Past Speakers

Gary D. Beckman
Director of Academic Programs, Puerto Rico Conference on Music Entrepreneurship
Editor, Arts Entrepreneurship Educator's Network

Gary D. Beckman is the Director of Academic Programs for the Puerto Rico Conference on Music Entrepreneurship, the founder and editor of the Arts Entrepreneurship Educator's Network, and recently completed the first nation-wide study of arts entrepreneurship efforts in higher education, funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. He is currently teaching Arts Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is completing his doctorate in musicology. Gary's articles on the topic of arts entrepreneurship and leadership education in the arts have appeared in the College Music Society's "Symposium", "Arts Education Policy Review," "The South-Central Music Bulletin" and "The Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society" (forthcoming). Gary has also delivered papers on the philosophical structuring of arts entrepreneurship programs and disciplinary development. He received a M.A. in Musicology from the University of New Hampshire and a B.A. in Music from the University of Southern Maine. You can visit the Arts Entrepreneurship Educator's Network website at http://www.ae2n.net

Angela Myles Beeching
Director, New England Conservatory Career Services Center

Angela Myles Beeching directs the New England Conservatory Career Services Center, a comprehensive career resource office for musicians, internationally recognized as a model of its kind. At the Conservatory, Ms. Beeching has advised hundreds of students and alumni on the entire range of career issues facing musicians. At the Conservatory, she teaches the Professional Artist Seminars, and she has also taught arts leadership for the Graduate Arts Administration program at Boston University. Ms. Beeching has been a guest speaker for the National Association of Schools of Music, Chamber Music America, and the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, the Eastman School of Music, and the Oberlin, Colburn, and Peabody Conservatories. A Fulbright scholar and Harriet Hale Woolley grant recipient, Ms. Beeching holds a doctorate in cello from SUNY Stony Brook. Her articles on music and careers have appeared in Inside Arts, the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Assoc. Journal, and Chamber Music magazine. Her book, Beyond Talent: Creating a Successful Career in Music, is published by Oxford University Press. For more information, click here.

John Candler
President of the Brevard Music Center

John S. Candler joined the Brevard Music Center board of trustees in 1981, and was appointed the first president of the Music Center in 1993. He has since led the Brevard Music Center through tremendous artistic and financial growth. Mr. Candler was raised in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, and after graduating from the Virginia Military Institute in 1962, he served for two years active duty as an officer with the United States Army. Mr. Candler spent over twenty years with Olin Corporation and held positions of vice president of manufacturing, corporate vice president of human resources and executive vice president of the former Ecusta Paper Group. He left Olin in 1986 as part of an entrepreneurial ownership group that purchased several businesses with worldwide presence. Candler last served as president and CEO of Sky Climber, Inc, a leading supplier of specialized high-rise access equipment. Mr. Candler's past volunteer affiliations include sixteen years as a director of the Transylvania Community Hospital, five of them as board chairman, president of Transylvania Partnerships, Inc., and board member of Transylvania County Arts Council and Brevard College. Candler resides in Brevard with his wife, Linda. For more information, click here.

Dr. Judith Coe
Director of Commercial Voice, University of Colorado at Denver

Dr. Judith Coe is currently director of the commercial voice program in the Music & Industry Studies Department at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. She teaches applied voice as well as courses in commercial singing and improvisation, pop songwriting, women in contemporary music and Irish music. She also teaches in the Online Music Business Certificate program and directs the singer/songwriter ensemble. Coe was named the 2003 campus winner for the President's Faculty Excellence Award for Advancing Teaching and Learning through Technology and is a national board member in performance for the College Music Society. She is particularly interested in mentoring artists as entrepreneurs and architects of their own futures, utilizing electronic resources as expressive creative tools and developing strategies for electronic promotion, and exploring the confluence and intersection of art, technology, and commerce. For more information, click here.

Michael Drapkin
Executive Director, Puerto Rico Conference on Music Entrepreneurship

Michael Drapkin is the Executive Director of The Puerto Rico Conference on Music Entrepreneurship. He previously founded and ran the Brevard Conference on Music Entrepreneurship, and was chair of E-Commerce Management at Columbia University's Executive Information Technology Management program. He chairs the Committee on Career Development and Entrepreneurship for the College Music Society and is on their board of directors for the CMS Southwest Chapter. Drapkin is an expert at business strategy and management, with more than twenty years of experience at both Fortune 1000 and startup companies. He served as senior technologist at the web agencies Razorfish and Avalanche, was CTO of DMS Corporatio and a vice president at Lehman Brothers. Drapkin’s writings have appeared in the New York Times and numerous trade periodicals. A former Honolulu Symphony clarinetist, he is one of the most recognizable names for bass clarinetists, having authored the Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet series, which has become standard literature worldwide. An active chamber musician, Drapkin is a Selmer Performing Artist. For more information, visit www.drapkin.net.

