MICHAEL ISADORE
An American Prize-winning conductor, Michael Isadore is the Philharmonia Conductor with the Houston Youth Symphony, Associate Conductor with the Houston Civic Symphony and the Director of Orchestras at Dulles High School. Known for being an energetic conductor with authentic, moving performances, Mr. Isadore has become a prominent voice in the Houston area.
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Since work with young musicians plays an important part in his career, Mr. Isadore has developed a detailed rehearsal strategy and creative ways to spark creativity and communicate the most advanced musical concepts. Under his direction, the Dulles High School orchestra has performed several times at The Midwest Clinic, made multiple finalist appearances in the Texas Music Educators Association Honor Orchestra competitions and been a consistent “commended” and “National” winners in the Mark of Excellence competition. Mr. Isadore has won the American Prize in Conducting, Performance, and American Music with all three organizations. Locally, Mr. Isadore has been recognized with the Spec’s Charitable Foundation Award for Excellence in Music Education, presented by the Houston Symphony and the Manilow Music Award presented by Barry Manilow at a concert.
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In addition to being a conductor, Mr. Isadore’s versatile career involves performances as an orchestral and chamber musician, concerto soloist, recitalist, lecturer, and teacher. He holds clarinet positions with the Victoria Symphony, the Symphony of Southeast Texas, and has performed professionally with the Houston Symphony, Corpus Christi Symphony, San Antonio Chamber Orchestra, Victoria Bach Festival and the Houston Gilbert and Sullivan Society. As a soloist, Isadore has performed recitals and concertos around Texas.
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When not performing, Mr. Isadore remains active as a clinician, adjudicator, martial arts practitioner, knitter, and badminton player.
ANGELA PEUGNET
Mrs. Angela Peugnet has served as the head orchestra director at Fort Settlement MS since the fall of 2006. Under her direction, the Fort Settlement Orchestras have been honored as Commended and National Winners with the Foundation for Music Education for many years, finalists in the Texas Honor Orchestra Competition, and invited performers for the 2024 Midwest convention.
Mrs. Peugnet holds a Bachelor’s of Music with Teachers Certification from the University of Houston with Membership in the Honors College and holds a Master’s Degree in Music with a conducting specialization from Colorado State University. Previously, she taught in the Spring Branch Independent School District and was on staff with the University of Houston Moores School of Music's Preparatory and Continuing Studies Department as the Suzuki Strings Program Coordinator. Mrs. Peugnet has worked with some of the profession’s most notable teachers including Dr. Laurie Scott, Mr. William Dick, Mr. Andrzej Grabiec, and Maestros Franz Kraeger and Wes Kenney.
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She is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Orchestra Directors Association, American String Teachers Association, Texas Music Adjudicators Association, Suzuki Association of the Americas, and Sigma Alpha Iota. She is honored to be a member of Mu Omicron, a peer nominated honors society of orchestra directors. She has been an invited conductor and clinician with several TMEA Region Orchestras and is the conductor of the Houston Youth Symphony’s String Orchestra. In 2019 she was honored with the Music Educator Award by the Houston Symphony and the Spec's Charitable Foundation.
She and her husband, Forrest Peugnet, are proud parents to three girls. When she is not teaching, she performs with the Houston Civic Orchestra, enjoys playing music with her children, backpacking, hiking, camping, reading, archery, and playing board/video games with family and friends.
PENNY MEITZ
Penny Meitz recently retired as Orchestra Director and Strings Teacher at St. John’s School where she held the Mary Wood Neuhaus Chair in Music. For 18 years, she taught orchestra at St. John’s School in the Lower, Middle and Upper Schools. Ms. Meitz was appointed to the Mary Wood Neuhaus Endowed Chair in Music in May, 2017. In 2023, she was named Orchestra Director of the Year by Texas Orchestra Directors Association. Including her years at St. John’s, Ms. Meitz has taught orchestra for a total of 50 years.
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Ms. Meitz pursued her undergraduate education at the University of Michigan and Western Michigan University, receiving the Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After teaching school for 12 years, she returned to school to earn a Master of Music degree in Viola Performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. During her student years, Ms. Meitz ‘s conducting teachers included Elizabeth Green and Samuel Jones.
