Dr. Julia Baumanis is Associate Director of Bands at Rutgers University and is the first female instrumental conductor at Rutgers University in its 259-year history, as well as the first female of color hired full time in the conducting area at Rutgers. She is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, a professional orchestra serving New Jersey for over 60 years. She is a conductor and music educator that is dedicated to empowering the people within her ensembles. An avid advocate for new works, Baumanis has premiered the works of chamber and large ensembles, giving voice to new music throughout a variety of performance settings. A collaborative conductor, she has collaborated with guest artists as featured soloists on her programs, including Dr. Elena Chernova-Davis (violin) prizewinner of the Aleksander Glazunov International Competition, Grammy nominated Conrad Herwig (trombone) of Rutgers Jazz, and Kenneth DeCarlo (trumpet) of the New York Philharmonic. A graduate of The Florida State University College of Music, Baumanis received her bachelor’s in Instrumental Music Education, her master’s degree in Instrumental Conducting Performance, and her PhD in Music Education and Instrumental Conducting and has studied under the batons of Richard Clary, Patrick Dunnigan, and Alexander Jimenez. Prior to graduate school, she taught public school in south Florida as the Associate Director of Bands and Orchestras at J.P. Taravella High School and the Director of Orchestras at Ramblewood Middle School. She also served as chamber music coordinator and program manager of the Tallahassee Youth Orchestra and got her first “orchestral” start with the founding of the Miami based “Hip Hop Symphony,” which was a collaborative performance ensemble incorporating a chamber orchestra, a heavy metal rock band, and an improvisatory dance troop. Baumanis currently serves as Assistant Professor of Professional Practice on the Conducting and Music Education faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts. Her duties include serving as the Associate Director of University Bands, teaching all undergraduate and graduate level conducting courses, the Conductor of the Rutgers Symphony Band, Associate Director of the Marching Scarlet Knights, Director of Pep Bands, and teaching courses in instrumental music education. Prior to this appointment, Baumanis served on the conducting and music education faculty at the University of Central Missouri, where she helped lead the wind ensemble program and served as Pit Conductor for the university’s musical theatre program. She currently serves within the music community as a member of the Education and Repertoire Committee for the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE), on the Educational Advisory Committee for Music For All (MFA), and as co-author of GO ON, Tell Your Story: Voices of Women Band Directors, a publication which highlights the shared experiences of 100 women conductors (GIA Publications). An active performer, educator, and researcher, Baumanis frequently is invited to guest conduct All State and Honor ensembles and has presented her research nationally, including at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the NAfME Research Symposium, the CBDNA National Conference, and the Desert Skies Music Education Research Symposium. Most recently, her research has focused on developing a conductor’s baton that records data collected from a conductor’s expressive gestures. She hopes to implement this technology in the conducting classroom as a technological tool to assist beginning conductors in developing their craft. Her love for music extends to every inch of her life with her partner and husband, Adam Klein, recording engineer (1451 Music, Grammy Academy member). Together, they collaborate as recording engineer and producer on jazz and chamber music albums, including Nightfall and Midnight Rebels, Paul Cohen Sax Ensemble (released through Parma Recording 2025), and The Voyager Reed Quintet, Debut Album (set to release in 2026). Their first date was front row tickets to Esperanza Spalding on her Radio Music Society Tour, and their cats Titus and Peanut, were adopted from the Fat Cat Cafe, where they were raised on a healthy diet of bebop.

As Associate Professor and Coordinator of Music Education at The College of New Jersey, Nick McBride (he/him) teaches various undergraduate courses in Music Education, supervises senior-level student teachers and coordinates the Music Education degree program. In addition, he has advised Masters and Doctoral theses and taught graduate education courses at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey; University of Delaware, Newark; Rutgers University, New Jersey; Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey; University of the Arts; and Boston University. McBride’s research interests include LGBTQIA+ and gender issues in music education, queer pedagogies and curricula, music teacher education, teacher evaluation, and empathic learning processes in music education. He is founder and principal conductor of the "This is Me" National Choral Festival for LGBTQIA+ youth and allies at Lincoln Center (2023) and Carnegie Hall (2025) and a Human Rights Campaign Welcoming Schools National Facilitator. McBride’s research appears in The Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, The Journal of Music Teacher Education, Music Education Research, Visions of Research in Music Education and the Music Educators Journal. He has also authored chapters and contributed to Narratives and Reflections in Music Education: Listening to Voices Seldom Heard, Music Education on the Verge: Stories of Pandemic Teaching and Transformative Change, Planning Instruction in the Music and Teaching Music Through Performance in Middle School Choir and is co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Queer & Gender Research in Music Education. In addition, McBride serves as the NAfME (National Association for Music Education) Gender & Sexuality SRIG (Special Research Interest Group) Chair. He has presented at numerous international and national research conferences, including the American Educational Research Association, the International Society for Music Education Conference, the NAfME Research & Teacher Education Conference, the Society for Music Teacher Education Symposium, the American Choral Directors Association National Conference, the Symposium on Research in Choral Singing and the Narrative Inquiry in Music Education Conference. McBride also serves on the editorial boards of the The Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, the Journal of General Music Education and Visions of Research in Music Education. He earned Doctoral and Masters degrees in Music Education from Teachers College-Columbia University, New York; his dual Masters degrees with honors in Choral Conducting and Music Education from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; and his Bachelor of Music Education from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey.

