Daniel Anderson

Jacob Colegio

Rose Gifford

Originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan, Rose Gifford graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in Keyboard Performance from Western Michigan University in 2015.  While at WMU, she held the Gilmore Piano Scholarship for four years. She studied applied piano under Dr. Silvia Roederer and collaborative piano with Lori Sims, and also served on the board for the WMU MTNA Collegiate Chapter under the direction of Jeremy Siskind.   Rose graduated from the University of Oklahoma in May 2017, with her Master of Music degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy.  While at OU, she worked as a graduate assistant serving as instructor of record for various group piano classes and secondary applied piano lessons.  In addition to her teaching duties, she also was assistant to Dr. Jane Magrath.  At OU, Rose studied applied piano under Dr. Jeongwon Ham and Dr. Ed Gates, and piano pedagogy under Dr. Barbara Fast and Dr. Jane Magrath.  She was awarded the Martha M. Boucher Piano Scholarship in 2016, as well as the Alice and Albert Kirkpatrick Scholarship and the Genevieve Vliet Piano Scholarship in 2017.  She served on the board of the MTNA Collegiate Chapter at OU during the 2016-17 school year, during which time it won the Collegiate Chapter of the Year Award. Rose has presented at the MTNA National Conference in 2017, and has participated in the Interharmony International Music Festival in Arcidosso, Italy, as well as the Classical Music Festival in Eisensdat, Austria. From 2017-18, she taught functional piano classes as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Keyboard at the Crane School of Music at SUNY-Potsdam. Rose currently works as an Adjunct Faculty member at Grand Rapids Community College in Grand Rapids, MI, and also gives private lessons at the Ada Conservatory of Music in Ada, MI.  

Andrew Laven

Newly appointed Assistant Principal Cellist of the Grand Rapids Symphony, Andrew Laven graduated in May 2019 with his Master of Music degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music as a student of Desmond Hoebig. He also has a Bachelor of Music Degree with a Performance Certificate from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Steven Doane and Rosemary Elliott.  Mr. Laven has extensive orchestral experience, having performed in concerts as a substitute with the Houston Grand Opera, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and the New World Symphony. For the summers of 2015-17, he was a fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center and, in the summer of 2016, was the recipient of the Karl Zeise Memorial Cello award. During the following summer, Mr. Laven had the privilege of playing in private chamber music sessions for Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax in preparation for a performance of Brahms’ Piano Trio in C Major. In the summer of 2018, he was a guest at Tanglewood, having the unique opportunity to serve as the rehearsal cellist for Yo-Yo Ma for the world premiere of John Williams’ new work, “Highwood’s Ghost” for cello, harp, and orchestra with Boston Symphony principal harpist Jessica Zhou and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons. He has also collaborated with Ying quartet first violinist Robin Scott, violist Roberto Diaz, violinist Colin Jacobsen, and pianist Jon Kimura Parker. Other festivals include the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, the Karl Flesch Akademie, and the Avaloch Farm Music Institute.   

Caleb Wenzel

Caleb Wenzel’s artistic life lives at the crossroads of performance disciplines and stylistic genres. Winner of the 2019 Respighi Prize in Conducting, Caleb's vibrant and infectious energy on the podium is equally at home with symphony orchestras, choral ensembles, experimental new music, historical instrument ensemble, opera, and musical theatre. With an active performance calendar that includes engagements as a conductor, pianist, composer, chamber musician, and music pedagogue, Caleb enjoys the rare profile of a complete musician. He currently serves as Director of Choral and Vocal Activities at Grand Rapids Community College.  Committed to the music of living composers, Caleb serves as the Conducting Area Coordinator and as Principal Conductor of the American Creators Ensemble at the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium at University of Oregon, a position he has held since 2016. He has guest conducted performances for the Chicago Latino Music Festival, American Bach Society, University of British Columbia Chamber Orchestra Festival, and Kammerphilharmonie Graz. In June 2019, Caleb made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting Chamber Orchestra of New York. He returns to CONY as the 2021/22 Apprentice Conductor, which will culminate in assisting CONY on their next recording project for NAXOS.        A passionate music educator, Caleb has been involved in most major music education initiatives throughout Northern Indiana, serving as Music Director of the Elkhart County Youth Honors Orchestra and Conducting Fellow of the South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestra. As Director of Choirs at John Adams High School in South Bend, he supervised the School Corporation’s largest choral program. During his four-year tenure as Associate Conductor of Ensemble CONCEPT/21, he mentored young composers through EC/21’s New Voices in Michiana education initiative, often connecting student composers with some of the nation’s top professional composers and composition teachers. As a music education advocate, Caleb works to support music educators at all phases of professional experience in his role as Music Educators Program Director at the Conducting Institute of Caminos del Inka under the directorship of eminent conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya. As a director of collegiate vocal ensembles, Caleb has made a substantial contribution to expanding the vibrant undergraduate vocal performance offerings at University of Notre Dame. There, he served as Music Director of Our Lady’s Consort, a highly selective undergraduate chamber choir, for three seasons. He also served as the founding Artistic Director of Gold & Blue Co., a vocal performance troupe performing a broad range of vocal genres including pop, rock, jazz, hip-hop, musical theatre, reggaetón, and folk music. Caleb contributed to Notre Dame’s new Musical Theatre minor as a staff music director for mainstage productions and as the piloting director of the Musical Theatre Vocal Lab. Accomplished as both a pianist and composer, Caleb’s works have been performed throughout the USA, in Poland, England, and Japan at venues as varied as Saint Mary’s Basilica in Minneapolis to the Library of Congress in Washington DC. He regularly performs as a concerto soloist and as a recitalist of both solo repertoire and chamber music. He has recently presented programs in Dallas, Baltimore, Minneapolis, and New York City. He has twice performed as a guest recitalist for the Walden Chamber Music Society in Buena Vista, Colorado, where he will return in 2022 to inaugurate an international recital tour performing the complete Well-tempered Clavier ­of Johann Sebastian Bach in celebration of the 300th anniversary of its composition. Caleb is a graduate of University of Notre Dame where he completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Conducting under the mentorship of renowned Venezuelan-American conductor Carmen-Helena Téllez. He previously studied at The Catholic University of America, where he served as University Organist, and at Saint John’s University (Minnesota). His conducting teachers include John Farrer, Dirk Brossé, Howard Williams, Nancy Menk, Jan Harrington, and Leo Nestor. Degrees and Certifications University of Notre Dame: D.M.A. in Conducting The Catholic University of America: M.M. in Choral Music Saint John's University: B.A. in Piano Performance and Composition

Robert Mulligan