TYLER AUSTIN, FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CONDUCTOR

Dr. Tyler Austin (He/Him/His) serves as Director of Bands in the F. Ludwig Diehn School of Music at Old Dominion University. He conducts the ODU Wind Ensemble, teaches wind literature and the undergraduate conducting sequence, leads a graduate conducting studio, and administers all aspects of the university’s concert and athletic band programs. Dr. Austin maintains an active guest conducting and lecturing schedule on both the national and international levels.

Dr. Austin works to redefine the role of the 21st-century wind conductor as Founding Artistic Director and Conductor of Newfound Chamber Winds (NFCW), an international ensemble of performer-educators. In 2016, he founded the NFCW Composer Commission Project to fund the composition of original works for chamber winds and to produce professional recordings of these works. He has since commissioned and premiered over 40 works for winds. NFCW hosts annual summer programs for composers, conductors, and performers – these three interwoven summer programs feature pedagogical clinics, performance opportunities, and coaching sessions with internationally-recognized conducting mentors and wind musicians.

In 2024, Dr. Austin was appointed as Resident Conductor with Global Arts United. His work with GAU includes regular work with the Vienna Contemporary Composers Festival in Vienna, Austria, where he conducts the internationally-acclaimed Ensemble PHACE, and with the Sofia Symphonic Summit in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he teaches conducting and conducts the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra as part of their festival performance series dedicated to newly-composed works. In 2026, he will begin as Resident Conductor at the Veneto Art and Music Summit, where he will teach conducting and conduct performances with the Marco Polo Orchestra in Asolo, Italy.

A lover of community music, Dr. Austin is Music Director & Conductor of the Chesapeake Bay Wind Ensemble. This group is largely composed of music educators, military musicians, and freelance musicians based in the Hampton Roads region. CBWE’s performances include both standards of wind literature and new voices writing for winds.

Dr. Austin completed a D.M.A. in Wind Conducting at Michigan State University under Dr. Kevin Sedatole. He holds an M.M. in Bassoon Performance from the University of North Texas under Professor Kathleen Reynolds, and a B.M. in Music Education from Susquehanna University. He is a member of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He holds honorary memberships from Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma.

EVAN HARGER, ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR

Dr. Evan Harger serves as Music Director of the UNC Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Professor at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he teaches a seminar entitled “What is a Work of Art?” An advocate for new music and living composers, Dr. Harger has served as a Staff Conductor for Global Arts United festivals in Bulgaria, Austria, and Brazil. Additionally, he holds the position of Associate Conductor of the Newfound Chamber Winds.

Dr. Harger’s creative activity focuses on reconceptualizing the role of the conductor as essentially the ‘producer’ of an ensemble. Through conceptualizing the Conductor as Producer, we move from a popular model of conducting where Score Study is the process by which a Conductor ‘decides' an interpretation and then ‘imparts’ that interpretation to the ensemble – to a model of conducting that sees Score Study as the equally rigorous study of possibilities in performance, and which stresses the agency of the constituency of the ensemble, rethinking what ‘authority’ looks like in a collaborative ensemble. It also stresses the additional essential roles of the conductor which include: administrator, psychologist, mentor, listener, galvanizer, spokesperson, advocate, teacher, and mediator – which have often been overlooked under past historical concepts of authority.

Equally comfortable in front of orchestras, wind ensembles, brass bands, chamber orchestras, and other large instrumental ensembles, Dr. Harger advocates for reinvigorating the concept of ‘instrumental conducting’ pedagogy – rather than distinct wind and orchestra pedagogies – and believes that ones’ conducting gestural technique benefits from experiencing the unique challenges of many different ensembles. Rather than embracing the rather simplistic contrary notions of ‘all conducting is the same’ or ‘there are different techniques for different ensembles’, he prefers the idea that ‘different ensembles have different acoustic, articulative, and phenomenological properties which create unique technical challenges worth exploring.' He’s proud to be an alumnus of the Michigan State University conducting studio, under the tutelage of Prof. Kevin Noe.

E. Yuji Jones is currently serving as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands for the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). His primary responsibilities include serving as conductor for the Wind Ensemble, providing administrative support for the Pep Band, teaching the undergraduate conducting curriculum, and assisting with recruiting efforts for prospective UAH music students.

Dr. Jones earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in wind conducting with Dr. Kevin Sedatole at Michigan State University and received his Masters degree in wind conducting with Dr. Jamie Nix at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia. Prior to studying wind conducting, Dr. Jones served in a band director capacity for both middle and high school students over a span of ten years and across three different states: Indiana, Tennessee, and Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Instrumental Music Education from Indiana University– Bloomington.

Dr. Jones has served as a guest clinician and honor band conductor for Ohio and Michigan area school bands and has presented at the Ohio Music Educators Association (OMEA) and Indiana Music Educators Association (IMEA) state conferences on various topics. He currently serves as Assistant Conductor and Conducting Program Coordinator for the Newfound Chamber Winds (NFCW) Summer Music Festival held annually in Norfolk, Virginia.