2026 Adjudicators & Clinicians

Joshua Gersen​

                                     An artist of impeccable musical credentials, Joshua Gersen is widely respected as an engaging and inspiring conductor, able to         

                                     communicate effortlessly with both young and established orchestras internationally. A native of the New York area, he made his

                                     debut as a conductor at the early age of 11 and has established himself as a dynamic presence on the podium. Joshua recently         

                                     concluded his tenure as the Assistant   Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, where he most notably made his subscription

                                     debut at just a few hours’ notice, filling in for an indisposed Semyon Bychkov. “Impassioned and incisive,” wrote The New York

                                     Times, “the performance earned a standing ovation and prolonged applause from his colleagues in the orchestra.” He then

                                     conducted his own subscription concert the following season, which included the orchestra’s only performance of Bernstein’s

                                     Symphonic Dances from West Side Story during the Bernstein Centennial year.

As an educator, Joshua has frequently worked with students and ensembles at the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, Boston University, and the Curtis Institute of Music.  He was the Interim Director of Orchestras at Boston University for the 2019-20 academic year.
During his time with the New York Philharmonic, he also conducted many of the orchestra’s celebrated Young People’s Concerts and worked extensively with both the Very Young Composers Program and the Harmony Program, which provides music education for students in
underserved communities across New York City. Previously, Joshua was Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony, where he conducted numerous concerts to critical acclaim, and successfully led the orchestra on their first international tour in over 50 seasons.

A respected composer as well as conductor, Joshua studied composition with Michael Gandolfi at the New England Conservatory of Music before studying conducting with the esteemed Otto-Werner Mueller at the Curtis Institute of Music. His work as a composer has also led to an interest in conducting contemporary music. He conducted several world premieres of new works by young composers with the New York Youth Symphony through their First Music Program, and also collaborated with many prominent contemporary composers including John Adams, Steve Reich, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jennifer Higdon, Mason Bates and Michael Gandolfi.  As Principal Conductor of the Ojai Music Festival in 2013, Joshua led numerous performances by celebrated American composers such as Lou Harrison and John Luther Adams.

Joshua has enjoyed a very successful relationship with the New World Symphony, where he served as the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Conducting Fellow, acting as assistant conductor to the symphony's Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas.  He made his conducting debut with the San Francisco Symphony in the fall of 2013 and has since been invited back numerous times to conduct a variety of concerts.

Other recent guest conducting appearances include performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Hannover Opera, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, and the Colorado Music Festival. He is the recipient of a 2015 and 2016 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award.

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Teresa Cheung

                                       TERESA CHEUNG is in frequent demand for symphonic, choral, operatic and balletic productions throughout the United States,

                                       Canada and Hong Kong. Following anacclaimed 13-season tenure as Music Director of Pennsylvania’s Altoona Symphony                                                           Orchestra, she was appointed Resident Conductor of the Endless Mountain Music Festival in 2022.

                                       Teresa Cheung made her debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra inJanuary 2025.  Her recent engagements have found                                         her on the podia of the Amarillo, American, Bakersfield, Chappaqua, Mid-Texas, Mobile, New Amsterdam (NYC), Phoenix, Portland,                                         Stamford, Venice and Western Michigan symphony orchestras, Evansville, Fort Wayne and Rochester philharmonic orchestras, P                                             Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra, Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, New York City Ballet, Brooklyn’s Regina Opera and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Additionally, she often appears as conductor for colleges and universities and with All State/All County orchestra festivals. She has also served as a conducting clinician for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ “Meet the Artist” program.  

Widely known for her creative concert programming, collaborative projects and community outreach initiatives, Teresa Cheung is also a passionate advocate for music education for all ages. During her tenure in Altoona, she created numerous outreach programs that engaged area children and high school musicians and choristers, ballet companies and civic organizations. Under her leadership, the ASO also performed with university instrumental and choral ensembles from Penn State University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Juniata College. Her vision of extending the Altoona Symphony’s artistry and reputation beyond Central Pennsylvania led to the filming of Dvorák’s New World, an acclaimed joint-project with the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts’ Humanities on the Road program that was broadcast throughout Pennsylvania in December, 2011. Another highlight of Ms. Cheung’s novel interdisciplinary projects was the North American premiere of F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu on Halloween 2017, reuniting the
original symphonic score of Hans Erdmann with the silent film in Berndt Heller’s reconstruction. 

 

Teresa Cheung began her career as Resident Conductor of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, where she was also conductor of the Evansville Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and Evansville Philharmonic Chorus. Among her many artistic initiatives, she led the Evansville Philharmonic Youth Orchestra on its first international concert tour to Japan in 2002. Subsequently, she served as Resident Conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Conductor for the Bard Music Festival and SummerScape. A native of Hong Kong, Teresa Cheung received her Masters Degree in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music. She is also the recipient of the JoAnn Falletta Conducting Award for the most promising female conductors.

