Each year, students and faculty of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance present more than 450 concerts, recitals, and staged performances in Ann Arbor. The schedule of concerts held by the School orchestras, bands, and choirs is augmented by numerous solo and small ensemble performances. Various ensembles specialize in early music, electronic music, contemporary classical music, jazz and improvisation, and many eclectic styles of music including Klezmer, mariachi, Japanese music, and Javanese gamelan.

Michael Haithcock assumed his duties as director of bands and professor of music (conducting) at the University of Michigan in the fall of 2001 following twenty-three years on the faculty of Baylor University. Following in the footsteps of William D. Revelli and H. Robert Reynolds, Professor Haithcock conducts the internationally renowned University of Michigan Symphony Band, guides the acclaimed graduate band and wind ensemble conducting program, and provides administrative leadership for all aspects of the University of Michigan’s diverse and historic band program.

Ensembles under Haithcock’s guidance have received a wide array of critical acclaim for their high artistic standards of performance and repertoire. These accolades have come through concerts at national and state conventions, performances in major concert venues, and recordings on the Albany, Arsis, and Equilibrium labels. Haithcock was selected to conduct the world premiere of Daron Hagen’s Bandanna, an opera for voice and wind band, commissioned by the College Band Directors’ National Association. He is a leader in commissioning and premiering new works for concert band.

Haithcock has earned the praise of both composers and conductors for his innovative approaches to developing the wind ensemble repertoire and programming. Haithcock is in constant demand as a guest conductor and as a resource person for symposiums and workshops in a variety of instructional settings as well as festival and all-state appearances throughout the country.

A graduate of East Carolina University – where he received the 1996 Outstanding Alumni Award from the School of Music – and Baylor University, Haithcock has done additional study at a variety of conducting workshops including the Herbert Blomstedt Orchestral Conducting Institute. The Instrumentalist, the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, the School Musician, the Southwest Music Educator, and WINDS magazine have published his articles on conducting and wind literature.

Jeffrey Lyman has established himself as one of the premier performers, teachers, and historians of the bassoon in the U.S. He has been Associate Professor of Bassoon at the University of Michigan since 2006, and, prior to that, held positions at Arizona State University and Bowling Green State University. His principal teachers include Bernard Garld of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Richard Beene and Hugh Cooper of the University of Michigan. He holds an undergraduate degree from Temple University and his MM and DMA from the University of Michigan. He has been a member of numerous orchestras across the country and has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Savannah Symphony, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, the Grand rapids Symphony, and the Michigan Opera Theatre, among others. He has appeared as soloist and in the orchestras of the Moscow Autumn Festival, the Festival dei Due Mondi (Spoleto, Italy), Académie Européene d’Été de Musique (Tournon, France), Colorado Music festival, Vermont Mozart Festival, Bellingham Music festival, Saint Bart’s Music Festival (French West indies) and the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East at Bennington College.

In addition to his varied career as a performer, he is also well known as an author and has published several articles, recordings and web pages on compositions for bassoon from the former Soviet Union, Mexico, France and the United States. His studies on the great woodwind pedagogues of the 19th century have culminated in several releases collected as the Jeffrey Lyman Edition from TrevCo Music Publishing, including the first complete English translation of the Nouvelle Méthode de Basson by Etienne Ozi and a forthcoming translation of The Art of Bassoon Playing by Carl Almenräder. Recent projects include video recordings of trios and duos for oboe, bassoon and piano with Nancy Ambrose King and Martin Katz, articles on textual issues in the music of Stravinsky and Canteloube, as well as premier performances of recent works by the French bassoonist/composer Alexandre Ouzounoff.

Scott Piper, assistant professor of voice at the University of Michigan, received a BM in voice performance from Truman State University in 1993 and a MM (1995) and DMA (2012) in voice performance from the University of Michigan. He started his professional career at Madison Opera in 1999 in a much-acclaimed production of Verdi’s La Traviata. Since that time, he has appeared with Houston Grand Opera, Dayton Opera, Madison Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Pacific, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Michigan Opera Theater, New York City Opera, the International Music Festival of Macau, Vancouver Opera, Compañia Lírica Nacional de Costa Rica, the New People’s Theater of Moscow (Russia), and the Anna Livia International Opera Festival in Dublin, Ireland. In Italy he has appeared in Rome, Catanzaro, Modena, Ravenna, and at Teatro di Verdi in Busseto. As a concert soloist, Piper has appeared with many American orchestras and sang the North American Premiere of Perosi’s oratorio La Rissurezione di Christo with the Friends of Opera at U-M. He has received awards from the University of Michigan Friends of Opera, the National Society of Arts and Letters, the William C. Byrd Foundation, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Ken Boxley Foundation, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition, the George London Foundation, and received the Jim and Janice Botsford Study Grant.

Carol Jantsch has been Principal tuba of the Philadelphia orchestra since 2006. She won this position during her senior year at the University of Michigan, becoming the st female tuba player in a major symphony orchestra. an active recitalist and soloist, she has performed tuba concertos with numerous ensembles, including the Philadelphia orchestra, Columbus Symphony orchestra, and United States Marine Band. She has been honored with a “Best of Philly” award from Philadelphia Magazine, prizes in several international solo tuba competitions, and alumni awards from both interlochen arts academy and the University of Michigan. Carol is increasingly active as a teacher and clinician, and has given masterclasses in Europe, Asia, and North America. She is currently on faculty at the Yale University School of Music and Temple University Boyer College of Music, and is also on the roster of Yamaha Performing artists. Her participation in this recording project was supported by the H. Earl Reynolds fund.

"Reflections" by the University of Michigan Symphony Band (Michael Haithcock, conductor) features Grammy award winning composer Michael Daugherty’s Concerto for Tuba (Carol Jantsch, soloist) and Pulitzer Prize winner William Bolcom’s. Circus Overture. Works by Roshanne Etezady, Kristin Kuster, and James Stephenson (with bassoon soloist Jeff Lyman and vocalist Scott Piper) offer additional sonic reflections on non-musical inspirations.