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In 1973, Ms. Meitz began her teaching career in Michigan, working for seven years at Northern High School in Portage, Michigan. She moved to Texas in 1980, and then taught in Pasadena, Houston, Spring Branch and Fort Bend Independent School Districts before her first attempt at retiring. Almost immediately, Ms. Meitz accepted a teaching appointment at St. John’s School, where she taught until retiring for a second time, in May of 2024. In fall of 2024, she began teaching string pedagogy classes at the University of Houston Central Campus. Over her long career as a public-school Orchestra Director, Ms. Meitz’s orchestras consistently won Sweepstakes awards in UIL competitions. The Clements Symphony Orchestra was a featured orchestra at the Midwest Clinic, an International Band and Orchestra Conference, in 2000, and was selected TMEA High School Symphony Honor Orchestra in 2001-2002.
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Penny Meitz had extensive performing experience as a violist with the Houston Ballet Orchestra as well as Houston Grand Opera and numerous freelance ensembles. She maintained an active private viola studio for many years, assisting many students in achieving membership in TMEA All State Orchestras. Ms. Meitz has been on the faculty of AFA’s summer music program for over twenty-five years. Ms. Meitz continues to perform as a free-lance violist in various ensembles in Houston.
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Ms. Meitz has conducted the Greater Houston Youth Orchestra String Ensemble, the GHYO Philharmonic, and the Bay Area Youth Symphony. She has been a frequent clinician for All-Region Orchestras throughout Texas. Ms. Meitz served on the board of the Texas Orchestra Directors Association from 1997 - 2002. She was elected TMEA Orchestra Division Vice President from 2015-2017, and served on the TexASTA board from 2017-2021. Serving the world music education has been an integral part of her career.
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Ms. Meitz was raised in Royal Oak, Michigan. In her spare time she enjoys yoga, gardening, bicycling, reading and cooking. She lives in Houston with her husband, Mike Mason.
JASON THIBODEAUX
Jason Thibodeaux is the Winston Churchill High School Director of Orchestras. While under the direction of Mr. Thibodeaux, the Churchill Orchestras have won numerous UIL Concert and Sightreading Sweepstakes. Mr. Thibodeaux has conducted the Churchill Orchestra at the Pearl Harbor Memorial in Hawaii, Carnegie Hall in New York City (2008 and 2020), Austria Tours of 2010, 2018 and 2022 and the Italy Tour of 2014. In January of 2011, the Churchill Symphony performed for the Lila Cockrell Theatre Rededication Ceremony. The Honors Orchestra Performed for the Y.O.S.A. Invitational at the Tobin Center in 2019 and 2023. Most recently the orchestra was selected and performed for the 2023 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago.
Mr. Thibodeaux graduated from Southwest Texas State University in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in music education. While in college, he toured Switzerland and Scotland with the university’s Symphony and String Quartet.
His professional affiliations include memberships in the Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Music Adjudicator’s Association, Mu Omicron and Texas Orchestra Director’s Association. He is a Past President of the T.O.D.A. Executive Committee. Mr. Thibodeaux has had the privilege of adjudicating many fine orchestras in Texas. He was an officer in the T.M.E.A. Region XII Orchestra Division for many years. In 2020 Mr. Thibodeaux was named Director of Distinction by the Texas Orchestra Directors Association.
He has taught summer camps for Texas State University, Youth Orchestras of San Antonio and a Clinician for the North East I.S.D. Orchestra Summer Workshop. He has been the guest conductor for San Antonio I.S.D. Middle and High School Honor Orchestras and a Region Clinician/Conductor around the state. He is the YOSA Intermezzo Strings Conductor for Youth Orchestras of San Antonio.
SANDRA VANDERTULIP
Sandra Vandertulip began violin at the age of eight and has enjoyed much success as a musician. An Arizona All-State violinist and vocalist, Mrs. Vandertulip attended Arizona State University on a full scholarship.
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After a year of teaching in Phoenix, Mrs. Vandertulip and her husband moved to Texas, where she taught five years in Austin ISD and then for thirty-three years in Round Rock ISD. Her orchestras have received numerous awards, including dozens of UIL Sweepstakes and Festival Best in Class awards, TMEA Honor Orchestra Finalist, Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic Performing Orchestra in 2018, and National Winner for the Foundation for Music Education Mark of Excellence in 2017 and 2022, as well as Commended Winner in 2018, 2019, and 2022 and National Youth Concert/Premier Performances at Carnegie Hall in 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022.
