If you think conductors are stuffy and unapproachable, Ian Passmore will change your mind. The Filipino-American maestro is Music Director of the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and a Music Director candidate with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra. Hailed as “a rising young conductor” by Fanfare magazine, his 2026–27 season opens with Beethoven 7, closes with Rachmaninoff 2, and includes Prokofiev 5 with the UNCSA Symphony, Brahms’s Schicksalslied with the Great Falls Symphony, and headline dates on the Undertale and World of Warcraft World Tours. The final student of legendary pedagogue David Effron, he holds a DM from Indiana University. dogdadmaestro.com

Sarah Henrich is an accomplished conductor, soprano, and music educator with extensive experience leading adult and youth choirs across the Midwest and beyond. She currently serves as Chorus Director for the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association and has held prominent leadership and faculty roles at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. In addition to her conducting and teaching career, she is an active performer, clinician, writer, and church musician, with a strong commitment to expanding access to music education and building community through ensemble music-making.