2024-2025 CONDUCTING FELLOWS PROGRAM

Program Sponsors: MARGARET & WILLIAM HECHT

The Allentown Symphony Orchestra Conducting Fellows Program was started by Diane Wittry to help conductors expand their skills and experiences with an eye towards becoming a Music Director and Conductor of a regional professional orchestra.  Each August Diane selects between 6 and 8 students from her conducting workshops to participate in the program.  These already experienced conductors spend a week leading up to a concert in Allentown, housed in private homes.  They meet with professional staff– music librarian, personnel manager, operations manager, development director, and executive director – and have mentoring sessions with Diane. They are invited to attend any of the orchestra’s rehearsals throughout the season.  In return, they perform such functions as listening for the balance of the orchestra in the hall, acting as a score reader for concerts that involve multimedia, conducting off-stage musicians, and more. 

Since its inception 15 years ago, it has been sponsored by William and Margaret Hecht and the Hecht Family Foundation.  To date, 82 conductors have participated from 30 different states, and 5 countries (USA, Canada, Argentina, United Kingdom, Japan, Venezuela)

2024-2025 Season

MICHAEL AVAGLIANO
Michael Avagliano has created a multifaceted career as conductor, performer, and educator. As music director of the Somerset Symphony, Summit Symphony, and August Symphony, Avagliano has become as known for his exceptional musicianship as for his success in engaging and expanding the audiences of the organizations under his leadership.

As a guest conductor, Mr. Avagliano is increasingly in demand. He was a prizewinner in the 2023 Ionel Perlea International Conducting Competition, and as a result will conduct a production with Opera Craiova in Romania in 2024. Other upcoming engagements include the Palisades Sinfonietta and Bachanalia Chamber Orchestra. He has also made appearances with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic (Czech Republic), Pleven Philharmonic (Bulgaria), Plainfield Symphony (NJ), University of Oregon Symphony, and a world premiere performance at Merkin Hall with the Bachanalia Chamber Orchestra.

When not leading orchestras, Mr. Avagliano turns his attention to mentoring the next generation of young conductors, imparting skills needed both on the podium and off. He founded the International Conducting Masterclass in Stony Point, NY, and also created the online workshop “Conducting the Interview” with Henry Fogel, former president of the League of American Orchestras. Hoping to build upon the success of these initiatives and construct further ones, Avagliano founded the Performers Learning Alliance in 2020, a nonprofit dedicated to creating educational opportunities for emerging artists. He is also on faculty at Drew University as director of ensembles and professor of violin and viola.

CLEO GOLDBERG
Cleo Goldberg (they/them/theirs) is a Chicago-based conductor, music educator, and percussionist, and is widely regarded for the energy and spirit they bring to their work as well as the versatility of their activities. They are the Artistic Director of the Lakeside Pride Pops Ensemble and the Millennial Chamber Players, and also teach K-8 general music at Alexander Graham Bell School. Through their work with Lakeside Pride, they have been invited to guest conduct at several national conferences with the Pride Bands Alliance. As a percussionist, Cleo has performed at festivals and competitions across the United States as well as in the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Russia. They have studied conducting at the New York Conducting Workshop, the International Conducting Workshop & Festival (Lviv, Ukraine), the Pierre Monteux School, the Pacific Northwest Conducting Institute, and the Juilliard Evening Division. Cleo has multiple string orchestra arrangements published through Keiser Southern Music, and is also regularly invited to give professional development sessions on gender-inclusive practices in the music classroom. Cleo received a Bachelor of Music degree in percussion performance from Manhattan School of Music and a Master of Music Education and Certification degree from VanderCook College of Music.

PASCAL GERMAIN-BERCARDI
Pascal Germain-Berardi was born and raised in deprived neighborhoods of Montreal, Quebec, Canada where school dropouts were among the highest in his home-country. First of his family to reach higher education, he holds a master's degree in composition and doctor's degree in conducing from University of Montreal.

Resilient and versatile, Pascal forged his way by founding his own concert society in Temps Fort, a play of words in french with the double meaning “strong beat” and “having a great time”, with whom he tackled rarely programmed repertoire from composers like Max Reger, Josef Rheinberger, Claude Vivier, and wholly original projects like Canvas: Symphonic future, an immersive concert experience where audience and musicians share the same floor with 3D visuals reacting in real time to the orchestra and Vocal Extremes, a concert for classical choir mixed with a “death metal growlers” choir.

Pascal conducted many professional orchestras mainly in Quebec (Drummondville, Trois-Rivière, Quebec city) and Eastern Europe (Bacau in Romania, Prague and Zlin in Czech Republic).

