Beau Benson, Music Director and director of Mason Symphony.

     Beau Benson currently serves as Music Director and Conductor for the Mason Symphony.  Prior to his appointment in Mason, he worked as Interim Music Director of the Texas A&M University Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Conductor for the Flower Mound Symphony.  Additional posts he has held include: Associate Conductor for the Flower Mound Community Orchestras, Assistant Conductor for the Frisco Symphony, Assistant Conductor for The Living Opera, and Resident Conductor for the University of Houston’s annual guitar festival.

     As a soloist, Mr. Benson has appeared with the North East Texas Symphony, Orchestra of New Spain, Mesquite Symphony, and Houston Civic Symphony.  He has also performed as a guest artist for the Dallas Basically Beethoven Festival, University of Houston, Rice University, Kansas City Guitar Society, Dallas Guitar Society, American Musicological Society’s annual conference, Spanish Consulate in Washington, Guitar Houston, and Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series.  This year he will appear with the Michigan State University Symphony and the Michigan State University Concert Orchestra.

     Mr. Benson’s compositions have been performed by the Flower Mound Chamber Orchestra, Houston Civic Symphony, Meadows Wind Ensemble, New Texas Symphony, and the Jugend Guitarren Orchester of Hessen, Germany, which premiered his overture Celaeno on its 2005 tour of Poland, subsequently releasing it on their 2007 recording Klangwelten in Holz und Nylon.

David Schultz, director of Mason Philharmonic.

     David Schultz is very pleased to be in his second season as conductor of the Mason Philharmonic.  He is also a conductor of the Michigan State University Concert Orchestra and has made several other conducting appearances, including the Lawrence University Chamber Orchestra, the Lawrence University Chamber Choir, and the IES Vienna Student Chamber Orchestra in Vienna, Austria. 

     Mr. Schultz is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in viola performance at Michigan State University under the tutelge of Robert Dan, with additional studies as a Conducting Apprentice under the direction of Leon Gregorian and Raphael Jimenez.  Upon completion of this degree, he plans to begin work toward the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral conducting.

     Though he was born in Lansing, Michigan, Mr. Schultz grew up in the Pacific Northwest.  He graduated magna cum laude from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Music degree in viola performance where he studied with Matthew Michelic.  During his time in Appleton he studied conducting with both Bridget-Michaele Reischl and Dr. David Becker, and also spent a semester in Vienna, Austria, where he studied both viola and conducting with Matthias Maurer.  He has been a participant in both the Aspen Summer Music Festival in Colorado, and the Conductors Institute at Bard College in New York.  He has also had conducting study with Christophe Chagnard of the Northwest Sinfonietta.

     Mr. Schultz is a member of the Lansing Symphony Orchestra. His professional playing experience also includes the Battle Creek and Jackson symphonies in Michigan, the Green Bay Symphony and Fox Valley Symphony in Wisconsin, and the Northwest Sinfonietta and Tacoma Symphony Orchestra in Washington.  As a graduate student at Michigan State University, he serves as the Graduate Assistant in Viola, Assistant Principal Violist of the Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra, and Violist of the contemporary music ensemble Musique 21.