AMIR KATS, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & SYMPHONY CONDUCTOR
651.602.6803
amir@gtcys.org
Now in his fifth year with GTCYS, Amir Kats (Artistic Director & Symphony Conductor), is a familiar figure in the youth orchestra world. Kats previously conducted the Albuquerque Youth Symphony and Santa Fe Youth Symphony in New Mexico, where he was active as a conductor, educator and clarinetist throughout the state. Prior to New Mexico he lived in New York, serving as music director of the Gemini Youth Orchestras (Long Island), assistant conductor of the New York Youth Symphony, and faculty member of The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, teaching inner-city public school students. He has also been associated with the Philadelphia Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra and the orchestra of the Rockland Summer Institute. Since moving to Minnesota he has guest-conducted and given clinics at numerous schools and honors ensembles, and will conduct the Minnesota All-State Orchestra in 2012 – 2013. Mr. Kats spent the summer of 2005 on the conducting faculty of the internationally-renowned Interlochen Arts Camp, and joined the faculties of the Allegro Orchestra Camp in 2008 and Rocky Ridge Music Center in 2009. He recently received the 2010 MNSOTA Community Service Award. Check out his music blog – www.mrkatsopus.blogspot.com – designed to make orchestral music more accessible.
A conductor of orchestral and chamber music with an extensive background as a clarinetist and music educator, Mr. Kats has appeared in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Fort Worth’s Orchestra Hall, and the Teatro Amazonas (Brazil). An avid proponent of new music, Mr. Kats has led numerous world premieres throughout the United States.
Mr. Kats holds Bachelor of Music degrees in clarinet and music theory from the University of Michigan, Master of Music degrees in conducting and clarinet from Florida State University, and an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he held a Leopold Stokowski Fellowship and studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller. A native of Haifa, Israel, he was raised in the United States in a musical family, the son and grandson of pianists.
MARY SORLIE, PHILHARMONIA EAST & WEST CONDUCTOR
mary@gtcys.org
received a Bachelor and Master of Music in violin performance from the University of Minnesota, with additional study at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and at the Oberlin and Brussels Conservatories. Her violin teachers have included Mary West, Lea Foli, Stephen Clapp and Marilyn McDonald. Widely active as a free-lance violinist, Ms. Sorlie has played with the Lexington Symphony, Minnesota Opera, Minneapolis Chamber Symphony, Lyra Concert and Minnesota Sinfonia. Ms. Sorlie is a frequent guest conductor and string clinician in the Midwest. She currently is a member of WolfGang, a sextet which performs music of the 18th century. She enjoys teaching violin to students of all ages and abilities. She resides in St. Paul with her husband Chuck and wonder dog, Lacie.
SARAH CHELGREN DUFFY, SINFONIA CONDUCTOR
sarah@gtcys.org
Sarah Chelgren Duffy received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education from St. Olaf College and her Master’s degree in music education at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Sarah is in her second year as orchestra director at Edina High School after teaching high school, middle school, and elementary orchestras in Robbinsdale Area Schools for ten years.
An accomplished cellist, Sarah has studied with Peter Howard, David Carter, and Faith Farr. In addition, she regularly freelances in the Twin Cities and is the assistant principal cellist of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra. Sarah is actively involved in music education organizations and she is the past-president of the Minnesota String and Orchestra Teachers’ Association (MNSOTA). Sarah and her husband, percussionist and band director Brian Duffy, live in Plymouth.
BARBARA FLOODING, CONCERTINO CONDUCTOR
barbara@gtcys.org
Barbara Flooding currently teaches orchestra at Valley View Middle School in Edina. Her teaching career began at St. Cloud Apollo High School and North Junior High School, where she directed the Apollo Symphony, Chamber Orchestra and Sinfonia, as well as two junior high orchestras. Under her direction the Apollo Symphony appeared in New York’s Carnegie Hall Youth Debut Music Series and at several conventions of the Minnesota Music Educators Association. While in the St. Cloud area she was a violinist with the St. Cloud Symphony and Amadeus Chamber Symphony. She presently is a member of the Wayzata Symphony, a Twin Cities based orchestra. Ms. Flooding holds a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting and a Master’s degree in String Development from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ms. Flooding and her husband, composer/arranger Robert Sieving, live in Minnetonka.
ANDREW BAST, CONCERT ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR
andy@gtcys.org
Andrew Bast is in his fourth year with GTCYS and third as director of orchestras at Hopkins High School. He also completed a five-year tenure as the director of the Suzuki Chamber Orchestra at MacPhail Center. In addition to his work with orchestras he is a member of the local band Kubla Khan – in which he is a principal songwriter and plays the electric bass and guitar. A graduate of St. Olaf College, Mr. Bast received his bachelor’s degree in music education, studying conducting with Steven Amundson and Dr. Timothy Mahr; he has also completed his Master’s Degree in Music Education at the University of St. Thomas. His thesis was a historical study of the Suzuki method in Minnesota. Andrew lives in Apple Valley with his wife, Katie (a violinist and Suzuki teacher at MacPhail) and their two kids: Maggie (5) and Joseph (2).
DR. JEFFREY STIRLING, PHILHARMONIC CONDUCTOR
jeff@gtcys.org
Dr. Jeffrey Stirling is in his tenth season as a conductor with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies. Dr. Stirling holds degrees from Yale and Northwestern Universities, and pursued advanced studies at the Tanglewood and Salzburg music festivals and at the Paris Conservatory. Stirling is Music Director of the Saint Paul Civic Symphony and the Northeast Orchestra, and has served as cover conductor for the Minnesota Orchestra; his busy schedule has included guest appearances with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Bemidji Symphony and Skylark Opera. He has directed the orchestral programs at the University of Minnesota’s School of Music, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Cloud State University, Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and at the University of Northern Iowa. Dr. Stirling has been a Visiting Artist at St. Olaf College, where he conducted the St. Olaf Philharmonia, and a guest instructor for the Chamber Music Association of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.