Ensemble Conductors : Department of Music and Dance : UMass Amherst

Matthew Westgate

Chair and Professor; Director of Wind Studies

Conductor Matthew Westgate “leads with a combination of expressivity and crispness” (San Francisco Chronicle). His performances are praised as “dramatic, incisive, and passionate” (Audiophile Audition) and full of “verve and swagger” (MusicWeb International).

Timothy T. Anderson

Senior Lecturer, Director of the Minuteman Marching Band

Timothy Todd Anderson has been at the University of Massachusetts Amherst since 2011. He is the director of the over-370-member, award-winning Minuteman Marching Band. Under Anderson's direction, the Minuteman Band has performed in both the 2013 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City and the 2018 Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, CA. Both performances were televised internationally.

Lindsay Bronnenkant

Lecturer, Wind Studies

At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Dr. Lindsay Bronnenkant directs the Symphony Band, teaches conducting classes, and leads a graduate conducting seminar. Prior to her appointment at UMass Amherst, Bronnenkant taught basic conducting at Nazareth College and led the Hobart and William Smith Colleges Community Wind Ensemble as she completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Conducting degree at the Eastman School of Music.

Thomas Giampietro

Senior Lecturer, Jazz Studies, Drum Set

As a drummer, Giampietro was an original member of Grammy-winning saxophonist Jeff Coffin's eclectic jazz group the Mu-tet. Giampietro has played on 31 commercially released recordings, and has recorded or performed with such artists as Tim O'Brien, Casey Driessen, Rod McGaha, Scott Robinson, Lee Konitz, Tom Harrell, The Middle Tennessee Jazz Orchestra, Victor Wooten, Beegie Adair, Ben Monder, Chris Walters, Liz Johnson, Pat Bergeson, The Chris Merz X-tet, Ricky Woodard and Peter Erskine. He has also been active in leading his own group in and around the Nashville area.

Gonzalo Alexander Hidalgo Ardila

Director of Orchestral Studies, Assistant Professor

From the conducting class of Eduardo Marturet and Teresa Hernández, Gonzalo has directed some of the most important youth and professional orchestras in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, United States and Argentina. Gonzalo was one of the finalists in the international competition for associate conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, as well as a finalist for the position of principal conductor of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra in Boston.

Jeffrey W. Holmes

Professor, Director of Jazz & African American Music Studies, Composition, Conductor

Holmes plays keyboards with the Paul Winter Consort, leads the Jeff Holmes Big Band featuring his wife, vocalist Dawning Holmes, and plays lead trumpet with the New England Jazz Ensemble. Recent recordings as performer and/or composer/arranger include the Jeff Holmes Quartet release "Of One's Own," the New England Jazz Ensemble’s “Peter and The Wolf“, HGTS’s “…and then they played…” and projects by Paul Winter, colleague Felipe Salles, and Earl MacDonald. He continues to appear as a guest conductor/clinician/adjudicator and performer/composer/arranger.

Mitch Chakour

Director of Vocal Jazz Program; Interim Lecturer

Mitch Chakour is a keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist, song-writer and arranger. You may have recently seen him sit in on keyboards with the Tedeschi Trucks Band at the Green River Festival and Red Rocks in Colorado...or with Warren Haynes at the Calvin Theater.

Mitch was Joe Cocker’s music director, keyboardist and vocalist in the 70’s and 80’s. He has toured with The J. Geils Band singing with Peter Wolf, opening the House of Blues and performing at Fenway Park in Boston along with Aerosmith. He played in the house band for Joe’s Place in Boston early in his career, where he played with the best of the blues: Howling Wolf, Big Momma Thornton, Hubert Sumlin, Koko Taylor, Muddy Waters, Freddie King and many other blues’ greats. He has a diverse resume that includes dates with B.B. King, James Brown, Bonnie Raitt, Chuck Berry, Buddy Miles, Matt Guitar Murphy, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Peter Wolf and he also is a member of Shaboo Allstars. Mitch’s Mission Band was an acclaimed regional band for many years.

Mitch has supported the musicianship and aspirations of many young musicians, who have gone on to successful careers in music.

Stephen A. Paparo

Associate Professor, Music Education, Choral Conductor

Active as a guest conductor, Dr. Paparo has conducted all-state and honor choirs at all levels in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. His research interests include the application of the Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education to singing instruction in the choral setting, non-traditional choral ensembles, such as contemporary collegiate a cappella, virtual choirs, and circle singing groups, and LGBTQ+ studies in music education.

Lindsay Pope

Director of Choral Studies, Assistant Professor of Music

Lindsay Pope is Director of Choral Studies at UMass Amherst, where she directs the Chamber Choir and teaches conducting. Previously, she directed the programs at Mount Holyoke College and Williams College. She was also Assistant Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Chorus, for which her work was praised as “exemplary and well-prepared” (Texas Classical Review). Pope’s research interests include early music performance practice, the ethics of choral programming, and the intersection of women and gender studies with choral music.

Felipe Salles

Professor, Jazz Studies, Composition, Conductor, Saxophone

A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Felipe Salles has been an active musician in the US since 1995, where he has worked and recorded with prominent jazz artists, including Randy Brecker, Paquito D’Rivera, David Liebman, Melissa Aldana, Lionel Loueke, Jerry Bergonzi, Chico Pinheiro, Magos Herrera, Sofia Rei, Yosvany Terry, Jovino Santos Neto, Oscar Stagnaro, Luciana Souza, and Bob Moses. He has toured extensively in Europe, North and South America, India and Australia, as a sideman and as a leader of his own group.

Christine McHugh Sirard

Lecturer, Assistant Conductor & Visual Coordinator of the Minuteman Marching Band

Christine Sirard has been the Assistant Director of the UMass Marching Band, serving as Color Guard Director and Visual Coordinator, since 2015. She previously worked as Color Guard Instructor for the UMMB from 1990-1995.