Introducing the 2010 National High School Staff

Michael Gagliardo, 2010 NHSHO Chair
Michael R. Gagliardo was named the second Music Director and Conductor of the Etowah Youth Orchestras in August of 1995.  He has led the EYO to national recognition, including the receipt of ten ASCAP Awards for Programming of Contemporary Music; the 2006 ASCAP Award for American Programming on Foreign Tours; and "Best In Class" Awards for the ensembles of the EYO at the 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2003 Gateway Music Festivals. 

Under Mr. Gagliardo's direction, the Orchestras have performed numerous concerts throughout the United States and Great Britain.  Appearances by the ensembles of the EYO include the American Honor Orchestra Conference, the National ASTA Conference, the Alabama Music Educators Association Conference, and "by-invitation" performances at Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln and Kennedy Centers for the Performing Arts.

Mr. Gagliardo has served as Guest Conductor of the 1997 and 2009 Alabama All-State Orchestra Festival, the 2008 Colorado All-State Orchestra Festival, the 2003 All-West Tennesse Honor Orchestra Festival Senior Orchestra, the Eastern Illinois University/Community Orchestra, and the Alton and Wood River Municipal Bands.

Mr. Gagliardo received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education from Eastern Illinois University and a Master of Music Degree in Orchestral Conducting from Ball State University.  He has served as a presenter at the American Symphony Orchestra League's National Conference, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame's Summer Teacher's Institute, the Alabama Music Educators Association Conference, and the ASTA National Conference. 

Mr. Gagliardo is the founder and CEO of Wonder Dog Press and Daphne Roo Music.  He is also active in the community, having served as the President of the Board Of Directors of the Humane Society of Etowah County from 2005 to 2008.  He resides in Glencoe, Alabama, with his wife Melia and their four dogs, Daphne, Lady, Jake, and Gracie.

Brian Cole, 2008 NHSHO Chair
Brian Cole has been an orchestra teacher in the Moorhead, Minnesota public school district since 1995. Brian received his Bachelor in Music Education from the University of South Dakota, his Master of Music in orchestra conducting from the University of Northern Colorado, and has received post graduate credits from The Ohio State University. Cole also is a conductor with the Fargo Moorhead Area Youth Symphony. His hockey jersey clad orchestras have been invited to play at both state and national conventions including the  Minnesota Music Educators Conference, the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, and the American String Teacher's National Convention. During his tenure enrollment in  Moorhead's orchestra program has grown from 210 to over 700. A frequent clinician, speaker, and guest conductor across the country, Mr. Cole has appeared at music conventions in more than 20 states. Recent engagements include:Georgia, Michigan, Kansas, Utah, and Indiana. Brian was named Minnesota's string teacher of the year in 2003 by MNSOTA and was given the Heidi Castleman Award from Chamber Music America in 2002. In 2006 the Moorhead String Program received MNSOTA's Meritorious String Program award. Since 2005 Cole has been the chairman for ASTA's National High School Honor's Orchestra. Brian and his wife Deborah make their home in Moorhead with their three children.  

Nelson Dougherty, Violin
Mr. Nelson Dougherty received his Bachelor of Music Magna Cum Laude and Master of Music degrees in Violin Performance from Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.  While in Indiana Mr. Dougherty served as Adjunct Faculty of Applied Strings and Assistant Conductor of the College Community Orchestra at Indiana Wesleyan University.  Mr. Dougherty next served as Director of Music Instruction for the Itasca Orchestral Society in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where he also served as Concertmaster/Assistant Conductor of the Itasca Symphony Orchestra. He then served for seven years as Strings Specialist for the Memphis City Schools where he shared the teaching duties at Overton High School for the Creative and Performing Arts with his wife Cindy Dougherty, and directed the Orchestra program at Craigmont Middle School for International Studies.

Mr. Dougherty now serves as the Orchestra Director at Noe Middle School (performing arts magnet) and Atherton High School (School for International Studies) in Louisville, Kentucky where his orchestras receive distinguished ratings each year. 

Mr. Dougherty is a National Board Certified Teacher and served as the 2004 National Symphony Orchestra / Kennedy Center Teacher Fellow.  He maintains an active performing schedule and has held principal positions in community, regional, metropolitan, and festival orchestras as well as opera company orchestras and theater house orchestras.  Mr. Dougherty's string orchestra compositions have been performed by orchestras in Kentucky, Indiana, Minnesota, Tennessee, Alabama and Ireland. 

Penney Adair, Violin
Penney Adair is the Director of the Suzuki Strings of Alabama in Cullman Alabama and also the Cullman Middle School string teacher. She is a registered teacher with the Suzuki Association of the Americas and has been teaching violin and viola for 19 years. Mrs. Adair was a member of the Albany Symphony Orchestra in Albany, Georgia for 8 years before moving to Cullman, Al. in 1998. She has served as teacher and clinician in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee and is past President of the Alabama Orchestra Association. Mrs. Adair’s Suzuki pedagogy teachers have included Doris Preucil, Ronda Cole, and Linda Case.

