Conductor Biographies

Gene Moon

Cumberland Orchestra Weeks 1&4

Conducting all around the world, maestro Gene Moon has graced the podium of orchestras on four continents over the course of his career. Dr. Moon’s career has led him conducting appearances throughout the United States and overseas in Asia and South America. Sought after, nationally and internationally, maestro Moon has led performances with orchestras including the Nacional Orquestra in the Dominican Republic, Saigon Philharmonic in Ho Chi Minh City, Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellín, Gangnam Symphony Orchestra and All-State orchestras in Arkansas and Louisiana along with orchestras of the University of Macau Orchestra and Hong Kong Baptist University and many region honor orchestras and festivals around the United States.

Beginning the fall of 2018, Dr. Moon joined the faculty of California Baptist University serving as Director of Orchestral Studies. He is on faculty with the Sewanee Summer Music Festival and work with hundreds of young musicians from all around the world each summer. An avid champion of music education, he dedicates his work to inspire and train future musicians, seen through his countless work with school instrumental programs and youth orchestras, such as the East Texas Youth Orchestra program, which grew from 22 members to 120 members over the course of three years under his artistic direction. Currently, as music director of the Riverside Arts Academy, he oversees a team of instructors and staff that implement music education in the schools amongst a region with a population of 300,000 people.

Dr. Moon’s previous posts include the faculties at the University of Central Oklahoma (Edmond, OK), University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK), the Mid-Del school district and as music director and conductor of the Oklahoma Youth Symphonies. His recent posts have included Director of Orchestral Activities at Stephen F. Austin State University (Nacogdoches, TX), Artistic Director of the East Texas Youth Orchestras (Tyler, TX), and Music Director and Conductor of the Longview Symphony Orchestra (Longview, TX).

An avid instrumentalist, Moon actively performs as pianist and violist in the collaborative settings of chamber and orchestral music. He holds degrees from the University of Central Oklahoma, New York University and the University of Oklahoma. The list of distinguished conductors Moon has studied with include Jonathan Shames, John Jeter, and, in masterclass, with world-renown conductor, Sergiu Comissiona. His piano studies have been guided by Jan Pokorny Steele, Lee Dai Wook, Dierdre O’Donohue, Ed Gates and noted Van Cliburn medalist, Valery Kuleshov while his viola studies have been with Ralph Morris and Matthew Dane.

Christian Reif

Sewanee Symphony Week 1

Newly appointed Chief Conductor of the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, Christian Reif has established a reputation for his natural musicality, innovative programming and technical command. The 2023/24 season marks Reif’s inaugural season as Chief Conductor of the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, a position he will hold through the 2025/26 season. He leads 7 programs with the orchestra including their season-opening concerts and a Swedish tour in March 2024.

Since 2022, Reif has served as Music Director of the Lakes Area Music Festival in Minnesota, a month-long summer festival committed to commissioning new works and to giving free concerts for the community with programming that ranges from opera and chamber music to symphonic performances.

Highlights of Reif’s 2023/24 season highlights also include subscription appearances with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony and Brno Philharmonic Orchestra. Reif will conduct his own arrangement of John Adams’ El Niño with the Cincinnati Symphony, and with the American Modern Opera Company on tour to Stanford University, Yale University, Harriman-Jewel in Kansas City, and at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.

With an equal footing in North America and Europe, Reif has conducted symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, and many others. In Europe, he has performed repeatedly with ensembles including Orchestre National de Lyon, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, and Gävle Symphony Orchestra.

Reif is featured on classical singer Julia Bullock’s debut solo Nonesuch Records album Walking in the Dark where he leads London’s Philharmonia Orchestra as well as accompanies Bullock on the piano. In 2020 during the pandemic, Reif and Bullock recorded a series of at-home virtual “Songs of Comfort”, ranging from Carole King’s classic “Up on the Roof” to Schubert’s Wanderers Nachtlied NPR Music featured the duo in a “Tiny Desk Concert” for their special quarantine edition of the series, and The New York Times highlighted them on their “Best Classical Music of 2020” list.

From 2016 to 2019, Christian was Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, after being the Conducting Fellow at the New World Symphony from 2014 to 2016. He studied conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and at The Juilliard School in New York City.

