Huntsville Youth Orchestra

06/05/2026

TVMF is in two days! Introducing this year's conductor for Festival Band, Tennessee Valley Philharmonic, Twickenham Symphony, and Festival Orchestra.

Steven Gooden is a conductor and mental performance consultant known for building expressive, technically grounded ensembles that perform with clarity, depth, and composure under the demands of live performance. He integrates performance psychology principles directly into his rehearsal work — developing musicians’ focus, confidence, and resilience alongside their artistic preparation — and believes musical excellence and psychological readiness are inseparable.

He serves as Music Director of the Merit Philharmonic Orchestra at Merit School of Music’s Alice S. Pfaelzer Tuition-Free Conservatory in Chicago, where he leads ensembles across Merit’s conservatory and community programs. Gooden returns to the Tennessee Valley Music Festival having led the Festival Orchestra in 2024 — one of several conducting engagements that season. He has also served as Conductor of the Alabama All-State Festival Orchestra (2023), as a guest conductor at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Youth in Music Festival (2025, with a return invitation in 2026), and as Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (2019–2022), participating in international concert tours through Scandinavia and Central Europe.

He holds a Master of Music in Clarinet Performance and Literature with Honors from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, where he studied with Steven Cohen and Lawrie Bloom, former Bass Clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is a mentor and adjudicator with the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative and maintains an active career as a clarinetist.

06/05/2026

TVMF is in THREE days! We want to introduce Devin Underwood as this year's trumpet faculty at the festival. You may recognize Devin from his role as Adjunct Trumpet Lecturer at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

05/26/2026

Please welcome our viola instructor for this year's TVMF, Jacob Adams:

Lauded for his “expressive and intense” playing (American Record Guide), “consistently beautiful dark tone” which “packs an emotional punch,” (The Strad) and displays “exceptional range,” (Journal of the American Viola Society), Jacob Adams is Associate Professor of Viola at the University of Alabama. Since making his solo debut with the Cincinnati Symphony at age 17, he has performed in major venues throughout the United States and across four continents. Jacob is a regular performer with orchestras, chamber ensembles, and festival series, appearing with A Far Cry, Camerata Pacifica, Brevard Music Center, and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra among others. He serves as principal violist for the Mobile and Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestras.

Jacob’s 2025 album Voices from the Homefront, highlighting American works by underrepresented composers from the 1940s, was called “a significant artistic achievement” (Journal of the American Viola Society) and a “beautifully produced album” (The Strad). His principal teachers included Helen Callus, Jesse Levine, Roger Chase, Roland Vamos, and Catharine Carroll Lees. Jacob lives with his wife, Shannon McCue, and their three children, Isaac, Jesse, and Maya, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

05/24/2026

We're excited to get the ball rolling on TVMF this June! Please welcome our percussion faculty:

Ms. Sophia Suante is a freelance musician with varying experiences of teaching and performing around Europe and the United States. As an educator, Ms. Suante has experience working with all walks of life, from elementary school private drum lessons to collegiate music students. Currently, she is teaches at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and Randolph Schools.

05/24/2026

Thanks to all who came to see us today at Honest Coffee! Here is an idea of when else to expect our small groups this summer. Hope to see you at these future events.

05/23/2026

Tennessee Valley Music Festival is soon upon us! Let's see which esteemed instructors are returning this year...

Dr. Christina Volz-Stomackin is an Assistant Professor of Music and Coordinator of Strings at the University of North Alabama where she teaches violin and viola, and also serves as Concertmaster of the Shoals Symphony at UNA. Dr. Volz-Stomackin has performed with orchestras in North America, Central America, and Asia and has performed as a soloist with several orchestras in the United States. Dr. Volz-Stomackin also enjoys collaborating with friends and colleagues, and regularly performs with chamber music ensembles of all varieties. Dr. Volz-Stomackin’s area of research is in early music performance, and she relishes any opportunity to perform with early music ensembles and other early music enthusiasts. In addition to giving recitals and performing with orchestras, Dr. Volz-Stomackin is a recording artist who records regularly at many studios in Shoals area including Single Lock, Ivy Manor and FAME. Dedicated to service in education, Dr. Volz-Stomackin has served as a judge for MTNA chamber music and solo division competitions in Alabama, served as a Judge for ensembles at OMPA, regularly clinicians at many area high schools in the southeast region, and has served as a coach and judge for the Alabama All State Orchestras. She has pedagogical training in the Suzuki Method and enjoys practicing violin with her 4 year-old, Alexander. Her students have gone on to teach and perform professionally throughout the United States and are the recipients of local, regional and international awards. Dr. Volz-Stomackin’s lineage of teachers and mentors include Tim Shiu, Elizabeth Chang, Helen Kim, Steven Leonard and Oliver Steiner.

Haven't registered for TVMF? Registration is still open! You can do that here: https://hsvyo.org/tvmf-info

05/18/2026

We are accepting applications for our Philharmonia Conductor position! 🎻

We’re seeking an inspiring and collaborative educator to lead our Philharmonia ensemble - HYO’s top string orchestra and third most advanced group - serving dedicated young musicians across North Alabama.

Learn more and apply here: www.hsvyo.org

Application deadline: May 28, 2026

05/15/2026

The time has finally come for us to welcome the new Music Director of the Huntsville Youth Orchestra!

Nicholas Bromilow is a British conductor and educator based in Michigan, USA. He is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting. His degree culminated in conducting a full performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, a major collaboration between the Life Sciences Orchestra and the UMS Choral Union involving more than 250 performers onstage.

Throughout his career, Nicholas has worked extensively with youth musicians, student ensembles, and community organisations in both the United Kingdom and the United States. He previously served as conductor of the North Somerset Music Service Youth Orchestra and has taught brass, piano, voice, and conducting in schools and private studios. His approach to music education centres on creating rehearsal spaces where students can develop confidence, curiosity, discipline, and a strong sense of shared musical responsibility.

At the University of Michigan, Nicholas served as Music Director of the Michigan Pops Orchestra, Life Sciences Orchestra, and Campus Philharmonia Orchestra. Recent conducting work has included fully staged productions of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Kevin Puts’ Elizabeth Cree, and Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, as well as Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. He has also appeared as a cover conductor with the Detroit and Jackson Symphony Orchestras.

Alongside his educational work, Nicholas is passionate about bringing orchestral music to new audiences. In the UK, he founded several ensembles dedicated to presenting classical music in unusual and accessible spaces, with performances ranging from historic railway vaults to aircraft hangars and nightclubs. Nicholas’ mentors have included Cristian Măcelaru, Edward Gardner, JoAnn Falletta, and Kenneth Kiesler. These experiences have helped shape a broad musical outlook spanning symphonic repertoire, opera, ballet, and large-scale choral works, while reinforcing his belief in the power of youth orchestras to inspire musical excellence, imagination, collaboration, and community.

Nicholas is honoured to have been chosen as the new Music Director of the Huntsville Youth Orchestra and is deeply grateful for the warmth and generosity shown to him during his visit to the organisation. He cannot wait to get started and looks forward to meeting the students, families, and wider HYO community very soon.

05/13/2026

05/09/2026

When we were moving things back from a successful spring concert at Randolph, there was an avian friend waiting for us in the storage room! We ultimately got him out of the building safely before he left any presents on the percussion, although we did consider making him an orchestra mascot and naming him after a pigeon-keeping composer.

(Comment if you know which composer we are talking about!)