David Hercock, Violin
David Hercock first studied the violin at age 8 when given the opportunity at his Primary School in his home town of Lyme Regis, England. The choice between football and violin practice was a tough one but eventually the violin won and he went on to study privately with Edward Goodman. He began playing in area youth orchestras at 10 and the following year was performing with the Dorset County Youth Orchestra. At 16 he was invited to play with the British Youth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductors such as Bryden Thompson, Ruth Gipps, Vernon Handley and William Matthias.

He attended the London College of Music studying violin under Keith Ramsel and later Peter Tourton along with composition under William Lloyd Webber where he earned his GLCM and LLCM (TD).  He performed freelance for a while in West End shows such as Jesus Christ Superstar and also with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In 1978 he decided to pursue a career in education and earned his education degree at Exeter University and accepted a position as a peripatetic teacher of upper strings covering 13 schools in South Devon.

In 1983 he moved to New Jersey and spent 17 years away from music education. For the last 8 years he has been teaching privately and is the Director of Strings at a school district in southern NJ close to Philadelphia. David serves on the NJ All State Orchestra Auditions committee and he has been instrumental in introducing the harp and electric strings throughout his school district.

Maggie Snyder, Viola
Violist Maggie Snyder has performed solo recitals, chamber music, concertos, and as an orchestral musician throughout the United States and abroad. She has performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Seoul Arts Center, and in Mexico, Greece, Korea, and Russia. She is currently the violist in the West Virginia Piano Quartet and violist in the sister duo, AlleMagnetti.  She has performed under the batons of James Levine, Yuri Temirkanov, David Zinman, Robert Spano, Leonard Slatkin, James dePriest, Julius Rudel, James Conlon, and Michael Tilson Thomas and at such festivals as the Brevard Music Festival, the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival where she was a Time Warner Fellow. In May, 2009, she made her debut recital in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall with Allemagnetti.  That recital featured three world premiere works written for the ensemble by Thomas Pasatieri, Kamran Ince, and Garrett Byrnes. Ms. Snyder is also principal viola of the Chamber Orchestra of New York, and on the artist faculty of the Brevard Music Festival.

Ms. Snyder has given master classes, clinics, and performances at universities and music schools throughout the country, including Interlochen Arts Academy, Eastman, Hartt, The University of Rochester, The University of Georgia, The University of Tennessee, The University of Kentucky, and the University of South Carolina, among others. She earned the Masters and Graduate Performance Diploma from The Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she was the teaching assistant for Victoria Chiang. Her Bachelor’s degree is from the University of Memphis, where she was a Pressar Scholar. Her principal teachers have been Victoria Chiang, Heidi Castleman, and Lenny Schranze. She has been President of the Alabama Orchestra Association, and on the board of the Alabama Music Educator's Association, the state chapter of Music Educator's National Conference. Ms. Snyder joined the faculty at West Virginia University in 2007, a post she took after teaching at Ohio University and the University of Alabama, where she was coordinator of the string area. 

Robert Frelly, Cello
Robert Frelly is recognized throughout the country as an accomplished conductor and music educator.     Dr. Frelly has taught instrumental music at all levels and at present is an Associate Professor within the Conservatory of Music at Chapman University, serving as the Director of Music Education.   Additionally, he is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Southern California Youth Philharmonic and Conservatory of Music, now in it’s 26^th season.   Dr. Frelly’s present conducting engagements include serving as Artistic Director and Conductor of ReSound, a regional orchestra of professional musicians, and Music Director and Conductor of the Southern California Philharmonic.   His previous posts include 14 years as the Music Director and Conductor of the Chapman University Wind Symphony, Associate Conductor of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Southern California Pops Orchestra, and Music Director of the University of Southern California Community Orchestra.

Noted for his artistic and visionary leadership, Dr. Frelly’s appointments extend beyond the United States, having recently served as Artistic Director and Festival Conductor of An American Orchestral Salute to the Olympics, an international orchestra festival for ‘Beijing Perform In Harmony - With Olympic Spirit’, the countdown program for the summer games held in China in 2008; and, Artistic Director of Orchestrating Sydney, an international music festival that brought together the best youth and college musicians from around the world for musical and cultural interactions at the famed Sydney Opera House in 2007.  Additional international appointments include Artistic Director and Festival Conductor of Follow in Holst’s Footsteps in London in January of 2009; and, Artistic Director and Festival Conductor of Tale of Two Cities, a 2-city event to take place in Vienna and Prague during the summer of 2009.

Dr. Frelly holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from University of Southern California, and a Master of Music in Instrumental Conducting from California State University, Long Beach, where he was inducted as a member of the Graduates Dean’s List of University Scholars and Artists.  He also holds dual Bachelor of Music  degrees in Music Education and Music Composition from Chapman University and is a member of “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers”.