Jeffrey Grogan

Cumberland Orchestra Week 2

Jeffrey Grogan is an internationally-known conductor and teacher who has spent over 25 years dedicated to the pursuit of his craft and the nurturing of young talent. Mr. Grogan has served as adjudicator, conductor, and clinician for many prestigious national and international festivals including the Honor Orchestra of America sponsored by Music for All; the Association for Music in International Schools Orchestra (Singapore); the National Orchestra Cup at Lincoln Center; and the Honors Performance Series Orchestra and Band at Carnegie Hall. Upcoming international festival appearances include conducting at the Harpa Concert Hall in Iceland; in Bangkok, Thailand; and at Australia’s Sydney Opera House.

Mr. Grogan has also conducted numerous all-state orchestras and bands throughout the U.S. including his home state of Texas, among others. Mr Grogan is currently serving as Director of Orchestral Activities at the Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University and Artistic Director of the Oklahoma Youth Orchestras. Recent work includes conducting at the Musikverein in Vienna, Sydney Opera House, Harpa Concert Hall in Iceland, and in Bangkok and Singapore. Grogan serves as a Master Educator for the Yamaha Corporation of America and also on the Advisory Committees of the Midwest Clinic and Music for All. For several summers, he was invited by the LA Philharmonic to conduct alongside Gustavo Dudamel at Disney Hall, a part of the Youth Orchestras of Los Angeles National Festival. Following his passion for performing and helping to create new music for orchestras, he has collaborated with many composers such as Omar Thomas, Amanda Harberg, Lowell Liebermann, Michael Colgrass, Eric Whitacre, Steven Stucky, and Scott McAllister – as well as soloists Richard Stolzman, Stefan Hoskuldsson, Julian Schwarz, and the Canadian Brass. Grogan worked in studio and on several projects with violinist and composer Mark O’Connor. Grogan recorded O’Connor’s March of the Gypsy Fiddler with the Ahn Trio and New Jersey Youth Symphony on OMAC Records, which is played on classical music radio throughout the country. He previously served eleven seasons as Education and Community Engagement Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and as Conductor and Artistic Director of the NJSO Youth Orchestras, the InterSchool Orchestras of New York and the New Jersey Youth Symphony. He was founding Artistic Director of two El Sistema inspired program in New Jersey, CHAMPS and the Paterson Music Project. Grogan taught for over a decade at the University of Michigan, Ithaca College, and Baylor University. He is also the former Associate Director of Bands and Marching Band Director at the University of Michigan and Baylor University.

Janna Hymes

Sewanee Symphony Week 2

Versatility, passion and innovation are the hallmarks of American conductor Janna Hymes. Renowned for her inspiring performances, musical depth and energetic presence both on and off the podium, she has developed a reputation as an exciting, detailed communicator. Praised by the press as “an architect, a builder in sound, a conductor with an overall view who never misses details”, Ms. Hymes is Artistic Director of Indiana’s Carmel Symphony Orchestra (CSO) since 2017. A popular guest conductor, Hymes continues to expand her relationships with orchestras nationwide. Hymes becomes Artistic Director of the Sedona Symphony in 2023.

In May 2019 Ms. Hymes stepped down from her post as Music Director of the Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra. During her tenure, she led the orchestra on its first international tour at the Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts and introduced several performance and education initiatives that are now part of the orchestra's season. Recent performance highlights include guest engagements with the Venice Symphony (FL), and Roanoke Symphony Orchestra (VA).

Among the orchestras that Ms. Hymes has guested with are the Houston, Indianapolis, Oregon, North Carolina, Portland Symphony Orchestra (ME), as well as the San Francisco Women’s Philharmonic, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Florida Orchestra. Internationally, she has led the Costa Rica National Symphony, the Delta Ensemble of Holland, the National Orchestre de Lyon, Besancon Chamber Orchestra, and the Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico.

Ms. Hymes' previous posts include Music Director of the Maine Grand Opera, Associate Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony, Resident Conductor of the Charlotte Symphony, and Music Director of the Columbus Women’s Orchestra. She has served as Assistant Conductor of the Canton Symphony Orchestra (OH) and the Teatro Massimo Opera House in Palermo, Italy, and as a frequent guest of the Messiaen Academy in Zwolle, Holland. Ms. Hymes also founded and served as Music Director of the Maine Pro Musica Orchestra, a professional orchestra in Mid Coast Maine that she launched in 2008.

Janna Hymes is a Fulbright scholar, recipient of a 1999 Geraldine C. and Emory M. Ford Foundation Grant, and a prize winner of the 1998 International Conducting Competition in Besancon, France. She studied under such prominent conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Gustav Meier, Otto WernerMueller and Gunther Schuller, and holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati. She also studied at the Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, the Festival at Sandpoint (ID), and the Conductor’s Guild Institute.