacido en Finlandia, Ilmari Hopkins es el violonchelista principal de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Stavanger, Noruega. Se formó con Anatoly Nikitin en el Conservatorio Estatal de San Petersburgo en Rusia y obtuvo su Diploma de posgrado de la Real Academia de Música de Estocolmo con Torleif Thedéen. Ganador del primer premio del Concurso de Música de Cámara de Lahti. Hopkins ha actuado como solista con orquestas como la Sinfónica de Radio Sueca, la Filarmónica de Lima, la Orquesta Sinfónica de Stavanger y la Orquesta de Cámara de Praga. Ha actuado en festivales y ha dado recitales en toda Europa y América, y en Japón y Sudáfrica. Sus grabaciones incluyen transmisiones para la radio sueca, un CD con el SKASEI Trio para la música italiana Azzurra y un CD en solitario lanzado en 2009 por el sello argentino Tradition

José Castillo is the concertmaster of the National Symphony Orchestra in Costa Rica. He studied violin at the Herbert von Karajan Academy in Germany with Leon Spierer, former concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Castillo previously studied in the United States, with Sylvia Moss and Esther Glazer, both pupils of the renowned pedagogue Ivan Galamian.

Otto Derolez is concertmaster of the Brussels Philharmonic and is considered one of the most important violinists of Belgium. After studies at the Royal Conservatories of Ghent and Brussels, with Professors including Rudolf Werthen, Katy Sebestyen and Philippe Hirschhorn, he graduated from the Internationale Musikakademie für Solisten (IMAS) in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, under the guidance of Professor Andre Gertler. He also received support and guidance from Professor Yfrah Neaman. Derolez made his debut with the Brussels Philharmonic in 1999, with Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben. With this orchestra, he performed the world premiere of Jeroen d’Hoe’s violin concerto. Derolez is also an active chamber musician. Since 1992, he has been a member of the Prometheus Ensemble, with which he recorded Schubert’s Octet and Trout Quintet, Stravinsky’s l’Histoire du Soldat, Schoenberg’s first Chamber Symphony, and Transfigured Night. Derolez is a jury member of the International Verbier Festival Orchestra, as well as the International Violin Competition Henri Vieuxtemps. He is regularly invited to major Belgian and Dutch music conservatories as a string faculty coach for symphony orchestras.

Three-time Grammy nominated American composer Miguel del Aguila was born 1957 in Montevideo, Uruguay. In more than 115 works that couple drama and driving rhythm with nostalgic nods to his South American roots, he has established himself among the most distinctive and highly regarded composers of his generation. Also a pianist, del Aguila understands music from the performer’s perspective, which has earned him a devoted following among soloists and ensembles. His music has been performed worldwide by over 100 orchestras and by thousands of ensembles and soloists, and is recorded on 36 CDs.

​Aguila has a decidedly international background, and his music has an international appeal. His early years in South America – captured so vividly in his music – were followed by study at the San Francisco Conservatory and then the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, where early works were premiered and recorded. After ten years in Vienna, he returned to the U.S. in 1992. The Los Angeles Times described him soon thereafter as “one of the West Coast’s most promising young composers.”

Currently Assistant Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Paolo Bortolameolli has studied conducting in Santiago, Chile and at Yale University. He has earned international attention today as one of the most versatile Latin American conductors of his generation. Having been praised by Gustavo Dudamel as “knowledgeable, deep in intellect, and a great artist,” his interpretations are “sensitive and profound,” according to composer George Crumb. He has conducted every significant orchestras in his Chilean homeland, including the Santiago Philharmonic Orchestra, Chile Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Concepción Orchestra. Bortolameolli has also expanded his roster of guest conducting ensembles across Latin and North America, including the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra (Venezuela), Orquesta Clásica Santa Cecilia (Spain), Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería (Mexico). He is passionately committed to new music and audiences, having developed innovative projects including the Ponle Pausa that seeks to revolutionize the concept of music education.

Carlos Miguel Prieto es un líder cultural muy influyente y el principal director mexicano de su generación, conocido por sus interpretaciones dinámicas y expresivas. Prieto fue nombrado Conductor del Año de Musical América 2019. Fue Director Principal de la Orquesta de las Américas desde su creación hasta 2011, cuando fue nombrado para su puesto actual de Director de Música. Desde 2007, Prieto ha sido Director Musical de la Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México (OSN), y en 2008, fue nombrado Director Musical de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería. La temporada 2018/2019 marca su decimotercera temporada como director musical de la Filarmónica de Luisiana, donde ha sido parte de la revitalización cultural de Nueva Orleans después del huracán Katrina. Esta temporada incluyó su debut con la Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional en Washington DC, la Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León y la Orquesta Nacional de Gales de la BBC. Prieto es conocido por defender y encargar la música de los compositores latinoamericanos.