bainbridge symphony orchestra

meet the music director

Wesley Schulz

Conductor Wesley Schulz has been lauded by musicians for his “intensity and emotion” in performances and for his “approachable and inspiring” leadership. Whether in regards to new music, opera, or ballet, Schulz’s “passion for music…is contagious.”

Schulz is Music Director and Conductor of the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra, the Bainbridge Island Youth Orchestras and the Everett Youth Symphony Orchestras. He also serves as Associate Conductor of the Rainier Symphony and Assistant Conductor of the Britt Classical Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon. Schulz was most recently Assistant Conductor of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and a Teaching Assistant at the University of Texas at Austin. At UT Schulz conducted Mozart’s Bastien und Bastien with the Butler Opera Center, premiered new works by student composers with the New Music Ensemble, and served as Music Director of the University Orchestra. Under Schulz’s direction the University Orchestra grew from thirty-eight musicians to over eighty all the while improving in artistic quality and musicianship.

A fan of the chamber orchestra repertory and collaborative work, in 2007 Schulz founded the Texas Chamber Group presenting chamber sized orchestral works as well as special concert events on a biannual basis to the Austin community. One such program, the Rite of Spring Project, drew a standing room only crowd in witness of a discussion panel, dancers and pianists as well as a full orchestra performance of the ballet score. This performance of Rite of Spring earned Schulz and the ensemble the 2010 American Prize in Orchestral Performance. One judge commented “astonishingly good and…extremely impressive in almost every detail.”

A believer in community engagement, Schulz has appeared in a multiplicity of musical events in the city of Austin, Texas. In addition to having led benefit concerts for socials causes, Schulz has appeared as guest conductor with the Austin Chamber Music Center; most recently in their screening of the film Der Golum accompanied by a live chamber ensemble. Additionally, Schulz was asked to guest conduct the International Clarinet Associations’ Showcase Concert at ClarinetFest 2010. Held in Austin’s world-class Bass Concert Hall, Schulz lead clarinet virtuosi Jose´ Franch-Ballester, Sergio Bosi, Philippe Cuper, and Alan Kay in works by Busoni, Copland, Gabucci, Rossini and Spohr.

As a guest conductor Schulz has appeared or is scheduled to conduct the Northwest Mahler Festival, the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, Oregon East Symphony, Powder River Symphony, and the San-Francisco All-City Honors String Orchestra among others.

Schulz has participated in a variety of masterclasses and conductor training programs including the Pierre Monteux School, the Eastman Summer Conducting Institute, and workshops sponsored by the Conductor’s Guild. He has worked with Gustov Meier, Thomas Wilkins, Mark Gibson, Michael Jinbo, Kirk Trevor, Bridget-Michaele Reischl, and Neil Varon among others. His primary mentors include Gerhardt Zimmermann and Peter Bay.

Schulz graduated magna cum laude with Bachelor degrees in Percussion Performance and Music Education from Ball State University and Doctorate and Masters degrees in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Texas at Austin. When not on the podium, Schulz can be seen hitting the pavement in preparation for his next marathon.

Corin Lee, violin

Guest artist, March concerts

Described by The Epoch Times, “Corin Lee has that honesty—he plays the way he feels, and comfortably too. [He is] praised for his technical skills and cleanness in sound.” As the winner of NTD-TV’s Chinese International Violin Competition, Corin Lee soloed in Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall and Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Center. He was also featured on NTD-TV and the Sing Tao Daily for interviews and performances. Other engagements include soloing with the Oakland Civic Orchestra and recitals throughout America like at the University of Reno-Nevada.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Lee has been selected to perform at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Paul and Morse Halls at Juilliard, Columbia University’s Faculty House and St. Paul’s Chapel, and St. Luke’s Orchestra’s Mary Flagler Cary Hall. TV appearances include quartet performances on Fox and NBC. As an orchestra musician, he has served as the Principal of the Juilliard Orchestra and Great Mountains Music Festival and School, and toured on an Ambassador Concert series throughout China. Other chamber festivals include California Summer Music, Yellow Barn Young Artist Program, and Music Academy of the West. Later this year, he will collaborate with professors from Northeastern University and Beijing Conservatory for a performance at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Outside of classical music, he has been invited to collaborate with Coldplay, AKQA, and Youtube in an attempt to raise the level of musician quality on Youtube.

He has also dedicated his time to incorporating classical music with technology. He uses microphones, speakers, loop stations, and effects boards to compose technology arrangements of existing classical music. These arrangements have been performed at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Yale, Juilliard, The Marco Polo Festival, and in Louisiana sponsored by the Acadiana Symphony and Conservatory.

As a teacher, Mr. Lee has been invited to teach at California High Schools, the Suzuki Studio of San Francisco and Lafayette, and guest artist at the Northern California Suzuki Insitute. In New York, he regularly substituted for the Turtle Bay Music School along with teaching privately. He is now a teaching fellow at Yale.

Mr. Lee is also active with outreach. He participated in the Gluck Community Service Fellowship where he performed for hospitals and retirement homes in New York. In California, he has given solo recitals for retirement homes and performed in a benefit concert for Japan at the Sequoias auditorium which was featured in the Nichi Bei Times.

As one of the recipients of the Alec Templeton scholarship program, Mr. Lee is pursuing his Masters of Music degree at Yale University with Ani Kavafian He received his Bachelors at The Juilliard School with Hyo Kang and Naoko Tanaka. Previous teachers include Cathryn Lee, Wei-He, and Dame Camilla Wicks.

Christopher Guzman, piano

Guest artist, April concerts

Pianist Christopher Guzman has entertained audiences throughout North America, Europe and Asia. A prizewinner in many international competitions, including the Walter M. Naumburg Competition, the Seoul International Music Competition and the Isang Yun Competition of South Korea, he has performed as soloist with many large ensembles, including the San Antonio Symphony, the Fort Worth Symphony, the Corpus Christi Symphony and The EOS Orchestra of New York City. He has performed concerti with the Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and in Spoleto, Italy during the orchestra’s first summer residency at the 2003 Festival Dei Due Mondi. Mr. Guzman has appeared in recital in such varied venues as Carnegie’s Weill Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, and Spoleto’s Teatro Caio Melisso.

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Guzman has performed in such venues as Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, the Kennedy Center, San Francisco Performances, the Vancouver Recital Series and others. He performs regularly with sought-after soloists such as violinists Tai Murray and Stephan Jackiw, and trombonist Joe Alessi of the New York Philharmonic; his recital with violinist Ilya Gringolts on National Public Radio’s Saint Paul Sunday continues to broadcast across the United States and online. Mr. Guzman also frequently collaborates with the Chameleon Chamber Players of Boston, recipients of the 2007 CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming.

Of special interest to Mr. Guzman is music of our time. He has collaborated with one of the nation’s preeminent contemporary chamber ensembles, Speculum Musicae, and numerous times with the New Juilliard Ensemble, including tours of the U.S. and France. The New York Times hailed his “coiled, explosive playing” of works by Christopher Theofanidis and Joseph Pereira at New York’s Society for Ethical Culture in 2002. He is a member of Second Instrumental Unit, a provocative new music ensemble based in the Northeast, and has participated in world premieres by such composers as Donald Martino, Bernd Franke and Paul Schoenfield.

A Texas native, Christopher Guzman began studying piano at age nine and violoncello two years later. He has studied at the University of Texas at Austin, New England Conservatory, and at the Juilliard School. He is currently Assistant Professor of Piano at Pennsylvania State University.