Conducting

Bio: Mexican conductor and violinist, Dr. Espinosa is the Music Director of the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Irving. He combines his time here with his position as Senior Examiner for the International Baccalaureate Organization in Wales, UK. He also maintains an active schedule as clinician in Texas and beyond. Dr Espinosa studied at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, the Conservatoire de Neuchâtel, Switzerland (Diplôme de Capacité Professionnelle de Violon), Ithaca College, New York, (Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting), and received his DMA in Orchestra Conducting from the University of Iowa. His activities as orchestral conductor includes Music Director with the Shoals Symphony Orchestra, Florence, Alabama; assistant conductor with the Orchestre de L'Université de Fribourg, Switzerland; and assistant conductor with the Orchestre Philharmonique Rhodanien, Tournon, France. He has also guest-conducted the Las Colinas-Arlington-Garland Symphony, Rome Festiva Orchestral, Rome, Italy; the Orquesta Sinfónica de Nuevo León; the Orquesta Sinfónica de Michoacán; the Orquesta Sinfónica de Guanajuato; Orquesta de Cámara de Bellas Artes and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional in Mexico. As a violinist, Dr. Espinosa has been a member of the string quartet Boccherini in Spain and has played with many orchestras, including Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Orchestre de Chambre de Neuchâel in Switzerland, Orchestre Municipal de Besançon in France, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada in Spain, Orquesta Do Norte de Portugal, and Fredonia Chamber Players, Cedar Rapids Symphony, and Quad-City Orchestra in the United States. Dr. Espinosa has led numerous teacher training workshops in different cities such as Sion and Lausanne, Switzerland; Hong-Kong, China; Bogota, Colombia; Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg in Canada; New York, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Denver, Albuquerque, Houston, Columbus, Boston, Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, Ft. Lauderdale, in the USA among others.

Bio: Karen Kenaston-French is Professor and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Texas Arlington, where she conducts the A Cappella Choir, teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting, and heads the Vocal Area. Under her direction the UTA A Cappella Choir given invited performances at prestigious conferences including National Collegiate Choral Organization (2019), Southwestern Division American Choral Director’s Association (2022 & 2016), the Texas Music Educators Association state convention (2019 & 2014), and served as Choir-in-Residence for the undergraduate and graduate conducting competition at national ACDA (2015). She has prepared the choir for numerous regional guest appearances, including with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Texas Ballet Theatre, Fort Worth Chorale, the Rolling Stones and The Eagles. Under her direction, the UT Arlington A Cappella has been named a finalist in the American Prize for Choral Performance in 2021 and 2014. In 2019 Dr. Kenaston-French assumed the position of Artistic Director/Conductor of the Fort Worth Chorale, only the fifth conductor in the organization’s 57-year history. Prior to her arrival at UTA, Dr. Kenaston-French served as Director of Choral Activities at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, where she led the Chamber Singers in two appearances at the Tennessee Music Education Association state conference, and in master classes with Chanticleer, Cantus, and Libby Larsen. She taught conducting at Southern Methodist University and the University of North Texas, and served as director of music ministries at Plymouth Park United Methodist Church in Irving, Texas from 1986-1998. Dr. Kenaston-French has been guest conductor for honor choirs in Colorado, Tennessee, and for many TMEA region choirs. A frequent lecturer and adjudicator, she has given presentations on choral tone, conducting, rehearsal technique and performance practice for SMU, Choristers Guild, Texas Choral Directors Association, and various universities, school districts and local churches. A native of Huntington, WV, Dr. Kenaston-French holds a B.A. in vocal performance from West Virginia Wesleyan College, M.M. and M.S.M. degrees in choral conducting from Southern Methodist University, and a D.M.A. in choral conducting from the University of North Texas, where she was named outstanding graduate student in conducting and ensembles and the Pi Kappa Lambda outstanding doctoral student. She studied conducting with Jerry McCoy, Mel Ivey, Lloyd Pfautsch, Jane Marshall, and Larry Parsons, and in 2011 was a conductor for the Choral/Orchestral Master Class of the Oregon Bach Festival, under Helmut Rilling and Jeffrey Kahane. Vocal studies include graduate work with Lynn Eustis at UNT and Linda Baer at SMU. Her article “The Teachings of Jean‐Antoine Bérard” was published in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Journal of Singing in November 2009. She sang in the Dallas Symphony Chorus from 1993-2003, and was selected for the first Robert Shaw Festival Chorus at Carnegie Hall in 1991.