Kyle Ritenauer is a dynamic and emerging conductor, known for his collaborative approach and versatile skill set that spans from the concert stage to opera and ballet. Kyle has conducted the National Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, is a regular guest conductor for The Juilliard School Orchestra and Dance Division, and works regularly in the world of opera including his role as principal conductor of the Cali Opera Program. Kyle has served for five years on the Artistic Staff of the Manhattan School of Music, is regularly engaged at The Juilliard School, serves as Director of Orchestral Studies at Montclair State University, and is a member of the conducting faculty at the Pierre Monteux School. The 2024-25 season promises to be an exciting year for Kyle, with performances including appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and with the Juilliard Ballet and Orchestra at Lincoln Center. With the Juilliard Dance Division, Kyle will lead several productions including the world premiere of Caroline Shaw’s Show Piece with choreography by Pam Tanowitz at the ‘24 Fall Festival. The Spring Dances will include Jose Limòn’s Choreographic Offering set to an orchestration of Bach’s Musical Offering. Kyle will also lead a production of Jacob Rock’s Page Turner, with choreographer Jenn Freeman. Other work with The Juilliard Orchestra includes a collaboration with composer Anna Clyne to workshop her new piece PALETTE for augmented orchestra. Kyle will work with Juilliard’s Vocal Arts Program and Orchestra to prepare Ravel’s opera, L’enfant et les sortilèges. As Principal Conductor of the Cali Opera Program, he will lead Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto at Montclair State University. As Music Director of the Cali Symphony Orchestra, Kyle will lead a season headlined by Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony, and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, among others work. In addition, he will perform several concerts at the Manhattan School of Music and other prestigious venues across New York City. Kyle is currently entering his third year as principal conductor of the Cali Opera Program and Director of the Cali Orchestra at Montclair State University. Throughout his tenure, Kyle has led productions of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Michael Ching’s Buoso’s Ghost. In the world of opera, Kyle has worked as associate conductor with organizations such as Opera de Montreal with Orchestre Mertopolitain, and the Des Moines Metro Opera with the Des Moines Symphony. Kyle has also premiered several productions of new operas and is very much at home with contemporary opera. Well versed in the world of ballet, Kyle stepped in on a moment's notice to lead the Juilliard Orchestra and dancers through a successful performance of Stravinsky’s Le sacre du printemps at Lincoln Center. He has also led over a dozen performances of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker as guest conductor with the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra on numerous occasions (2018, 2019, and 2021). In the world of contemporary ballet Kyle served as principal conductor for the world premiere production of Richard Danielpour’s Cassandra’s Curse (world premiere) and Aaron J. Kernis’s On Distant Shores with RIOULT Dance NY at New York City’s Joyce Theater. Throughout his career, Kyle has appeared as guest conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra, Elgin Symphony, the Norwalk Symphony, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Symphony New Hampshire, and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect. In the role of cover conductor, Ritenauer has worked with the National Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal), American Composers Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Ritenauer has led orchestras in a myriad of genres, including collaborations with Broadway superstars Kelli O’Hara and Matthew Morrison, and giants of contemporary music such as John Adams, Claire Chase and Richard Danielpour. He was particularly honored to conduct a Juilliard School workshop of American Symphony by Jon Batiste, former bandleader of the Stephen Colbert Late Show. Kyle recently worked with The Knights (New York City) to workshop ATTENTION! in collaboration with mandolinist and composer Chris Thile. Kyle is a passionate teaching artist and holds a particular fondness for bringing classical music to underserved communities. Through the Bridge Arts Ensemble, an ensemble which he founded in 2015, Ritenauer curated interactive, grade-specific concerts and workshops for 50,000 students across the Adirondack region of New York State on a yearly basis. Kyle has had the honor and privilege to assist conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Gianandrea Noseda, David Robertson, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Gemma New, Jader Bignamini, John Adams, and Marin Alsop among others. Kyle served for many year as the assistant conductor of New York City’s Camerata Notturna, a group that supported Kyle through a large part of his development as a young conductor. Kyle is a student of David Robertson and a graduate of The Juilliard School’s Orchestral Conducting Program where, upon graduation, he received the Charles Schiff Conducting Prize for outstanding achievement. He also attended the Aspen Conducting Academy as a student of Robert Spano, and spent nine summers at The Pierre Monteux School studying with Michael Jinbo.