| Long Bio | Virginia Allen is a conductor, music educator, arranger, and consultant located in California. She
is a retired faculty member of The Juilliard School, where she served as the Associate Dean for
Administration, the Assistant Dean for Orchestral Studies, and the founding Artistic Director of
the Conducting Workshop for Music Educators. At Juilliard, she taught conducting and studio
pedagogy, co-founded and conducted The Juilliard Trombone Choir, and served as Executive
Director of the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies.
Additionally, Virginia taught conducting at The Curtis Institute of Music and University of the
Arts in Philadelphia and at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City. She
continues to teach conducting lessons in her studio and online and is Artistic Director Emerita of
the Philadelphia Wind Symphony. She also served as Artistic Director of the Sun Valley Summer
Music Workshops in Idaho, where she founded and conducted the Sun Valley Youth Orchestra.
Prior to teaching on the college level, Virginia enjoyed a 20-year career as a conductor and
administrator in the U.S. Army Bands Program and achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. As a
pioneer for women in military bands she was the first woman to command and conduct an
active duty military band that integrated women and men when she was appointed
Commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command Band in Atlanta. As Associate Conductor of The
West Point Band, she was the first woman conductor of that historic organization, as well as the
Cadet Glee Club and Cadet Band. She also performed on stages from the Hollywood Bowl to
Europe as the first woman conductor of The U.S. Army Field Band and The Soldiers' Chorus, the
Army's premier touring ensembles from Washington, D.C. Her military career included an
assignment as the Department of the Army Staff Bands Officer in Washington, D.C., where she
managed over 100 Army bands and band activities worldwide.
As an arranger, Virginia’s music has been premiered, performed, and recorded by members of
the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the
Washington Opera Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Brazilian
Symphony Orchestra, The Juilliard Trombone Choir, The U.S. Army Band, The U.S. Army Field
Band, and The West Point Band. Her music is published by Carl Fischer, Theodore Presser,
Keyboard Percussion Publications, Alessi Publications, Southern Music, Ludwig Music, and TRN
Music. A member of ASCAP, she is a former board member for the Conductors Guild and the
World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE).
Virginia studied French horn and conducting and earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree
and a Master of Music degree in Performance from the Catholic University of America in
Washington, D.C. and a Diploma in Wind Conducting from the University of Calgary. She earned
a Doctor of Education in the College Teaching of Music at Columbia University, where her
dissertation topic was Developing Expertise in Professional American Orchestra Conductors. |
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