ELLE SUNMIN LEE
Originally from Seoul, South Korea, she began her music studies at age 5 with the piano. She earned her degrees in music at New York University and Northern Arizona University as a recipient of a full-ride scholarship and the Kitt Orchestra Award, and studied conducting under the tutelage of Mark Shapiro and Daniel O'Bryant. In addition, she has been invited to numerous conducting masterclasses with leading conducting teachers, notably, Jorma Panula, Diane Wittrey, Don Schleicher, Jeffrey Meyer, and Toby Purser. In 2024, she served as an assistant conductor for the production of Don Giovanni at Vienna Opera Festival. Currently she is the conductor of the New York Mixed Chorus and artistic director of Collegium Musicum New York. Elle hopes to create innovative and meaningful musical experiences for fellow musicians and audiences and to promote music as a valuable tool for a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle for everyone.

MAGDALENA PAWLISZ
Magdalena Pawlisz is a Polish conductor, a finalist of I Atlantic Coast International Conducting Competition in Esposende, Portugal and a semi-finalist of VIII Concorso Internazionale per Direttori d’Opera in Orvieto, Italy.

Magdalena Pawlisz has obtained Master of Music from the University of Arts Berlin, Doctor of Musical Arts from the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Krakow and Certificate of Advanced Studies in Contemporary Repertoire Conducting from the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland in Lugano.

Magdalena Pawlisz’s conducting mentors include Rafał Jacek Delekta, Steven Sloane, Harry Curtis, Colin Metters, Arturo Tamayo, Diane Wittry.

Magdalena Pawlisz served as the artistic director for ROTARY FOR THE HEALTH OF UKRAINE'S CHILDREN concert, an assistant conductor at the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg and the Göteborg Opera, as well as a production assistant at the Salzburg Festival.
As a guest conductor, she has been performing in Poland, Germany, Italy and Sweden. In the upcoming season Magdalena Pawlisz debuts with the Silesian Philharmonic and re-appears with the University of Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.

Magdalena Pawlisz was granted an Executive Master in Art Administration degree from the Zurich University as a result of a two- year post-graduate programme for cultural leaders of tomorrow.

2010-2011 Season
Tim Dixon, PA
Jennifer Kelly, PA
Joe Jones, NY
Greg Woodbridge, PA

2011-2012 Season
Michael Avagliano, NJ
Reuben Blundell, NY
Stephen Czarkowski, D.C.
Edette Gagné, Canada
David Long, TN

2012-2013 Season
Marc-André Bougie, AR
Gemma New, NJ
Christopher Ramaekers, IL
Dominique Royem, TX
David Upham, NH

2013-2014 Season
Jane Brown, NV
David Cubeck, CA
Raul Gomez, LA
Darin Lewis, CT
David Ramael, NY

2014-2015 Season
Mark Crim, TX
John Devlin, MD
Andrew King, IN
Dimitar Nikolov, MD
Julia Tai, WA

2015-2016 Season
Flavio Garber, Argentina
Matthew Hooper, PA
Alex Kahn, CA
Geoffrey Pope, CA
Suzanne Rome, LA
Veronica Salinas, TX

2016-2017 Season
Todd Craven, FL
Anna Edwards, WA
John Murton, MD (U.K.)
Benjamin Nilles, IL
Toru Tagawa, AZ (Japan)

2017-2018 Season
Kalena Bovell, CT
Bobby Collins, WA
Jennifer Drake, ID
Gregory McDaniel, TX
Ismael Sandoval, MA
Tyler Readinger, PA

2018-2019 Season
Thomas Taylor Dickey, OK
Danielle Garret, PA
Yutaka Kono, CT
Hannah Schendel, MN
Felipe Morales Torres, D.C.
Michael Wittenberg, NJ

2019-2020 Season (COVID)
Justin Cowan, CT
Alexandra Kovatch, MO
Tiffany Liu, MD
Lauren Wasynczuk, CA

2020-2021 Season (COVID)
Michael Avagliano, NJ
Brent Chancellor, NJ
Nell Flanders, NY
Silas Huff, KS

2021-2022 Season
Michael Avagliano, NJ
Brent Chancellor, NY
Nell Flanders, MD
Sebastian Serrano-Ayala, WA
Luis Viquez, SD
Joanna Cochenet, Washington D.C.

2022-2023 Season
Alex Arellano, IA
YuChi Chou, WA
Anoa Green, MD
Silas Huff, KS
Jeffrey Klefstad, P
Edward Leonard, PA
Megan Maddaleno, FL
Chawen Ting, GA

2023-2024 Season
Michael Avagliano, NJ
Jane Brown, CA
Rueff Frazao, OK
Jesus Parra, Venezuela
Tyler Readinger, PA
Dana Zimbric, CA
Daniel Zipin, PA