David Mazanec, Double Bass
David Mazanec is the primary string teacher in the Etowah County School System.  Prior to this he served as Principal Bass of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra from 1972 to 2009. 

He has been heard in recitals, chamber music and soloist in Alabama and New Hampshire, with the ASO and Tuscaloosa symphonies. 

He is currently on the faculties of Birmingham Southern College and the Alabama School of Fine Arts.  For 6 years he was visiting professor of bass at the University of Alabama.  He currently plays with the Tuscaloosa Symphony and various other orchestras including the New Hampshire Music Festival.

As a student, he won competitions in his home city of St. Louis. Among them was Soloist with the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, then directed by Leonard Slatkin.  He lives in Birmingham Alabama with his wife Alice, an excellent cellist, and his daughter Julia.

Cheryl Gooden, Woodwinds
Flutist Cheryl Gooden was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica where her initial music training began in piano in the studio of Dr. Trevor Beckford. At age 10 on she took up the flute and continued to study both instruments while pursuing degrees in chemistry and spanish at Washington University in St. Louis and the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain. Her teachers included Jacob Berg, Janice Smith, Thomas Perrazzoli and Pamela Endsley.

Throughout her career she won many competitions and was Principal Flutist of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. She has performed in the Mozart Festival of Salzburg, was soloist with the Denver Philharmonic in 2002 and was recently featured artist with the Etowah Youth Orchestra performing the world premier of Matthew Scott Philips’ Suite for Flute and Strings.

Ms. Gooden has also performed with the Boulder and Greeley Philharmonic Orchestras of Colorado. She has been principal flutist of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra for the past ten years and is the resident flutist of the Playground Ensemble, Artists-in-Residence of the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver performing music of the 21st century. Cheryl is currently pursuing a doctorate in international higher education at the University of Denver.

Roland Lister, Brass
Mr. Roland Lister is the Associate Conductor of the Etowah Youth Orchestras. In this capacity he serves as the Principal Conductor of the June Moore Bugg Prelude Strings and the Etowah String Philharmonic, and Director of the EYO's Summer Strings Camp. He also serves as the instructor for the EYO's Beginning and Intermediate Strings Program in the Etowah County and Attalla City School Systems. He holds a B.S. degree in Music Education from Jacksonville State University and a Masters degree in School Administration from the University of Alabama. He has studied viola with Mary Ann Noble and Roger James of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Lister taught instrumental music in the Gadsden City School System for thirty years, spending twenty years as a string orchestra director.  In 1978 Mr. Lister organized and conducted the Gadsden City School System’s first full symphony orchestra. He continued as an orchestra conductor until he retired in 1998 to work with the EYO. In 2000 Mr. Lister served as the conductor of the Premiere String Orchestra at the Alabama All-State Orchestra Festival. In 2003 he was chosen as conductor of the All-West Tennessee String Orchestra in Memphis.  Mr. Lister conducted performances of the Etowah Youth Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 2002 and again in 2007.  He also conducted the orchestra at the Royal Elizabethan Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, England.  His string orchestra has presented a concert for the Alabama Music Educators Conference and he has twice served as a clinician for the conference.  In 2007 Mr. Lister was selected as Teacher of the Year by the Alabama chapter of ASTA, and was inducted into the Alabama Music Educators Hall of Fame in 2009.

Tracy Tyler, Percussion
Tracy Tyler has recently retired as instructor of music at Jacksonville State University.  He taught percussion and percussion pedagogy and conducted the JSU Percussion Ensemble, the JSU Mallet Ensemble and JAXPAN, JSU’s steel drum ensemble.   Mr. Tyler is retired Principle Timpanist of the Rome Symphony Orchestra and the Gadsden Symphony Orchestra but is still involved with performances and clinics throughout Alabama and Georgia. He has studied with Jack Berhend,  Derryl Goes, Kofie McDonald, and Jack Moore, former timpanist with the Minneapolis Symphony and has attended seminars by Linda Pimentel, Cloyd Duff, and Leigh Howard Stephens.

Mr. Tyler was a member of the U.S. Army Band, "Perishing's Own", in Washington, D.C.   and was an instructor at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan for ten summers He received his M.M. in performance at the University of Northern Colorado and was the assistant band director at South Dakota State University before coming to Alabama.

"In retirement, I finally get to pursue my passion: performing music.”  Tracy performs regularly with community theatre (drumset), The Chamber Players of The South (percussionist), a steel drum band named "Caribbean Chrome" (double tenor pans + malletKAT) and a jazz duet called "Just the Two of Us" (vibes).  He is featured on recordings by The BTJ Trio and The AppleScraps.

Mr. Tyler is a private pilot with an instrument rating.  He loves to travel with his wife and best friend, Peg, former travel agent at Model City Travel in Anniston.