Suzy Drapkin
Principal, CareerAchievers

Suzy Drapkin blends a unique collection of counseling, administrative, business, financial, and entrepreneurial skills. Her expertise has allowed her to apply her skills in the public sector as a clinical and career counselor, educational trainer, vocational evaluator and rehabilitation coordinator, as well as in the business world as an executive recruiter and consultant. She has worked with dislocated workers, welfare-to-work programs, the economically disadvantaged, displaced homemakers, chemically dependent, victims of domestic violence, incarcerated, physically handicapped, learning disabled, emotionally disturbed and mentally handicapped individuals. She holds certification in Myers-Briggs, tobacco prevention/cessation and conflict resolution facilitation, Adkins Life Skills Trainer and adult education instruction. Ms Drapkin has an M.S. in Rehabilitation Counseling from Sargent College of Allied Health Professions at Boston University. Ms. Drapkin has a won several awards for her leadership with Junior Achievement of the Hudson Valley, Inc. program. For more information, visit www.careerachievers.com.

John Candler
President of the Brevard Music Center

Catherine Fitterman
Music Business and Entrepreneurship Professor, New York University
Founding Director of the Entrepreneurship Center at University of Colorado at Boulder

A classical pianist by training, Catherine Fitterman’s numerous roles in the music industry include concert promoter, talent buyer, entrepreneur, artist manager, strategic planner and fundraiser, college teacher and vocal accompanist. In 1998, she founded the Entrepreneurship Center for Music at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She produced "The Ride of Your Life: Musicians as Entrepreneurs," a video for high school and college musicians which won a Telly Award in 2003. Fitterman is the winner of a best case teaching presentation award (Thomas C. Page Center for Entrepreneurship, Miami University) and creator of an innovative business/career plan competition in which students propose entrepreneurial ideas and winners receive funding to implement those ideas. She currently serves as assistant professor and associate director of the Music Business Program at New York University's Steinhardt School. For more information, click here.

Dr. Robert Freeman
Dean of the College of Fine Arts, University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Robert Freeman, an accomplished pianist and musicologist who served as director of the Eastman School of Music for twenty-four years, is currently the dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. During his tenure at Eastman, he strengthened the concept of faculty self-governance, improved alumni relations and oversaw $50 million in new construction and $20 million in rebuilding on campus. He also reorganized the school's admissions program and he played a leading role in the University's fundraising efforts. Before Eastman, Freeman taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a visiting associate professor at Harvard University. He has written articles and delivered numerous papers on the subject of musical education and in 1982 received the Civic Medal from the Rochester Chamber of Commerce for his efforts in downtown revitalization. For more information, click here.

Dr. Tayloe Harding
Dean of the School of Music, University of South Carolina
President, College Music Society

Dr. Tayloe Harding became dean of the School of Music at University of South Carolina in the summer of 2005. He also serves as composer-in-residence for the Valdosta (GA) Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, he served as the head of the Department of Music and chief advancement officer for the Arts at Valdosta State University, as well as executive director of the Valdosta Symphony. Previous faculty and administrative positions include North Dakota State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Georgia State University. As a composer, Harding has commissions from Thamyris, Atlanta Winds, African-American Philharmonic Orchestra, Fernbank Museum of Natural History and Chicago Saxophone Quartet. He is currently serving as President of the College Music Society. For more information, click here.

Maggie L. Harrer
Artistic Director, Oradell Arts & Business Coalition, Inc.

Maggie L. Harrer, a 2003 Graduate Fellow of Leadership New Jersey, is the founding president and current artistic director of the Oradell Arts and Business Coalition, which produces two annual arts festivals in Bergen County, New Jersey. Harrer was nominated for a MacArthur Fellowship while running her own dance/theater company. She also directed Another World for NBC Television. In California, she produced The Johnny Grant Show at Universal Studios and developed and produced a series of educational film strips and television specials and works as a consultant for arts organizations, facilitating retreats and seminars on topics ranging from board development to mission identification. For many years, Herrar served as an on-site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts, and as the founding president for the Water Works Conservancy, Inc. led an eleven-year preservation battle to save the Historic Hackensack Water Co. site on Van Buskirk Island.

