Reflections Magazine Issue #79 - Fall 2013 | Page 15

Feature Article

King Guest Conducts at World
Renowned Juilliard Music School

By Doug Goodnough

W

es King was in rare company last July in New York City. King, Siena
Heights music instructor and director of Bands, was only one of 10 people worldwide
to be selected to conduct at the Juilliard Conducting Workshop for Music Educators.
“I had thought about applying for it for a few years but I didn’t think I would be
strong enough to get in,” said King, who is in his second year at SHU. “It was a big
surprise for me and my family. It was just a really cool opportunity.”
King had to apply via a DVD audition. Required was a 15-minute performance
and 15-minute rehearsal. For the rehearsal part of the audition, King used his work
conducting a John Philip Sousa march with the Siena Heights band.
Out of more than 200 applications, only 48
were chosen. And only 10 were allowed to conduct
at Juilliard, known as one of the finest schools for
the arts in the world. He received another unexpected surprise when his younger brother, Greg,
and his mother, helped fund his trip.
“You had people coming in from all over the
world,” said King, who joined conductors from
Japan, Scotland and South Africa among others.
“And I was with people who had doctorates, who
were working professionally. There were only a
few band directors.”
King, who earned his master’s degree in music from Mississippi State University
and spent some time with the University of Arkansas marching band before coming
to SHU, said the four-day workshop was intense. During that time, he had to learn
to conduct two separate, very different pieces of music. The first was “Symphony
No. 104” by Haydn and the second was “Serenade Opus 40” by American composer
Arthur Bird.
Learning the music was one thing, but the people King had the chance to learn
from was what made it such a special experience.
JoAnn Falletta, a pioneer female conductor, was his instructor for the Haydn
piece. She is the director of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra; music director of the
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and principal conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in
Belfast, Northern Ireland; the Phoenix Symphony and the Brevard Music Center,
King then had a chance to work on the Bird piece with Eugene Corporon, director
of Wind Studies at North Texas University.
“She has studied with some of the great conductors of the 20th century,” King
said of Falletta. “It was just really refreshing and insightful to work with two such
inspiring and accomplished people.”
King also had a chance to conduct with current and former Juilliard musicians.
“Not only was I around these great teachers and great