Masterclass Coaches page

Douglas Dunston is currently Associate Professor of Music and Music Program Director at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, New Mexico, where he has conducted orchestral and choral concerts, operettas, and musical theatre, and where he teaches courses in music, creativity, and interdisciplinary problem solving. In recent years he has guest conducted the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra and the Claremont Concert Orchestra, and he conducts frequently at the Animas Music Festival in Durango, Colorado, where he specializes in large-scale chamber works integrating instrumentalists with singers, dancers, and actors. Some of the works he has produced there include Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat, Walton's Façade, and Weill's ballet Zaubernacht. He has also conducted orchestral performances in Schloss Esterhazy in Eisenstadt, Austria and with the Sinfonietta Hungarica in Budapest, Hungary.

Dr. Dunston received his DMA in conducting from Claremont Graduate University and also holds degrees in physics from Harvey Mudd College and University of California, Berkeley.

Laura Dwyer served as Principal Flute of the Sarasota Opera Orchestra for six seasons and the Musica de Camara for nine seasons. She has also been a member of the Santa Fe Symphony, Opera Southwest, Fox Valley Symphony, the New Philharmonic, and the Classical Symphony, Laura has also perfomed with The Florida Orchestra, the Sarasota Symphony, the Rockford Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque, the University of Chicago Summer Opera Festival Orchestra, The New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and the Santa Fe Opera. Before leaving New Mexico, Laura was on the faculty of the University of New Mexico and was a member of the New Mexico Woodwind Quintet. Laura is currently instructor of Flute for Jacksonville University and Jazz Flute at The University of North Florida. She is also flutie/picc with the Colorado Music Festival. As a chamber musician, Laura has also performed with Soundings, the Chicago Chamber Music Collective, and the prestigious Cube ensemble of Chicago. As a Jazz flutist, Laura has performed with the Dallas Jazz Orchestra, the University of North Texas Lab Bands, and the University of Whitewater Summer Jazz Camp Faculty Big Band. She has played alongside jazz greats Frank Mantooth, Dennis Diblasio, and Paul Guerrero. A certified yoga instructor, Laura is currently teaching masterclasses for musicians geared toward managing performance anxiety through increased body and breath awareness.

Thomas O'Connor is the Music Director and Conductor of Santa Fe Pro Musica. Mr. O'Connor is also a highly regarded oboist who has performed extensively on modern and historical oboes. He has performed with all of the major classical music organizations in New Mexico including the Santa Fe Opera, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire and the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. He frequently performs outside of New Mexico with festivals and orchestras including the International Festival at the Domaine Forget (Canada), Oregon Bach Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Oregon Festival of American Music, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (San Francisco), San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival (California), Maryland Handel Festival, American Bach Soloists (San Francisco), the Bach Ensemble, Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, and Boston Baroque. He was formerly the Artistic Director of the Ernest Bloch Music Festival at Newport (Oregon) and also served on the faculty of Texas Tech University. He has recordings with Sony, Telarc and Dorian including a Grammy nominated disc of the chamber version of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.

Mr. O'Connor is a graduate of the University of New Mexico and has pursued graduate studies at the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri at Kansas City and at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Musicale, Montreux, Switzerland.

Christopher Weait is an internationally recognized bassoonist, teacher, recording artist, chamber musician, conductor, composer and author. He is professor emeritus of bassoon at The Ohio State University in Columbus where he taught from 1984 to 2006. He was twice honored by Ohio State music students as "Distinguished Teacher of the Year" (1999) and "National Arts Associate" by Sigma Alpha Iota (2006). His life-long interest in chamber wind repertoire manifested itself in his co-founding and directing The Toronto Chamber Winds, a professional wind octet.

Mr. Weait has been a member of the Canzona Trio, the Josef Marx Chamber Players and OBOHIO and the Toronto Winds. He has performed chamber and solo recitals in Argentina, Austria, Canada, Chile, England, the Netherlands and the United States. He recorded 4 solo albums and 6 chamber music albums, two of which were nominated for a Juno Award, Canada's most important recording prize. He has conducted the University of Toronto Concert Band, and guest conducted Les Vents de Montreal and the International Double Reed Society Ensemble in Frankfort, Germany. He conducted the Central Ohio Symphony Conductor from 1988 - 1999 and is now their Music Director Laureate. He was acting director of the Ohio State University Concert Band in 1994/95.

His published works for winds include performance editions of J. F. Fasch's, Concerto D-dur in drei Chören, (Concerto for Three Wind Bands) and Franz Schubert's Wind Octet in F Major, D72.

Prior to teaching at Ohio State he was principal bassoonist of Canada's Toronto Symphony for seventeen years under music directors Seiji Ozawa, Karel Ancerl and Sir Andrew Davis. He appeared as soloist on tours with the Toronto Symphony, the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia and with Keith Brion and his New Sousa Band. He also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, L'Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Ottawa's National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony and the United States Military Academy Band.