E. Michael Harrington
Professor of Entertainment & Music Business at Belmont University

E. Michael Harrington teaches intellectual property law as a professor of entertainment & music business at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Courses he has taught include “Technology, Law & The Future of Entertainment,” “Legal Issues In The Entertainment Industry” and “Music Copyright Infringement from Bach to the Beastie Boys.” Harrington has worked as an expert witness and consultant in music copyright infringement, and his articles and editorials have been printed in national publications. He presently serves as an expert in an international consortium on copyright issues and the future of Brazil’s music industry. He also chairs the first-ever College Music Society National Task Force on Engagement with the Music Industry and is on the executive board and editorial board of the Music Entertainment Industry Educators Association. In addition, Harrington has been asked to co-author the first CD-ROM on the music and life of Stevie Wonder, approved by the artist.

Bill Ivey
Director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University, Former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts under President Clinton

Bill Ivey is the Director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University, an innovative arts policy research center with offices in Nashville, Tennessee and Washington, DC. He also directs the Center's Washington-based program for senior government career staff, the Arts Industries Policy Forum. Since 2002, Ivey has been Vanderbilt's Harvie Branscomb Distinguished Visiting Scholar (an endowed faculty position). He serves as Senior Consultant to Leadership Music, a music industry professional development program, and is currently President of the American Folklore Society. Ivey chairs the board of the National Recording Preservation Foundation, a federally-chartered foundation affiliated with the Library of Congress, and is a member of the Intangible Heritage Preservation Committee of the Council on Library and Information Resources. Ivey is a trustee of the Center for American Progress, a Washington, DC, "think tank." His book about the public interest and America's cultural system will be published by the University of California Press in the fall of 2007. From May, 1998 through September, 2001, Ivey served in the Clinton-Gore Administration as the seventh Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. He was previously director of the Country Music Foundation in Nashville, Tennessee. He was twice elected board chairman of the Los Angeles-based National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) and is a four-time Grammy Award nominee (Best Album Notes category), and the author of numerous articles on the arts, U.S. cultural policy, and folk and popular music. For more information, visit http://www.vanderbilt.edu/curbcenter/ .

Dr. James Kalyn
Former Director of the Graduate Music Entrepreneurship Program, North Carolina School of the Arts

James Kalyn recently stepped down as director of the North Carolina School of the Arts’ Graduate Music Entrepreneurship Program. Previous teaching positions include the University of Western Ontario, Wilfrid Laurier University, Eastman School of Music and Ithaca College. As an accomplished saxophonist, he won the Grand Prix at the Canadian Music Competitions and first place at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. His latest recording, Brillance: Virtuoso French Music for Saxophone and Piano, was released in 2001. In addition, Kalyn is well known as a clarinetist. He is a member of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and frequently appears with the Winston-Salem Symphony and Carolina Chamber Symphony. An experienced theater musician, Kalyn also plays the flute and bassoon. For more information, click here.

Gerd Leonhard
Co-author of The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution

A native of Germany, Gerd Leonhard is a well-known music industry innovator and a sought-after strategic adviser. He has spent nearly twenty years in the music, e-commerce and entertainment-technology industries and is co-author of the critically acclaimed book The Future of Music (Berklee Press, Boston). During the first wave of Internet innovations, Leonhard was the founder and president/CEO of LicenseMusic.com, Inc., an influential start-up that revolutionized the process of music licensing and B2B transactions for labels and publishers, and founder of SONIFIC, a B2B music services company. He also founded ThinkAndLink, a strategic consulting agency, is chairman and executive producer of the annual Popkomm "Innovations in Music & Entertainment Awards" in Berlin. Based in Switzerland but with an office San Francisco, Leonhard continues to work with cutting-edge start-ups and new ventures in the entertainment and technology industries worldwide. For more information, click here.

Howard Reich
Arts Critic and Writer, The Chicago Tribune

Howard Reich has been a Chicago Tribune arts critic and writer since 1983. In addition to covering jazz, blues and gospel music for the Tribune, he has authored several investigative reports, including articles on the systematic theft of royalties from the jazz composer Jelly Roll Morton, the illicit trade in looted musical instruments and the hidden story of his mother's Holocaust past. His investigations have been featured on ABC-TV's "Nightline" and various National Public Radio programs. He is the author of three books: "The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich: A Son's Memoir" (2006); "Jelly's Blues: The Life, Music and Redemption of Jelly Roll Morton" (2003), written with William Gaines; and "Van Cliburn" (1993). He is currently finishing work on a feature-length documentary film about his mother's Holocaust childhood, "Prisoner of Her Past"; the documentary is being produced by Kartemquin Films, creators of "Hoop Dreams."

