Brian Coffill, D.M.A., (he/him), is the Founding Director of Instrumental Ensembles and Associate Professor of Music at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. Since launching Randolph-Macon’s Instrumental Music Program in 2018, Brian has shaped its rapid growth from one small, combined string & wind ensemble to a full suite of instrumental offerings under his direction, including a Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Improvisation Laboratory, Chamber Ensembles, and Jacketeers New Orleans Brass Band. Beyond Randolph-Macon, he also conducts the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System Wind Ensemble, made up of talented Richmond-area medical professionals and community musicians. Prior to arriving at Randolph-Macon, he earned degrees from the University of Maryland, the University of Illinois, and the University of Connecticut, and held positions at public high schools in Arlington, Virginia and Sykesville, Maryland.

Groups under Brian’s baton have performed at state and national conferences, including the 2022 CBDNA Southern Division Conference at the University of South Carolina. His leadership and creativity was recognized with the American Prize Foundation’s 2020 Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award for Orchestral Programming. Brian’s diverse research interests range from expansion of the instrumental repertoire to investigating the many connections between Baseball and the American Wind Band, and he has presented his research for a wide variety of audiences, including a special engagement at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Connecticut native Captain Bonnie Alger is the Officer in Charge of The United States Army Chorus, part of the United States Army Band, “Pershing’s Own,” and is the first female director in the ensemble’s history. She holds a D.M.A. in conducting from the University of Maryland, where she was active in the orchestral, choral, and wind band programs. Dr. Alger also holds degrees from the University of Southern California, University of Northern Iowa, and Lawrence University. She has served as cover conductor and music librarian for the National Symphony Orchestra, adjudicator for the Association of Music in International Schools, and clinician for universities and secondary schools across the United States.

Rachel Carlson, D.M.A., is the Director of Choral and Vocal Activities at Kean University in Union, NJ, where she conducts the Concert Choir and Chorale and teaches Aural Skills, Conducting, and Voice.  She founded Six Degree Singers, a community choir based in Silver Spring, MD, in 2009 and currently serves as Past President of the MD/DC chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). Dr. Carlson is in demand as a clinician, adjudicator, presenter, and guest conductor and has toured the country and the world as a freelance professional choral singer and soprano soloist with many top professional ensembles.