Otto-Werner Mueller is Head of the Conducting Department at The Curtis Institute of Music and Conductor Emeritus at The Juilliard School. Born in Bensheim, Germany in 1926, Mr. Mueller has helped shape the orchestral training programs of distinguished musical institutions in the United States and Canada. After studying conducting, composition, piano, trumpet, and viola in Frankfurt, Mr. Mueller became director of the chamber music department for Radio Stuttgart at the age of nineteen and was founder and conductor of the celebrated Radio Stuttgart Chamber Choir. Two years later, he served as conductor of opera and operetta for the Heidelberg Theater, where he also founded and conducted an orchestra for dependents of United States military forces stationed there.

Emigrating to Canada in 1951, Mr. Mueller worked extensively for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as conductor of opera, ballet, and symphonic presentations. In 1958, he became teacher and conductor at the Montreal Conservatory. He later served as director of the Victoria Symphony and founder and dean of the Victoria School of Music. Mr. Mueller was a guest professor at the Moscow State Conservatory in 1963 and toured the Republics of the former Soviet Union in 1968 and 1970, conducting the Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Riga symphonies. He has conducted in every major city in Canada and has had guest appearances with the Scottish National Orchestra; the Krakow Philharmonic; and the National Symphony, Atlanta, Detroit, St. Louis and other United States orchestras.

Mr. Mueller has taught at the Yale University School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Madison, the American Choral Foundation's Summer Institute, the Aspen Music Festival, the American Symphony Orchestra League's conducting seminars, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute. He has trained conductors of major orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Swedish National Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Auckland (New Zealand) Philharmonia and Santa Fe Opera. His former students are a virtual Who?s Who of young and established conductors: Alan Gilbert, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Sarah Ioannides, Paavo J?rvi, Jahja Ling, Rossen Milanov, Raymond Harvey, and many others who currently hold Music Director and Guest Conductor positions across the globe.

Virginia Allen is a member of the conducting faculty at The Juilliard School in New York City and The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and an instructor for the Professional Institute for Educators at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She co-founded and conducted The Juilliard Trombone Choir and served as Executive Director of Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies. From 2002-2005, she was Artistic Director of the Sun Valley Summer Music Workshops in Idaho, where she founded and conducted the Sun Valley Youth Orchestra.

As a pioneer for women in military bands, Miss Allen was the first woman conductor of The U.S. Army Field Band and The Soldiers' Chorus in Washington, D.C., The U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point, The U.S. Army Forces Command Band in Atlanta, and the West Point Glee Club. Her career included an assignment as the Department of the Army Staff Bands Officer in Washington, D.C., where she managed over 100 Army bands and band activities worldwide.

A published composer and arranger, Miss Allen has written music for student instrumental and choral ensembles, as well as significant transcriptions for wind ensemble. Her music has been premiered, performed and recorded by members of the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Washington Opera Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard Trombone Choir, The U.S. Army Band, The U.S. Army Field Band, and The U.S. Military Academy Band. She is a member of the American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and a former Board member of the Conductors Guild and the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles.

Miss Allen studied French horn and conducting and earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree and a Master of Music degree in Performance from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and a Diploma in Wind Conducting from the University of Calgary. She also completed an internship in Performance Activities at Juilliard.