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Mrs. Vandertulip started the RRISD chapter of TMEA Texas Future Music Educators and the Tri-M Chapter Music Honor Society at Round Rock High School. She has served as TMEA Region Division Chairman in Region 18 and on UIL State Sightreading and Music Advisory Committees. Vandertulip is a past director of the Austin Youth Orchestra Concertante, Philharmonic, and Symphony Orchestras. She is a member of Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Music Adjudicators Association, Mu Omicron Honorary Orchestra Directors Fraternity, and is a Past President of Texas Orchestra Directors Association. She is a frequent judge and clinician throughout the state of Texas and has also been named as a "Who’s Who Teacher in America."
KAREN GEORGE
Karen George has been teaching in public schools for over 20 years. After holding an interim position at A&M International University in Laredo, Texas, as the string professor and Music Theory instructor, she became the orchestra director at Wood Middle School in NEISD, where she worked for four years, building an accomplished program.
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In 2008, Mrs. George opened Claudia Taylor Johnson High School as the orchestra director. During her time there, she built a program of excellence with multiple Sweepstakes ratings each year among the four competing groups that participated in UIL Concert and Sight Reading Competition. In addition, her string orchestra was a finalist in the TMEA Honor Orchestra competition in 2013, and the full orchestra was a finalist three times at the TMEA Honor Full Orchestra competition. In 2016, her string orchestra was invited to perform at The Midwest Clinic, the first for a high school string orchestra in the North East district. In 2022, her Full Orchestra was invited to perform at The Midwest Clinic, the first for any full orchestra in San Antonio.
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In addition to her teaching in public schools, she conducted one of the seven orchestra ensembles for the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio and judged ensembles at various competitions. A violinist, she performed in the Corpus Christi Symphony and in the Victoria Symphony and spent a summer touring with the American Institute for Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria.
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After being the head orchestra director of a very successful high school program for 16 years, Mrs. George decided to move to a position as the assistant orchestra director at Bradley Middle School, where one of her daughters currently attends. Moving to this position allows her the opportunity to offer her expertise to elevate other orchestra programs. She is very excited about the prospect of coaching orchestra teachers to help cultivate a positive and effective learning environment in the classroom.
KEVIN GARCIA-HETTINGER
Kevin Garcia-Hettinger served as the head director of the Brandeis High School Orchestra in the Northside Independent School District (San Antonio, Texas) for the last 16 years. He began his violin studies at the age of ten and was concertmaster of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of San Antonio.
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Mr. Garcia-Hettinger graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Austin, receiving a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Performance in 1997, where he served as concertmaster of the UT Symphony Orchestra. In 2011, he received his Master's Degree in Violin Performance from the University of Texas at San Antonio. From 2019 to 2022, he served as violin professor at the University of The Incarnate Word.
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He remains an active violinist, having performed with the San Antonio Symphony (now the San Antonio Philharmonic) and serving as the assistant concertmaster of the Mozart Festival, Texas, and the San Antonio Sinfonietta. His students have received numerous awards and have performed at international festivals and competitions. His orchestras have won the National Orchestra Cup at Lincoln Center, and both the string and symphony orchestras have performed at the Midwest Clinic.
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In 2022, he served as President for the Texas Chapter of the American String Teachers Association. Mr. Garcia-Hettinger was selected as Teacher of the Year for Brandeis High School in 2018, and the Brandeis Orchestra was recognized as the top fine arts program in the Northside Independent School District that same year. He also serves as a prescreener and pre-interviewer for the national radio show *From The Top*.
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Mr. Garcia-Hettinger’s wife, Jennifer, is a professional violinist/violist and string pedagogue. Their two sons, Nicholas (violin) and Vincent (cello), both attended Brandeis High School and now attend The Eastman School of Music and The Curtis Institute of Music.
ELAINE HEINZE
Elaine Kay Heinze was a music educator in the public schools of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas for the 36 years. 23 of those years were at Winston Churchill High School as the Head Orchestra Director. Ms Heinze is from Wichita Kansas and has a degree in music education from Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia Kansas. She is a member of the Texas Music Adjudicators Association and the Texas Music Educators Association. During her tenure at Churchill High School the Churchill Orchestras have won over 50 Sweepstakes Awards at the UIL Concert and Sight-reading Contest as well as other state and national awards. In March of 2008 Ms. Heinze, Mr. Thibodeaux and the Churchill Orchestras had the privilege of performing in Carnegie Hall in New York City. She considers this one of the highlights of her career. Ms. Heinze is currently retired from public school teaching. She still stays actively involved with the NEISD Orchestra Programs by participating in the NEISD private lesson program at Churchill High School. This past year I was invited by the Churchill Orchestra to conduct at the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference and it was a wonderful experience. During the spring she is a Music Adjudicator and Clinician throughout Texas.