03/02/2023
Young Educator Seminars
Bringing Music Educators Together,
Who are Young and/or “Young at Heart”
FRIDAY, MARCH 10th
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dear Colleagues,
Young Educator Seminars is pleased to announce that Michelle Merrill, Symphony Conductor, and educator, will be our featured speaker for our Friday, March 10th session!
Michelle was recently the All-State Symphony Orchestra Clinician/Conductor!
“From Middle School Band Director,
to Symphony Conductor!”
Michelle Merrill has a strong Texas music heritage. She was born in Dallas and studied conducting with Dr. Paul Phillips at SMU. She has been inspiring audiences throughout the country with her detailed and vibrant performances, most recently as the Conductor of the TMEA All-State Symphony Orchestra! As you can see in her bio, Michelle has passion for sharing music with all ages. We know you will enjoy learning about her remarkable journey as musician, conductor, and educator.
The session will begin at 6:30 and be finished by 8:00. We will meet in the O’Donnell Lecture Hall, upstairs in the Owens Fine Arts Center, home of the Meadows School of the Arts. Afterwards, we hope you can join us for food and drink across the street at Lumin.
Parking information can be found at SMU Parking
As always, YES is free and informal. A certificate for Continuing Professional Education credit will be available.
We promote YES through email. Please forward this to your friends and colleagues. We will be glad to add anyone to our mailing list. Ask them to contact Paul Schmidt
We look forward to seeing everyone again Friday, March 10th!
Best regards,
SMU Music Education Faculty
Sarah Allen
Lynne Jackson
Paul Schmidt
Julie Scott
Michelle Merrill has been inspiring audiences throughout the country with her sharply detailed and vibrant performances. A passionate and dynamic artist, she served four years as the Assistant and then Associate Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where she also carried the title of Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador. In addition to her growing guest conducting schedule, Merrill currently serves as the Music Director of the Coastal Symphony of Georgia, where she has ignited the growth and expansion of the orchestra’s offerings both on and off the stage.
Merrill’s most recent and upcoming engagements include the National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), Minnesota Orchestra, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony, Symphoria (Syracuse), Princeton Symphony Orchestra and the Round Top Music Festival Institute. In past seasons, she has conducted concerts with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic, Orlando Philharmonic, Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, Boise Philharmonic, New Music Detroit and the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, where she formerly served as the Assistant Conductor from 2012-2015.
During her four-year tenure as the Associate Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), she helped plan a wide variety of concerts each season, including the renowned educational webcasts, which have reached over 100,000 students to date in classrooms throughout the nation. Merrill also gave pre-concert lectures, led adult music education seminars, engaged with students and adults in and around Metro Detroit, spoke on behalf of the DSO throughout the community and participated in hosting Live from Orchestra Hall, the DSO’s free concert webcast that launched in 2011 and is now watched in more than 100 countries.
Merrill is a proud recipient of a 2016 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award as well as the prestigious 2013 Ansbacher Conducting Fellowship as awarded by members of the Vienna Philharmonic and the American Austrian Foundation, which enabled her to be in residence at the world-renowned Salzburg Festival. Born in Dallas, she studied conducting with Dr. Paul C. Phillips at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, where she holds a Master of Music in conducting and a Bachelor of Music in performance. Apart from music, she loves cooking, running, hiking and spending time outdoors with her husband, Steve Merrill, who serves as the principal percussionist of the Jacksonville Symphony, and their two sons, Davis and Emmett.