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Billy R. Hunter

                                     Billy R. Hunter, Jr., a native of Austin, TX, has been the Principal Trumpet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2004. With a

                                     versatile career encompassing orchestral, chamber, and solo performances nationwide, he is also a sought-after teacher and brass

                                     coach who recently rejoined the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music.

                                     In addition to his work with the MET, Mr. Hunter has served as Guest Principal Trumpet with distinguished ensembles such as The 

                                     Philadelphia Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic, and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. His impressive performance history

                                     includes collaborations with the New York Philharmonic, Saint Louis Symphony, Dallas Symphony, and Boston Symphony, as well as 

                                     various trumpet positions with the New World, Baltimore, and Grant Park Symphony Orchestras.

As a chamber musician, he has partnered with numerous ensembles across the U.S., including the Gateways Chamber Ensemble and the MET Chamber Ensemble, and has performed at prestigious festivals such as the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival.

As a soloist, Mr. Hunter has appeared with orchestras including the Classical Tahoe Orchestra, York Symphony, and Chattanooga Symphony, and has given recitals and masterclasses in the U.S., Europe, Africa, and Asia. His accolades include the Roger Voisin Outstanding Trumpeter Prize from the Tanglewood Music Center, first prize in the Kingsville International Solo Competition Brass Division, and multiple Grammy Awards as part of the MET orchestra. In 2010, he received the University of Texas Outstanding Young Texas-Exes Award, one of the highest honors for alumni.

Mr. Hunter is an esteemed educator, conducting masterclasses and lessons at prestigious institutions such as the Cleveland Institute of Music, Juilliard, and Yale. He frequently coaches the New York Youth Symphony, the New World Symphony in Miami, and the National Youth Orchestra. His previous faculty positions include the Peabody Conservatory, Aspen Music Festival, NJCU, and the University of Texas at Austin. His teachers include legendary trumpeters Raymond Crisara, Raymond Mase, Mark Gould, and hornist Harry Shapiro.

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DAVID LEIBOWITZ

                                     Mr. Leibowitz is the Music Director/Conductor and founder of the award-winning New York Repertory Orchestra. Some recent         

                                     highlights of his tenure there have been a fully staged production of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio and landmark

                                     performances of Mahler’s epic Third and Ninth Symphonies. As an avid fan and champion of today’s music he has commissioned,

                                     worked with, and performed local and world premieres by some of today’s most important composers; such as Paul Moravec, Lowell

                                     Liebermann, Harold Farberman, Stephen Dembski, John Schwabe, Salvador Brotons, Michael Shapiro, and Steven Rosenhaus.     

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                                     From 2003-2013, Mr. Leibowitz held the post of Principal Conductor with the Massapequa Philharmonic Orchestra and has recently                                       been guest conductor of the New York Opera Exchange, conducting performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, Verdi’s La Traviata, and Strauss' Die Fledermaus. He has also been on the conducting faculty of the Westchester Summer Vocal Institute and the International Opera Institute at the Maud Powell Music Festival. In May, 2017 he led the University of Delaware Opera Theater's production of Mozart's Così fan Tutte.

 

For many years, Mr. Leibowitz was on the conducting staff of the Rome Festival Opera (Italy), leading opera, ballet, and concert performances, and was the Orchestra Director of the Siena (Italy) Summer Music Festival. in 2012 he led the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Orchestra and Chorus in a critically acclaimed performance of the Mozart Requiem.

 

Throughout the United States and Europe, he has directed such ensembles as the Pleven Philharmonic (Bulgaria), the Orchester Pro Arte (Vienna), Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Bach Festival Orchestra (Princeton, NJ), and the University of Wyoming (Laramie) Symphony Orchestra.

 

In the New York City area, he has conducted the Astoria Symphony, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Greenwich Village Orchestra, Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, Centre Symphony Orchestra, New York Festival Singers, Litha Orchestra, and the Music at St. Paul’s Series at Columbia University. He has also worked with the Dance Theater of Harlem.

 

A dedicated music educator, Mr. Leibowitz conducted the Third Street Philharmonia at the Third Street Music School Settlement in New York City from 2003-2006 and from 2009-2012 he was the Orchestra Director at the City College of New York. He has worked as a conductor and coach with many other student and youth orchestras, including the the orchestras of Brooklyn College, the InterSchools Orchestra of New York, and the Gemini Youth Orchestra.

 

In 2011, Mr. Leibowitz was an award-winner of the American Prize in Orchestral Conducting and the American Prize in Orchestral Programming. He was given the “Gift to New York City” award from the Omega Ensemble of New York for his ongoing contributions to the musical life of New York City and is on the Board of Directors of the Conductors Guild, an international service organization of over 2,000 members, devoted to the advancement of the art of conducting and to serving the artistic and professional needs of conductors.

 

Mr. Leibowitz received his Master of Arts degree in Performance Practice, Summa Cum Laude, from the City University of New York’s Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. His main studies were in performance, musicology, and composition. He was awarded a teaching fellowship and was named a Presidential Scholar of the University.