Practitioners
Dr. Robert G. Hasty is the conductor of the Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia and Summer Orchestra at the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University where he also serves as the Associate Director of Orchestras.
Dr. Hasty began his career teaching music in the public schools in Southern California; this included tenure in administration as the District Music Coordinator of the Capistrano Unified School District where he supervised the K-12 music education program and its staff of 39 teachers. He also served an elected term as Vice President in charge of String Education for the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association.
A noted researcher in music cognition, Dr. Hasty has been an author for two publications delivered at the 7th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition in Sydney, Australia. A book on his research on conducting has recently been published: “Critical Listening While Conducting”. The European Society for Cognitive Sciences of Music invited him to speak at their conference in Portugal on these studies.
As a conductor, Dr. Hasty is currently the music director for the Merit Symphony Orchestra in Chicago and has performed with the All-American College Orchestra at Walt Disney World, Beijing Youth Orchestra, Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra, Irvine Youth Symphony, La Primavera Orchestra, Metropolis Youth Symphony, National High School Music Institute Orchestra, Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, NU Opera, and the NU Contemporary Music Ensemble. His performances have been broadcast on WFMT in Chicago. Dr. Hasty’s international engagements include two sold-out performances at the National Concert Hall of Taipei, Taiwan, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, China, and at the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center Concert Hall in Shanghai, China. He is sought-after as an honor orchestra conductor, conducting honor groups in California, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan. He is a member of the conducting faculty at the Bienen School of Music teaching both class and private studies in the discipline.
Dr. Hasty continues to perform as a freelance violinist and violist. The Aliso Viejo Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has served as concertmaster, the Capistrano Valley Symphony, and the Mozart Classical Orchestra are a few of the ensembles that have requested his violin services. Dr. Hasty was the violist on the world premiere of Kathy Henkel's Moorland Sketches, which was broadcast on KUSC-FM Los Angeles. Currently, he is living out a long-held musical fantasy as a fiddler, performing and recording with the band for singer-songwriter Christina Trulio (ASCAP).
Martin Adams studied at Southampton University, and for a number of years was active as a composer and arranger of theatre music, and as a conductor of amateur and semi-professional choirs and orchestras. For three years he lectured at Leeds University, and in 1979 moved to Trinity College Dublin, where he is a Senior Lecturer, a Fellow of the college and head of the Music Department. His research interests lie in English music of the 17th century (mainly Purcell) and the late-19th/early-20th centuries (mainly Elgar, on whose music he has written several analytical papers). Henry Purcell: the Origins and Development of His Musical Style (Cambridge, 1995) is the only extensive and detailed study of that composer's compositional practice, and has just become available in paperback.
Dr Martin Adams
Artistic Director - Repertoire and Development
Dr Robert Hasty
Artistic Director - Orchestral
A native Californian, Christina has lived in the Chicago area for ten years where she continues her career as a songwriter and guitar teacher, having included a detour to Boston where she received a degree in composition from Berklee College of Music. Christina has always been a songwriter, with her first ASCAP composition for a film “The Boss’s Son” at the age of 17. She has worked both on her own and collaborated with writers from around the world, including Rique Pantoja (Brazilian pianist with Milton Nascimiento), Don Grusin, and Kate Markowitz (vocalist with James Taylor). In the early ’90s, she had a platinum selling single in Germany.
Her music has been influenced by all the artists she’s worked with from around the world, at Berklee, in L.A. and in Chicago, but especially by the singer/songwriters that were a part of the early L.A. music scene, where she performed at famous venues like McCabe’s and The Troubador.
She currently lives in Evanston with her husband, their two children, and a dog named Angus, and has finally figured out how to survive the winter snow.
"One of the best Festivals I was ever at, and I used to run them!"
"ISCMS is a forward thinking, progressive music organisation that rivals anything, anywhere in the world."
Dr David Curtin
"The Forbidden Requiem was one of the most amazing musical experiences of my life, the week in residence in Dulwich was inspiring."
A native of Rochester, New York, pianist David Curtin earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, his Master of Music degree from the University of Louisville School of Music, and his Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts (in English) from the State University of New York College at Fredonia. His piano teachers were Robert Jordan, Lee Luvisi, and James Tocco. Prior to his appointment at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Curtin served on the faculty of Angelo State University in Texas, Albion College in Michigan, Utah State University, and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
Competitions Dr. Curtin has won include first prize in the Erie (Pennsylvania) Music Teachers Association's annual competition, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory's Concerto Competition. In December 1998, he made his Korean debut, performing the Concerto No. 2 in A Major of Franz Liszt with the Changwon Philharmonic Orchestra, and in May 1999 he made a solo debut in London. In November of 2001, he was invited to return to Korea to present a solo recital at the new Changwon-Sungsan Performing Arts Center. His recent performances have included appearances with the Ohio Valley Symphony as soloist in Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F Major, multiple engagements with the East Mountain Artist Series in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and recitals at historic Steinway Hall in New York City. An international teacher and performer, Dr. Curtin has recently held piano master classes in Shanghai and Beijing, China.
Dr. Curtin currently serves on the piano teaching faculty at Lock Haven University, an All-Steinway School located in central Pennsylvania.