Howard has been writing on culture since 1976 and has two Deems Taylor Awards from ASCAP; the Alumni Merit Award from Northwestern University's Alumni Association; five Peter Lisagor Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists; two William Jones Awards and the Outstanding Professional Performance Award from the Chicago Tribune; the Excellence in Journalism Award from the Chicago Association of Black Journalists; and the Sarah Brown Boyden Award from the Chicago Press Veterans Association, among other honors. His assignments have taken him to many of the world's cultural capitals, including Havana, Moscow, London, Paris, Vienna, Munich, Warsaw, Prague, Montreal and Panama City.

He graduated from Northwestern University's School of Music, which he attended on an Illinois State Scholarship, in 1977, with a degree in piano performance. He also did two years of graduate study in music history and theory at Northwestern. He is a longtime correspondent for DownBeat magazine and lives in a Chicago suburb with his wife, Pam Becker, an editor at the Chicago Tribune.

Arlene Shrut
Founder & Artistic Director of New Triad for Collaborative Arts

Arlene Shrut is Founder and Artistic Director of New Triad for Collaborative Arts. A member of the Vocal Arts faculty at The Juilliard School, she teaches singer-pianist recital partners at Manhattan School of Music. She is an admired keyboard performer and has collaborated with such artists as Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson. Dr. Shrut has recorded for many record labels, has been featured in many radio broadcasts and serves as official pianist for many of New York’s top vocal events, in some of America's finest concert halls. She has toured extensively in Europe, Canada and across the United States. Devoted to dramatically synthesized programming with fully-collaborative partnering leading to the ultimate expression to song recitals, Arlene has been involved in co-producing innovative programs. Among them are “Lieder Across the Sundial,” “Women’s Words: An American Songbook,” “Days-of-a-Man,” “A Musical Banquet: Songs from Hors d’oeuvres to Espresso,” and “Cubism/Synchronism in Song.” In addition to New Triad, Arlene founded the National Association of Accompanists and Coaches, co-founded the Seal Bay Music Festival, and personally authored an entire series of multimedia scripts under the name of Classical Concepts. She has served on the faculties of Syracuse University, Mannes College of Music and The Aspen Music Festival. In addition to vocal coaching at Juilliard, she currently teaches singer/pianist recital partners at Manhattan School of Music. For more information, visit http://www.newtriad.org.

Melissa Snoza
Founder & Executive Director of Fifth House Ensemble

Melissa Snoza is a flutist, founding member and Executive Director of the Chicago-based Fifth House Ensemble. A young, not-for-profit organization, Fifth House seeks to widen the scope of the chamber music art form by creating performances that are accessible to audiences not normally reached by classical music, and by creating new connections between chamber music and other musical, visual and performance art. As part of its college residency programs, Fifth House also provides workshops on career development and entrepreneurship for young musicians. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music's Arts Leadership Program, Melissa began her training in arts administration with an internship in Artistic Operations at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. As a performer, Melissa holds positions with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and Peninsula Music Festival in addition to her active chamber music performance schedule. Melissa currently serves on the faculty at Carthage College. For more information, visit http://www.fifth-house.com.

Peter Spellman
Director of Career Development at Berklee College of Music

Peter Spellman is director of career development at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and the author of several handbooks on music business, including The Self-Promoting Musician: Strategies for Independent Music Success, The Musician’s Internet: Online Strategies for Success in the Music Industry, Indie Power: A Business-Building Guide for Record Labels, Music Production Houses and Merchant Musicians, and Indie Marketing Power: Finding & Nurturing Your Audience for Maximum Music Sales. A recognized expert on music industry trends, the impact of the Internet on music and music career issues, Spellman is a popular speaker at colleges, universities and music conferences around the country. He’s also served as artist manager, booking agent, producer and record label manager. With over twenty-five years’ experience as a performing and recording musician, Spellman is also director of Music Business Solutions, a training resource for music entrepreneurs. In addition, he teaches music business classes at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell and oversees Heady Brew Media, a production company specializing in groovy instrumental music and design.

Kevin Woelfel
Director of the Entrepreneurship Center for Music at the University of Colorado at Boulder

Kevin Woelfel joined the University of Colorado at Boulder as the director of the entrepreneurship center for music in 2003. His diversity in the music industry includes performance, composition and manufacturing. At 19, Woelfel’s professional career began as assistant principal trumpet with the Spokane Symphony. He went on to perform with numerous ensembles over the years and is currently a member of the Boulder Brass. As a composer and arranger, Woelfel was in the U.S. Air Force band program and has written and arranged music for many projects, including docudramas for air on National Public Radio. An entrepreneur, he has founded two manufacturing companies, WolfPak® Incorporated and Rocky Mountain Case Works, companies who produce high-end music instrument cases. Woelfel is currently developing educational materials that teach emerging musicians how to approach the music market as an entrepreneur.